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Fancy Food Show Booth #5743
Tanner left SFA in 2020 but remains involved in various
capacities through his own company, Tanner Food Group.
Tanner has played key roles in several aspects of the
Association's operations, from communications to industry
and government relations. Additionally, he oversaw the
development of SFA's educational programming and managed
its organizational committees.
Working with retailers and leveraging their insights to
help guide the development of the Association was one of the
most enjoyable aspects of his time with the SFA, Tanner says.
"Bringing the voice of the retailer to the management of the
Association was very, very important," he says.
Another key aspect of Tanner's responsibility was
overseeing the Association's efforts around helping members
export their products to other countries. In the nearly 20 years he
oversaw the export operations of the SFA, the Association was
able to encourage about 600 SFA members to export products
and build up that area of their businesses, he says.—M.H.
Ron Tanner
TANNER FOOD GROUP
Ron Tanner has long been one of the guiding
forces of the SFA, and his influence is evident
throughout the Association's operations.
One of his most notable accomplishments
in his 33 years at SFA was his elevation of the
sofi Awards, which he facilitated through the
implementation of a weighted scoring system, promotional strategy
changes surrounding the awards, and other initiatives.
"I think the big change that happened during my time managing
the sofi Awards was that we realized that the awards were really
for the buyers as much as, or even more than, for the press," says
Tanner. "For members of the Association, getting their product sold
in Whole Foods Market or ShopRite was more important than getting
mentioned in The New York Times."
Tanner focused the promotion of the sofi Awards toward retail
buyers and took steps to make the awards an important part of the
Fancy Food Show. "We helped build those awards through different
activities that we did at the Fancy Food Shows into a prestigious
award program in the industry," he says.
Julie Gallagher is editor of Specialty Food.
George Hajjar is associate, content development
for the Specialty Food Association.
Mark Hamstra is a regular contributor to Specialty Food and SFA News Daily.
2024 Hall of Fame Inductees
