This is the underlining theme for this year’s International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association’s™ (IDDBA) conference, June 5-7 in Minneapolis: easy preparation, Easy clean-up, easy packaging, easy cooking, and easy eating.

The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul were a haven for saint and sinner during the heyday of the Prohibition era. It was a fun time of jazz singers, bootlegging, and great food. Many delis, bakeries, and grocery stores were “fronts” for speakeasies. It was the last big fling before the stock market crash.

It was the end of the mom-and-pop era of corner groceries and the beginning of today’s modern supermarkets. It was the beginning of the end of the agricultural era as people left the farm and flocked to the cities trying to find jobs. This transition followed on the heels of Henry Ford and the assembly line.

Next year, the conference goes to New Orleans, making the transition from “eat easy” to the “big easy.”

For more information about IDDBA, call 608/238-7908 or visit www.iddba.org.

Sidebar: A Piece of Cake

Three store-level cake decorators have been chosen to compete in the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association’s™ 10th annual Cake Decorating Challenge™, a featured event at the annual Dairy-Deli-Bake Seminar and Expo. The contestants represent Frys and Frys Marketplace #54 in Phoenix, Publix Supermarket #0238 in Miami, and Lamb’s Thriftway in Wilsonville, Ore. There are three phases to the Challenge: Decorate a wedding cake; decorate enough cakes to fill one bakery case; and decorate three cakes, one from each category—special occasion, theme/event, and decorator’s choice.

Sidebar: Everything You Didn’t Know About Former President Bush

Former president George H. W. Bush will be a featured speaker at the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association’s™ (IDDBA) Dairy-Deli-Bake 2005. Bush’s presentation, The West Wing: Reflections on the Presidency, will be on Sunday, June 5. Most people know a lot about the 41st president of the United States. What they don’t know is surprising. After graduating from college, the company he most wanted to work for was Proctor and Gamble. The company rejected him, setting him on the path toward the presidency. President Bush will share his thoughts and insights on his years in office, the give and take of politics, the difficulty of making hard decisions, and how the values learned at his mother’s knee guided him through his career, the Gulf War, and his presidency. And don’t miss Colin Powell, former Secretary of State’s keynote speech on Monday and NASCAR Wintson Cup Winner Kyle Petty on Tuesday.

Sidebar: Schedule-at-a-Glance

Sunday, June 5, 2005

7:30-7:50 a.m. Non-denominational Service

8:00-9:15 a.m. The Evolution of the Dairy Department (Will Cobbins, Euromonitor International, and

David Leonhardi, WWMB)

8:00-9:15 a.m. Sell More Stuff: More Pizza, More Cheese, More Rotisserie Items (Jeff Gregori, ACNielsen;

John Carter, Schwan’s Bakery Deli; and Mark Justin, Noble & Associates)

8:00-8:40 a.m. Trans Fat: The Real Skinny on What You Need to Know and Do

(Gerald McNeill, Ph.D., Loders Croklaan)

8:40-9:15 a.m. The Hispanic Bakery: Marketing with a Difference (Felipe Korzenny, Ph.D., Florida State University)

9:20-10:20 a.m. Mad Cows, Fat Bottoms, & Scary Foods (Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania)

11:30-12:30 p.m. Success is Simple, Money is Easy, Life is a Hoot! (Larry Winget, the Pit Bull of Personal Development)

12:30-5:30 p.m. Expo and the Show & Sell Merchandising Center Open

Monday, June 6, 2005

8:00-8:15 a.m. Benchmarking the Future (Ray Burke, Rich Products Corp. and IDDBA president)

8:15-9:15 a.m. Food and All That Jazz (Carol Christison, IDDBA)

10:40-11:35 a.m. Comedy, Cubicles, and Corporate Life (Scott Adams, Dilbert cartoon creator)

11:35-12:25 p.m. