October 9, 2014, at the Tinley Park Convention Center

September 2014 IFRA-GMA Annual Conference October 8-9, 2014 - Tinley Park, IL

he IFRA-GMA Annual Conference takes center stage Wednesday, October 8,T 2014, at the Odyssey Country Club, and Thursday October 9, 2014, at the Tinley Park Convention Center.

Two full days of activities include a series of informative and timely educational programs, a fun-filled day of golf to benefit the Education Foundation, an Expo floor showcasing the latest industry trends, products and services, the second Tinley Park Convention Center annual statewide bagging contest and the evening awards banquet honoring IFRA We encourage you to make every effort to attend and to register your company members who have recently announced personnel for informative their retirements after a lifetime in this educational sessions. Please industry. help us make this a great conference by your support A complete program of activities in and participation. We look enclosed in this Monthly Report. forward to welcoming you to Tinley Park. Odyssey Country Club

Second October 9, 2014 Annual Illinois Best Bagger Championship

The second Annual statewide Bagging Championship is contest moves on to the national championship at the NGA being held Thursday, October 9, 2014, at 10:45 a.m. We Convention, February 8-11, 2015 in Las Vegas, where he/she encourage member stores to participate in this nationally will compete with winners from other participating states. More recognized NGA program that highlights customer service information on the bagging contest inside. Thank you to Central and builds team spirit for the competition. IFRA member Grocers and Lipari Foods – bagging contest sponsors. Please call companies participating include Berkot's Super Foods, Fair the Association office for more information or to let us know Play Foods, Niemann Foods, Strack & Van Til, Sullivan's that you will host a contest in your company with the winner Foods and Sunset Foods. The winner of the Illinois state going to the state finals! IFRA-GMA 2014 Annual Conference 2014 October 8-9, 2014 Program of Activities Odyssey Country Club Day 1: Wednesday, October 8 Education Sessions Odyssey Country Club Special Education Series for Owners, Managers and Assistant Managers 10:00 a.m. “Shrink Control Best Practices For Immediate Profit Gain” Guest Speaker: Larry Miller – Retail Control Group Supermarket and C-store operators are losing nearly three percent of potential profit to shrink according to all new 2013 research, which also reveals that 64 percent of store shrink is caused by poor store operating practices. Presentation will cover why these losses are happening and what to do to cure excessive shrink loss. In this 75-minute, fast-paced workshop, participants will learn the Top Six Operating Best Practices to control store shrink and more. 12 noon Lunch – Industry Networking 1:00 p.m. “Teamwork Makes the Dream Team” Guest Speaker: Rob Bell – Focus Consulting Great places to work start with great teams. Great teams are made up of professionals who know that they are successful only when they help each other be successful. Light a fire under your team members and learn the importance of everyone carrying the torch their share to make the distance. 2:45 p.m. “The Main Thing is to Keep The Main Thing, the Main Thing” Guest Speaker Rob Bell moderates share groups on various topics 5:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception – Cash Bar 6:00 p.m. Buffet Dinner for seminar attendees & golfers Golf Tournament Odyssey Country Club A fun-filled day on the golf coure of the beautiful and challenging Odyssey Country Club. 11:30 a.m. Registration and Lunch 12:30 p.m. Golf Outing: Shot-Gun Start 5:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception 6:00 p.m. Buffet Dinner for education attendees and golfers continud 2 IFRA-GMA 2014 Annual Conference October 8-9, 2014 Program of Activities Day 2: Thursday, October 9 Tinley Park Convention Center Tinley Park Convention Center 7:00 a.m. Board of Directors Meeting 8:30 a.m. Service Excellence: How to WOW Customers Guest Speaker Rob Bell Every team member has the opportunity to enhance your company’s reputation. When face- to-face with a customer, each employee represents the whole organization. The key is to make sure each interaction earns a ringing endorsement.

9:30 a.m. Network with Industry Peers 9:45 a.m. Data Security & PCI Compliance Protecting customer data should be a top priority for all retailers. In this session we will review best practices in data security and latest trends in PCI Compliance to help minimize security risks. 10:45 a.m. Best Bagger Competition 10:45 a.m. Expo Opening 3:00 p.m. General Session: “Key Provisions in Grocery Store Leases” Guest Speaker Kerry Lavelle, Lavelle Law, LTD Kerry Lavelle 4:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception Rich Daniels and the City Lights Orchestra Quartet 5:30 p.m. Industry Awards Banquet This year’s honorees: Joe Busch -Valu Merchandisers John Clavio - Country Squire Joe Koppeis -The Market Place Jim Otte - Country Squire Dave Wilkinson - Strack & VanTil Tom Woodlock - Sentry Foods 7:00 p.m. Grand Raffle Drawing Please be generous in your support of the Education Foundation. Thank you. Adjournment 2014

Second Annual Illinois Best Bagger Annual Championship Conference October 9, 2014 & Expo

Criteria for choosing a best bagger include: l Speed l Proper bag-building technique l Style and attitude

