ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and National Retail Federation (NRF) will partner on PROTECT in 2018, according to a live joint announcement made today at the Audit, Safety, Asset Protection Conference in Orlando. The two associations will combine their existing risk and safety signature events into one cross-industry gathering starting in 2018.
The association executives for each group offered the following statements about the future of their working relationship and meeting the specialized needs of loss prevention, risk and safety, organized retail crime investigators, risk management and retail operations professionals:
FMI President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin said, “Respecting the changing grocery landscape and the intense consolidation our industry has witnessed over the last several years, our trade groups are making similar strategic decisions to maximize efficiencies and deliver greater value to the audiences we serve. Our partnership with NRF on PROTECT 2018 will afford our food retail members the opportunity to expand their horizons, network in a larger sphere and get at the root of what they seek to do best – mitigate risk.”
NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said, “Securing retail brands, assets, people and profits is the essence of PROTECT’s brand promise. We are enthusiastic to amplify the sphere of influence of this gathering and ultimately help deliver the resources and information necessary to safeguard, prepare, protect and defend the nation’s commerce streams.”
More information about PROTECT in Dallas on June 11-18, 2018 will be forthcoming at this year’s PROTECT being held at the Gaylord in Washington DC June 26 -28.
About FMI
Food Marketing Institute proudly advocates on behalf of the food retail industry. FMI’s U.S. members operate nearly 40,000 retail food stores and 25,000 pharmacies, representing a combined annual sales volume of almost $770 billion. Through programs in public affairs, food safety, research, education and industry relations, FMI offers resources and provides valuable benefits to more than 1,225 food retail and wholesale member companies in the United States and around the world. FMI membership covers the spectrum of diverse venues where food is sold, including single owner grocery stores, large multi-store supermarket chains and mixed retail stores. For more information, visit www.fmi.org and for information regarding the FMI foundation, visit www.fmifoundation.org.
About NRF
NRF is the world’s largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and Internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Retail is the nation’s largest private sector employer, supporting one in four U.S. jobs — 42 million working Americans. Contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation’s economy.
