The 2017 Menus of Change leadership summit program schedule is available here in PDF format. It will be updated regularly, so please check back often. As in previous years, the conference will include general sessions, panel discussions, in-depth seminars, and receptions.

Below are the key issues that will be presented and discussed when we meet for the fifth annual conference, June 20-22, 2017, at the CIA Hyde Park campus:

Food Transparency and how foodservice operators increase our ability to see into our supply chains and share information with diners about the food we provide in a personally relevant context. That information should include where food comes from, how it is produced, and its nutritional value. We also want to increase operators’ ability to use transparency to act on their company’s values,and to deliver better business results by allowing both culinary professionals and customers to:

• Know if our food, our pantries, and our supply chains include unwanted ingredients, forced labor, GMOs, antibiotic use, or other practices;
• Source foods responsibly and from specific farms, growers, and producers;
• And improve local sourcing efforts.

How Culinary Professionals Can Change Consumer Choices,Attitudes, and Behaviors to more frequently select healthy, sustainable, and delicious meals, especially plant-forward offers. Strategies may include:

• Introducing new ways of eating and framing dining concepts and food experiences (formats, ingredients, choice architecture, and so on);
• Providing better ways to educate busy chefs and operators on how to communicate complex, often science-based health and sustainability topics;
• Leveraging culinary techniques and delicious, innovative menu concepts to change the choices our customers make.

What’s Next for Protein, as we continue our focus on reimagining the role of animal proteins in American foodservice, reducing red meat consumption specifically, and elevating both the availability and quality of plant-forward dining. As Menus of Change heads into its fifth year, we’ll begin to document the State of Change in the plant-forward dining trend that we helped to catalyze, and take deeper dives into new aspects of protein production and new patterns of consumption such as:

• Determining how much protein is "enough?" How do we increase "protein literacy" among chefs and their customers?
• The implications of a rapid move to serve less beef and more chicken, along with changes in the livestock industry;
• The case for grass-fed and pastured production: how the evidence aligns with consumer perceptions and marketing strategies;
• Plant proteins including manufactured and scratch-cooked;
• Best practices for moving animal protein from the center of the plate to enhance the role of other ingredients;
• Plant- and animal-protein blends and pairings;
• Along with a selection of great culinary approaches for plant-forward dining, highlighting new strategies ranging from upscale independent restaurants to non-commercial foodservice.

More details will be posted as they become available.