Are you Illinois’ Best Bagger? First place prize Quality customer service is a hallmark of the independent grocer. $500 cash prize Knowledgeable, friendly employees are one of the grocery industry’s & trip to the National most valuable assets. Bagging has been an important first step for many Best Bagger Contest at the supermarket employees who have pursued long and rewarding careers in the grocery industry. NGA Annual Convention in Las Vegas (Feb. 8-11, Host a Bagging Competition in your Store 2015), including airfare Hosting this NGA nationally recognized Bagging Competition in your and hotel. company is a great way to develop skilled customer service programs, while Second place prize: $250 adding fun and excitement and a team spirit to encourage employees to Third Place Prize: $100 excel in their positions. Entrants must spend more than 25 percent of the time at work bagging groceries, no age restrictions. Statewide first place winner Please visit the IFRA website for a complete list of guidelines on how advances to to run your own in-store contest at www.ilfood.org. The winner of the national your company contest will compete for the state championship on competition in Las October 9 at the IFRA-GMA Annual Conference. Please call the Vegas for a chance to win: Association office today to let us know that you would like to host a 1st Place: $10,000 company competition. 2nd Place: $5,000 3rd - 5th Place: $1,000 2014

Awards Thursday, October 9, 2014 Cocktails 4:30 p.m. Dinner 5:30 p.m. Music of the City Lights Orchestra Quartet Banquet Table discounts available

Call the Association office for tickets at 630-627-8100

he association is pleased to be honoring the following members for a lifetime of service to the food industry. Their exceptional leadership, their passion for the industry and their compassion for others have not onlyT benefited their respective companies, but the industry overall and the communities in which they served. In their retirement, we wish them the very best. IFRA and GMA proudly honors the distinguished careers of:

Joe Busch - Jim Otte - Valu Merchandisers Country Squire

John Clavio - Dave Wilkinson - Country Squire Strack & VanTil

Joe Koppeis - Tom Woodlock - The Market Place, Sentry Foods Columbia Congratulations Announcing IFRA The IFRA Scholarship Fund Education Foundation Sponsored by Grand Raffle Illinois Food Retailers Education Foundation $5,000 Grand Prize* $1,500 Second Prize* 2014 All proceeds benefit the IFRA Education Foundation $500 Third Prize* Scholarship Fund plus 1 in Every 10 Tickets Wins $200 For the 2014-15 academic year, 82 scholarships Drawing will be held: have been awarded Thursday, October 9, 2014 totaling $67,000. at The IFRA-GMA Annual Conference & Expo Tinley Park Convention Center, Tinley Park, Illinois

Additional tickets are i Ticket Price: $100 available from the i The cost of a ticket can be IFRA office: shared by up to 10 people. i See back of ticket for details Illinois Food Retailers and room for additional names. Education Foundation i Anyone can sell these 1919 S. Highland Ave. tickets. Anyone can buy these Lombard, IL 60148 tickets. 630-627-8100 i The best odds ever of Toll free in IL: 800-624-6712 winning! i One in every 10 tickets WINS!

*Top three prizes subject to appropriate increase or reduction based upon sale of 250 tickets. IFRA 2014 Conference Sponsors (as of 9/10/14) ach year, monetary contributions are provided by companies which help to underwrite the cost of 2014 Ethe Annual Conference & Expo. With most sincere gratitude, we salute the following companies who are supporting the Association through the Sponsorship Program.

Platinum Diamond Gold Sponsors Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Aunt Millie’s Bakeries Affiliated Foods Midwest Management Services Bimbo Bakeries USA Berkot’s Super Foods Central Grocers, Inc. Dean Foods Certco, Inc. Gallagher Retirement Services KeHE Distributors Chicago Baking Company – Lewis Grocery Merchandising Association Kraft Foods Bakeries Illinois Retail Merchants Association Lipari Foods Indianapolis Fruit Company SuperValu-Midwest Region Mondelez International World Pay Spartan Nash Illinois Best Bagger Prairie Farms Dairy Competition Sponsors Silver Sponsors Bronze Sponsors Central Grocers, Inc. Anheuser- Busch Lipari Foods Coca Cola Refreshments USA Chiquita Brands - Fresh Express Designer Greetings Retail Data Systems Management Training Indianapolis Fruit Company Ron’s Produce Company Program Sponsors Northstar Lottery Group Winkler Central Grocers, Inc. Pepsi Beverages Company Lipari Foods

IFRA 2014 Conference Exhibitors (as of 9/10/14) ur sincere thanks to the following companies that are participating in this year’s Expo. Your support is greatly appreciated. Also, Othank you to the IFRA retail members who are taking time out of their busy schedule to come out and view the wide variety of products, equipment and services that will be on display. Our exhibitors are looking forward to meeting you on the trade show floor.

