Monday, March 7
7:30 am – 8:30 am
Grand Ballroom, South Hall S100
Top Trends 2022: A New Focus on Creating Value and Attracting Demand
In this environment of economic and social uncertainty, consumers turn to a recognized set of standards when making purchase decisions. But these ‘value drivers’ are shifting to reflect changing consumer needs and lifestyles. Successful assortment and marketing strategies will depend on an awareness of (and response to) these critical shifts. Tom Mirabile, Principal of Springboard Futures and Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf, Founder of Project Partners Network will unveil The 2022 Value Equation Index, illuminating new research revealing the 12 most important elements influencing the purchase decisions of Home and Housewares products. Industry experts will make guest appearances, sharing their opinions and insights on creating value for a changing consumer.
Tom Mirabile, Principal, Springboard Futures
Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf, Founder, Project Partners Network
8:00 am – 11:30 am
North Building N226
Housewares Credit Group (HCG) Meeting
IHA has partnered with RiemerPlus to form the Housewares Credit Group (HCG). HCG will assist in identifying credit risk, continuously monitor your customer base for emerging delinquency and provide a platform for sharing critical credit information and networking opportunities. This first meeting of HCG will focus on key accounts including: Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Wal-Mart, At Home, Sur La Table, Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Tuesday Morning, Marmasxx Group, Belk Stores, JC Penny, Hudson Bay, Canadian Tire Corp, QVC, Wayfair and more. The meeting will include round table discussions with finance executives of IHA members and the experts at RiemerPlus. The meeting will include: Presentation by Dennis Cantalupo, CEO, Pulse Ratings: Retail 2022…What’s Next Educational Workshop led by Chaim Morgan, Director of Business Development: Refund Sniper: Reconciling Deduction Claims from Amazon All IHA member companies are invited to attend but must preregister. Participation limited to finance, non-sales roles within IHA member companies.
Dennis Cantalupo, CEO, Pulse Ratings
Chaim Morgan, Director of Business Development, Refund Sniper
9:30 am – 10:20 am
Lakeside Center, Level 3 E350
2022’s New Ecommerce Playbook
Ecommerce has changed! Accelerated growth, new technology, and a shifting consumer landscape is driving innovation and new opportunity for ecommerce enabled brands. Dive into an ROI-driven conversation with experts from one of the top US ecommerce agencies and BigCommerce, the leading D2C and B2B ecommerce platform. Topics will address shifts in marketing ROAS, content consumption, new technologies, and more.
Jordan Brannon, Coalition Technologies
Jenna Galardi, Big Commerce
Aaron Conant, BWG Connect
10:00 am – 10:45 am
South Building S5027
Sarah Grueneberg
Since her childhood cooking with her grandparents on their ranch in Victoria, Texas, Sarah Grueneberg knew she was destined to work in the culinary world. Originally from Houston, Grueneberg moved to Chicago in 2005 to join the team at the award-winning Spiaggia under the leadership of Tony Mantuano. Beginning as a line cook, she quickly rose the ranks to Chef di Cucina in 2008 and then Executive Chef in 2010. During her tenure as Executive Chef, Spiaggia was awarded one Michelin Star for three consecutive years. After graduating from culinary school in 2001, she started her first career-changing job with a position at the iconic Brennan’s of Houston and by 2003 was named the restaurant’s youngest female sous chef. Grueneberg has traveled throughout Italy, Asia, Europe and the U.S., which has inspired her culinary approach of “following the food” and truly understanding “the dish” by knowing the people and culture that created it. In 2017, Grueneberg received the James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Chef: Great Lakes” and was a semifinalist for “Outstanding Chef” in the 2019 & 2020 awards. Grueneberg has been a competitor and finalist on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Texas” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef Gauntlet.” She has also been named a “Rising Star Chef” by Chicago Social magazine in 2009 and 2016 and Eater Chicago’s “Chef of the Year” in the 2011 Eater Awards. Grueneberg is chef/partner of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio in Chicago’s West Loop, which she opened in November 2015 with business partner and long-time friend, Meg Sahs. The restaurant has received acclaimed reviews from various outlets, including a three-star review from The Chicago Tribune. In 2016, Monteverde was named one of Food & Wine’s “America’s Best Restaurants,” a top 50 finalist in Bon Appetit’s “Best New Restaurants,” Eater’s “21 Best New Restaurants in America,” GQ’s “12 Best New Restaurants,” Eater Chicago’s “Restaurant of the Year,” the “Worth the Wait” award in the Chicago Tribune Dining Awards and named one of Chicago Magazine’s “15 Best New Restaurants.” In 2017, Monteverde was named one of “America’s 38 Essential Restaurants” by Eater and then awarded “Restaurant of the Year” in the 2018 Jean Banchet Awards. In fall 2022, Grueneberg will publish her first cookbook, Listen To Your Vegetables. Sponsored by Monteverde Chicago.
