Who’s this Seminar For?
Co-op and Independent
Natural Foods Grocers!
Owners & General Managers
who want to
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Better lead, develop and support their foodservice leaders and their unique operation.
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Develop greater understanding and clarity about operating your store’s most complicated sales department.
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Demystify the financial workings of foodservice to provide better support and set realistic goals.
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Return inspired with fresh eyes, renewed spirit, and plans for achieving your operation’s potential.
Foodservice & Kitchen Leaders
who want to
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Develop new ideas for growing sales and margin – and clear plans for thriving in the post-pandemic world.
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Master critical systems to plan, track and analyze your operation’s production, sales, margin and labor.
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Identify and overcome barriers that keep you from achieving financial goals.
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Create visually delicious merchandising displays.
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Network with other talented leaders to share stories, learn from each other, and get back out in the world.
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Return inspired with fresh eyes, renewed spirit, and plans for achieving your operation’s potential.
Registration Includes

Lodging at
Acqua Hotel
You'll wake up where you need to be, enjoying 4 nights of stylish comfort with hot breakfast and espresso bar at our waterfront hotel.

Organic Lunches
You'll enjoy exquisitely delicious, all-organic catering from our host store, Good Earth Natural Foods.

Store Tour
You'll gain ideas and insights with an exclusive behind-the-scenes kitchen tour at Good Earth Natural Foods, an all-organic best-in-class operation,

3 Phone
Consultations
We'll use your data and a pre-seminar consultation to share personalized feedback during the seminar, and in two calls thereafter.

An Amazing Dinner
You'll lick your flavor-packed plate of ethnic confusions, family-made in an open kitchen with organic, local ingredients.

Workbook & Digital Documents
Your workbook is packed with key systems, forms and documents, and a year of access to download more than 50 digital docs.

Wine & Cheese
Receptions
Network and relax with colleagues each evening with nibbles and cheer from local producers.

Snacks Galore
We enjoy being event hosts! Whether you're craving something salty, sweet, or healthy -- you'll never be hungry!

Agenda
Day 1 – Tuesday, May 9, 2023
9:00 Welcome (Back from the Pandemic)
We'll share an overview and engage with you in small groups to share your pandemic challenges, victories and best practices. With a mind toward every challenge being an opportunity, we'll help you imagine a new and fuller vision of your operation’s potential.
10:00 Fresh Ideas & Trends: Post-Pandemic, Recession-Proof Winners
We'll explore a variety of fresh ideas to inspire your product development plans, and infuse your program menus with some fresh flair.
11:00 Developing Successful New Products
We'll share a 20-step process from which you'll be clear and confident of being able to quickly develop successful new high-margin products.
12:00 Catered Hot Lunch
Dining al fresco, on the bay.
1:00 Staffing: Doing More with Less Labor
We'll help you analyze your own department’s program sales and labor data to optimally structure and organize responsibilities for your operation's best success.
2:15 Making Grab & Go, GO!
Explode your sales with a full exploration of this critical and versatile program. We’ll dig deep into the nuts, bolts and nuances – from category and product plan-o-grams, to portioning, packaging and pricing. You'll leave with ideas and plans for upgrading your G&G program.
4:15 Beautiful Boxed Salads
Whether your salad bar is open, closed or non-existent, there's never been a better time to expand your selection of healthy, delicious portion-controlled boxed salads. We'll share a process, document and specific ideas for revolutionizing your selections and sales in this high-margin product category.
5:15 Wine & Cheese Reception / Evening Break
Relax with colleagues at Acqua Hotel’s wine and cheese reception. Or, hop on a free bike for a ride along the adjacent waterfront path.
6:30 Dinner & Store Tour
Enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour through the bustling prepared foods operation at Good Earth Natural & Organic Foods. This best-in-class operation features a vast array of all-organic prepared foods programs.
Day 2 – Wednesday, May 10, 2023
9:00 Good Earth Store Tour Q&A
9:30 Foodservice Financials
Working through a prepared foods case study we’ll deepen your financial skills and give you tools to better teach your team about sales, margin and labor. We make this interesting for leaders of all financial skill levels and no one leaves this segment without better understanding and/or enjoying numbers.
11:00 Recipe Costing & Margin Pricing
Food costs continue climbing and you need an efficient way to make sure your products are priced to generate appropriate margins. Costing “beginners” will explore a variety of recipe costing procedures, discuss tips and tribulations, and complete a recipe costing exercise to ensure everyone leaves clear, confident and capable. "Advanced" costing system participants will explore variable margin pricing techniques and strategies, and pro tips to ensure you're working with clean data, conversions and shrinks, and achieving precise inventory counts.
12:30 Catered Hot Lunch
Dining al fresco, on the bay.
1:30 Beautiful Boxed Salads Costing Exercise
We'll fine-tune and complete yesterday's creative program and recipe development work, ensuring our pricing achieves healthy margins.
2:30 Snappy Sandwiches
Strategies and pro tips for developing delectable menus of sandwich products. And, a hands-on, small group product development game that will leave you inspired and confident of bringing your new ideas to fruition.
4:15 Huddle Up!
The single-most efficient and effective staff communications plan is also your best platform for raising the bar and creating an environment of growth, opportunity and excellence. And, a template and guidelines for making the most of weekly team leader meetings.
5:15 Wine & Cheese Reception / Evening Break
6:00 Adjournment
Dinner is on your own. We'll share recommendations from among the dozens of fantastic nearby restaurants.
Day 3 – Thursday, May 11, 2023
9:00 Essential Systems for Production Planning & Analysis
We'll share our simple, scalable and highly effective process for optimizing your production planning – to master the art of maximizing sales, minimizing labor and waste, and all while never running out of your top-sellers. It's actually science more than art and you'll be amazed at how easy our system can work for you.
10:15 Making the Most of Movement Reports
Learn how to organize, analyze and act on your department's sales and margin data to ensure you achieve your margin goals.
11:15 This & That, Etc.: Signage, Manuals, Forms + More!
A menagerie of pro tips for upgrading your service mojo, creating merchandising magic, and systems for running a smooth and highly communicative best-in-class operation.
11:45 Catered Lunch with (Optional) Break-Out Conversations
Dining al fresco, on the bay. Choose from any of several conversations, with topics nominated by participants.
1:00 Reimagining Hot Foods
With many hot food bars remaining pandemic- and/or labor-handicapped, we'll share creative ideas and options for making the most with what you have -- and adding more hot food products to your repertoire.
2:15 50 Ways to Grow Sales by $50 a Day
Easy ideas for incrementally growing and improving any prepared foods operation.
4:00 Plans For Change
Breakthrough strategies to help you identify priorities -- from which you’ll develop an agenda, timeline and plans for making the most of your seminar experience.
4:45 Endings & Evaluations
5:00 Wine & Cheese Reception / Evening Break
6:30 Dinner At Avatar’s
Your tastebuds will dance on flavor-packed Indian-Caribbean fusion sensations, made with organic and local ingredients.
Updated 9/6/22

