September 24-26, Palm Springs, CA

Revisiting Value

The time is here to gather with California’s grocery community to uncover the evolving values and priorities of today’s customers and explore how your business can realign to adapt to these changes. Registration is now open for the 2023 CGA Strategic Conference. We’ll meet you in Palm Springs for our high-energy event packed with enlightening educational sessions, dynamic business meetings, and lively social events.

Reserve your spot and hotel accommodations today.

Conference Theme: Shifting Priorities

In a retail landscape that has transformed over the past few years, today’s retailers and brands are reprioritizing to meet evolving customer needs— centered on health, sustainability, and convenience— all while adjusting to a new marketplace. With an appetite to experiment, retailers and companies across the supply chain are employing new data and technology, and pursuing creative partnerships that break the mold. 

Our full conference website is available now. Stay tuned for speaker and program announcements.

Make Your Mark With a Sponsorship

Sponsorship opportunities are available at various investment and exposure levels to meet you where you are. All sponsors receive a personalized schedule of private, pre-arranged meetings with senior management, procurement teams, and other retail professionals in California’s grocery industry, 

From young emerging brands to established national suppliers, our gathering of top industry decision makers will guarantee meaningful business connections and point you towards creative avenues to take your business to the next level. Reserve your spot before it sells out

An Exclusive Forward Forecast for Food Industry Leaders

June 27, 2023 | 2:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
GRAMMY Museum @ LA LIVE

Grocers and their shoppers are intrinsically linked, making it absolutely essential for food industry business leaders to understand the economic position of today’s customers and its role in their choices and behaviors. From supply chain headwinds to the key drivers of inflation, it is imperative for grocers to have the tools to anticipate the realities of current economic conditions which impact consumers, the access and affordability of capital, and influence labor and wage dynamics.

The California Grocers Association presents to you the first-ever Food Industry Economic Forecast 2023 on June 27 at the iconic Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. During our program we’ll explore where the economy is headed and what you need to know to be prepared. We invite you to join food industry colleagues for an insightful afternoon educational program, led by keynote speaker Dr. Christopher Thornberg, followed by a presentation by John S. Phillips that will examine current supply chain constraints and discuss how industry leaders can leverage trends and technologies to adapt to new, elevated employee and customer expectations. Our event will conclude with a hosted networking reception with senior grocery leaders registered to attend.

The cost to attend the event is $125, and registration includes the educational seminar and hosted reception. CGA and The Illuminators members save $30 when using the code FELLOWSHIP. Thank you to The Illuminators for your support in promoting this new event for the food industry.

Dr. Christopher Thornberg
Founder, Beacon Economics

An expert in economic and revenue forecasting, regional economics, economic policy, and labor and real estate markets, Dr. Christopher Thornberg has consulted for private industry, cities, counties, and public agencies. He became nationally known for forecasting the subprime mortgage market crash that began in 2007 and was one of the few economists on record to predict the global economic recession that followed. Dr. Thornberg holds a Ph.D in Business Economics from The Anderson School at UCLA, and a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

John S. Phillips
SVP, Customer Supply Chain and Go-to-Market, PepsiCo

Phillips has been with PepsiCo for over 35 years and has worked in a number of different sales and field operations roles since joining the company as a route salesperson with Frito-Lay. In his current role, Phillips is responsible for working with PepsiCo’s largest customers on supply chain and collaboration initiatives to drive both effectiveness and efficiency across the shared supply chain. He also leads PepsiCo’s Go-To-Market COE focused on global process and technology tools to optimize go-to-market systems. 

Sponsorship Available

Be in the room with California’s top grocery leaders in attendance. Sponsorship opportunities for the Food Industry Economic Forecast and networking reception are available. Contact Beth Wright to learn more.

This event is sponsored by:

2023 Store Leader Training Seminars

CGA is ecstatic to build upon the store leader seminar program we began in 2019. This summer, CGA is offering two affordable and approachable development opportunities to grow your team. During our one-day regional seminars, store-level supervisors will enhance their management skills to further develop their grocery careers. Store directors, assistant directors, and department managers are encouraged to attend. 

Our trainings offer a blend of inspiring keynote presentations and hands-on, retail-specific, trainings that will provide the inspiration, practical tips and relevant examples to develop your leadership acumen and techniques to succeed with today’s employees.  

To ensure your region is covered, we are hosting one session in Southern California on July 25, and one in Northern California on July 27. To learn more and register click the link below. 

President and CEO Ron Fong penned a letter to the editor in the San Francisco Chronicle in defense of retailers who take a risk to invest in and revitalize communities that lack adequate grocery stores. 

After the Trinity Whole Foods store, located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, closed in April due to rampant retail theft and safety concerns, the Chronicle published an opinion piece blaming the retailer for taking a chance to reinvigorate the community with a full-service grocery store. In response, Fong’s letter to the editor highlights the severe, everyday impacts of unchecked retail theft on grocers and calls for common-sense retail theft reform on behalf of California’s grocery community. 

Read the full letter to the editor below, or view online here. 

Whole Foods did the right thing by opening at Civic Center. Why closing is also right

Regarding “Whole Foods says its Civic Center location closed over safety concerns. That’s not the whole story” (Opinion, SFChronicle.com, April 25): As president and CEO of the California Grocers Association, the most common question I receive is, “How do I get a grocery store in my neighborhood?”

However, in this opinion article, grocers are blamed for taking a chance to invest in and revitalize a community in need of a grocery store. By this logic, grocers would never take the risk to improve communities that lack adequate grocery stores and food deserts would remain underserved.

When Whole Foods announced it was opening this location in 2018, the move was lauded for putting a full-service grocery store near tens of thousands of residents. But now that the store has closed due to rampant theft and crime, Nuala Bishari and Soleil Ho explain away these issues in favor of a narrative that the company shouldn’t have bet on the neighborhood in the first place.

The authors also argue that the store’s layout was partially to blame for the excessive shoplifting, insinuating that more products behind glass will prevent theft. Unchecked retail theft has increasingly forced grocers to put products under lock and key, and this creates a less-than-ideal store environment for customers.

Unfortunately, this is the everyday reality for grocers in California, which is why the grocery community has called for common-sense and reasonable retail theft reform.