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
South Building S5027
Fabio Viviani
Fabio Viviani, born and raised in Florence, Italy, is best known for his participation in Bravo’s Top Chef seasons 5 and 8 – earning him the “Fan Favorite” title. His on-screen appearances and off-screen successes have propelled him to become one of the most influential culinary and hospitality names in the country. In 2005, Viviani moved to California, where he opened his first US-based restaurants – Café Firenze, Firenze Osteria, Bar Firenze and Mercato by Fabio Viviani – all in the Los Angeles area. In 2013, he teamed up with DineAmic Hospitality, and launched Siena Tavern, Bar Siena, Prime & Provisions, Builders Building and BomboBar in Chicago. Expanding his reach into the hotel management business in 2018, Viviani teamed up with Cicero Hospitality for hotel business in Chicago with the flagship brand “Osteria by Fabio Viviani.” In 2019, Fabio Viviani Hospitality partnered with Magna Hospitality to develop culinary cuisines in Hilton’s Curio hotels. Locations include Curfew in Memphis’ Canopy hotel and Riviera by Fabio Viviani in Ft Lauderdale’s Hotel Maren, with locations in Boston, New York and Ohio to open in 2022. Sponsored by FabioViviani.com.
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Grand Ballroom, South Hall S100
Evolve, Experience and Express: Future Color/Design Trends
Based on lifestyles and workstyles that are in a dynamic state of change, color and design trends are multi-faceted. As we adapt to the challenges of supply chain issues and inventory management, on the ongoing shift to digital strategies and products, and the need to flourish in new markets, we depend on forecasts that will help us better understand the need and mindsets of our customers and/or clients. It is important that we enable them to evolve in their thinking, engage their interest, to better experience and express their needs and goals through the use of our products or services. IHA’s long-standing color/design guru, Leatrice Eiseman, Director of the Eiseman Center for Color Information and Training and the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute will guide us through the carefully curated seven palettes that explain the relevance of the outstanding future influences and specific directions in color and design.
Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm
South Building S5027
Gale Gand
Gale Gand is a pastry chef and chef and was a co-founder and partner in the Michelin two-star restaurant, Tru, in Chicago. She hosted Food Network’s long-running show Sweet Dreams currently streaming on Discovery Plus; is the author of eight cookbooks; and worked with Julia Child on her book and PBS series, Baking with Julia. Gand teaches cooking classes all over the country and is an artisanal soda pop maker, producing Gale’s Root Beer, which is sold nationally. She has received two James Beard Awards, has been inducted to the American Academy of Chefs and the Chicago Chefs Hall of Fame and was schooled in Paris at La Varenne. Gand appears at many Food & Wine Festivals across the country and is a professional Pie and Food Competition Judge. She recently started Kitchen Sisters Cooking School, a virtual school, with Chef Jessica Dawson. Sponsored by TRU & Food Network’s Sweet Dreams.
1:00 pm – 1:50 pm
Lakeside Center, Level 3 E350
Creating a Better Circle: Materials Innovator and Brands Develop Recycling Loops
Eastman, a materials innovation company and molecular recycling pioneer, will discuss what’s working – and what still needs to be overcome – to create a truly circular plastics stream. Hear real-world examples of successes and failures for a high-level roadmap for how companies can collaborate to create a better circle for plastics. Consumers expect recycled content and recyclability from the products they purchase. It sounds so easy. The world is awash in plastic waste, can’t we just pluck it out of the environment and recycle it? Yes…if only we had the infrastructure in place to get the waste from where it is to the companies that can recycle it. The solution? Design with the end in mind, and work to make the end better. Organizations have recycled content goals for plastic packaging but supplies of recycled content are limited and expensive. This session will show attendees how they can work to make circular, recycled content a reality.
Brad Moncla, Eastman
2:00 pm – 2:50 pm
Lakeside Center Lobby E350
Retail 360: Redefining the Customer Experience
Join our Gia Judges, Wolfgang Gruschwitz, Scott Kohno, Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen and Anne Kong to discuss key elements of a successful retail operation in 2022, offering updated expert advice on functions from store planning and marketing to visual merchandising and the use of digital technologies.
Wolfgang Gruschwitz, Gruschwitz GMBH
Scott Kohno, Retail Element, LLC
Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen, ReisbyConsult APS
Anne Kong, A + D Kong
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
South Building S5027
Will Brown
Will Brown is a native of Sugarland Texas, and has resided in Atlanta, Ga., for more than 18 years. His cooking roots stem back to his upbringing in Opelousas, La., where, as a young boy, his grandmother taught him how to prepare authentic creole dishes such as gumbo, beignets, boudin balls and shrimp creole. Already a trailblazer in the Metro Atlanta culinary circuit, Brown opened the doors to his highly anticipated new food concept, Creole Kitchen, which has catapulted into many successes for the chef turned restaurateur. Brown has appeared on Food Network’s sixth season of Cutthroat Kitchen and is appearing on a new show on Fox Network. Sponsored by Creole Kitchen, Creole Seasoning.
3:00 pm – 3:50 pm
Lakeside Center Lobby E350
The Future of Home is Analog
Digital devices are more integrated into our lives than ever before. But with the increased connectedness, our wellness, productiveness and children’s health are paying the price. Now, more than ever, consumers need an enhanced analog experience when it comes to work, play, and the home, one where technology supports wellbeing and conveniences aren’t sacrificed. In this session, you’ll learn why it’s more important than ever to develop products that provide enhanced analog experiences—ones where you get the benefits of a distraction and clutter-free experience without losing the conveniences high tech solutions provide. And how to best communicate those benefits through various retail experiences Why digital and connectedness isn’t always the answer for creating happier homesWhy the experience someone will have is more important than the tech they are using How enhanced analog technologies can help us unplug and be more organized and productive.
Hunter Morris, Boogie Board