Allen provides prepared foods design and consulting services exclusively for organic and natural foods retailers. Since 1993 he's worked for scores of co-ops and independents, and led high-performing teams at Good Earth Natural Foods, Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Market.

Michelle is an organic farmer and chef, customer service expert and deli operations maven. She managed the exploding growth of a fantastic co-op deli for a decade and now shares the wisdom of her experience with consulting clients.

Joe McGarry
Prepared Foods Director
Good Earth Natural Foods
Joe leads a 2-store staff of more than 100 in a pair of all-organic kitchens that generate intense loyalty and an outsized share of store sales.
Joe worked with Bon Appetit for 14 years, including as Executive Chef and General Manager.
Presenters
Testimonials

Deziree Ferrin
Kitchen Manager
BriarPatch Food Co-op
Grass Valley, CA
DeliOps gives you the tools you need to grow and build an effective production kitchen. This is a wonderful thing you’re teaching people and the systems are amazing. I don’t know how we ever ran our kitchen without them.

I attended DeliOps a year ago and came back with tools, plans and valuable ideas for restructuring into a positive, well-balanced and successful operation. Since then we’ve made many changes and improvements which have grown our sales 20 percent and improved margin by 10 points

DeliOps is incredible, and a game changer -- the Master's Class on prepared foods systems, the state of the industry and real world practices. It speaks to staff on the whole spectrum of experience, from a new supervisor to a veteran General Manager. The content was invaluable. I've run prepared foods departments in large co-ops as well as Fortune 50 companies for 22 years. The ROI on this training will be paid back in months, not years.
Toby Massey
Former Cooperative Retail Officer
La Montañita Food Co-op
Albuquerque, NM
Noah Argeanas
Deli Team Leader
La Montañita Food Co-op
Albuquerque, NM
Registration Fees & Policies
Registration
Full Registration Packages
with Lodging
1 Seminar Seat with Single Lodging
$2400 + $1200 Lodging = $3600
2 Seminar Seats with Shared Lodging
$4800 + $1200 Lodging = $6000
2 Seminar Seats with Single Lodging
$4800 + $2400 Lodging = $7200
Registration Package
without Lodging
for Locals
1 Seminar Seat with No Lodging
$2400 + $0 Lodging = $2400
Change & Cancellation Policy
Substitutions
You may substitute a participant at no charge until 4/14/23, or for $95 per person per change thereafter.
Refunds
For cancellations, a 95% refund will be provided for notice by 2/24/23; a 50% refund for notice by 4/14/23.
No refund (substitutions only) on or after 4/15/23.
Please send any notice or questions about your registration issue to the event host at aseidner@mac.com.
Covid-19 Policy
Participants are required to agree to:
1. Abide by whatever state and county regulations are in place during our event. Neither masks nor proof of vaccination are currently required.. Current info on our public health orders is at: https://coronavirus.marinhhs.org.
2. Dress in layers to ensure comfort in our seminar room which, weather permitting, affords open doors to a scenic bay, and plenty of fresh air.