A & B Photo & Print Gonnella Frozen Products Prompt Graphics Company Anheuser Busch, Inc. Hess Meat Machines/Mettler Toledo Retail Data Systems Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Mgmt. Impact Sales Midwest Retail Inventory Services Assurance Agency Indianapolis Fruit Company Snyder’s – Lance, Inc. Aunt Millie’s Bakeries Integrys Energy Services Stevens & Tate Marketing Berkel Midwest Sales & Service KeHE Distributors TCI Architects/Engineers/Contractor Bimbo Bakeries USA Kraft Foods U.S. Refrigeration Bunzl Distribution Lavelle Law, Ltd. Valu Merchandisers Company Caito Foods Services, Inc. Leach Food Equipment Distributors W. Newell /SuperValu Cargill Food Distribution Lipari Foods WorldPay Central Grocers Inc. Mondelez International Certco, Inc. Nash Finch Company Chicago Baking Company NIAS Inventory Service The Monthly Report is the official Chiquita Brands/Fresh Express North Country Business Products member publication of the Commercial Waste Systems, Inc. Northern Illinois Food Bank Illlinois Food Retailers Cummins-Allison Corporation Northstar Lottery Group Association Dean Foods Company Pan-O-Gold Bakery 1919 S. Highland Ave. Designer Greetings Pepsi Beverages Company Lombard, IL 60148 Doreen’s Gourmet Frozen Pizza Pinnacle Propane Express Fisher Printing, Inc. Pinpoint Software Telephone: 630-627-8100 FMS Solutions Porte Brown LLC Toll free in IL: 800-624-6712 Food Industry News POS Plus LLC www.ilfood.org Gold Medal Products Prairie Farms Dairy September is We Card Awareness Month 2015 We Card Materials Available for Order at WeCard.org

September is We to this requirement since FDA proposed is particularly important for the retail Card Awareness adding them to the list of restricted industry. Month across the country, and we products earlier this year. Since 2010 To help retailers, We Card Awareness encourage all Illinois retailers to FDA has completed more than 320,000 Month launches the availability of We continue in their efforts to successfully retail compliance checks to see if retailers Card’s 2015 materials, including a range of identify and prevent age-restricted are asking for ID of customers under 27 new age-of-purchase calendars and tools. product sales to minors. years old and rejecting those underage From Labor Day to New Year’s Eve, it is purchase attempts. The legal requirements of U.S. Food and We Card’s busiest time of the year since Drug Administration (FDA) regulations Illinois retailers have experienced retailers order the coming year’s Age-of- governing certain tobacco products, 6,355 checks since FDA starting doing Purchase Calendar – a daily reminder combined with state level restrictions compliance checks, and that number age-calculation tool – and a range of other and the rising focus on e-cigarettes, will only increase. point-of-sale tools and signage to equip pushes responsible retailing of age- their stores. Furthermore, e-cigarettes are now restricted products to a new level. considered age-restricted products in We Card also offers award-winning The national retailer violation rate nearly 40 states – including Illinois – training courses offered online through We with youth access to tobacco laws is so an increased focus on responsible Card’s eLearning Center at www.wecard. 9.6 percent — significantly below the retailing and knowing which products org or through licensing to retailers and target percent rate. Even so, preventing to “card” and deny sales to minors other organizations. age-restricted product sales to minors continues to be a top retail industry priority. Furthermore, Illinois has a violation rate of 11.4 percent that is The Great American Milk Drive above the national average according to the FFY 2013 Synar Report issued Helps Give Gallons to Those in Need by the U.S. Department of Health and During Hunger Action Month Human Services. According to Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief Retailers must continue to do everything organization, milk is one of the items most requested by food bank clients, yet possible to make sure age-restricted there is a nationwide shortage because it is rarely donated. Feeding America products are not sold to minors. clients receive the equivalent of less than one gallon of milk per person per Ongoing training and education are an year. The Great American Milk Drive has been created to help change that. It is important part of any effective strategy the first-ever national program to help deliver highly desired and nutrient-rich to prevent underage sales. gallons of milk to hungry families who need it most. "Trained retail employees are confident Hunger impacts one in six Americans; we share this with you because September and prepared to identify and deny is Hunger Action Month. Hunger has no boundaries and is a problem that exists underage attempts to purchase tobacco, in urban, suburban and rural communities across Illinois. It’s been a challenge e-cigarettes or other age-restricted for Feeding America to meet the demand for milk due to the lack of donations products," said We Card president Doug – with canned goods and other non-perishable items more likely to be donated. Anderson. "We Card Awareness Month Now, it’s going to be easier for Illinois residents to lend a hand and contribute helps reinforce retailers’ daily efforts nutritious milk to food-insecure families. and highlights the services and tools We With the simple click of a mouse (www.milklife.com/give) or text message (text Card offers to help them complete it." “Milk” to 27722), it is now be possible to buy much-needed milk and donate FDA requirements of retailers demand it for as little as $5.00 to a family who does not have regular access to milk. By the “carding” of every under 27-year- entering your zip code, you can ensure that the milk is delivered from the farm to old customer for cigarettes, cigarette a local Feeding America food bank in your very own community. tobacco, smokeless tobacco or roll-your- You also have an opportunity to amplify this message in your stores to get your own tobacco. Additional products, such local community involved. By going to the following website, you can download as cigars and e-cigarettes, may be added and order materials to utilize in store http://gotmilksales.org/drive.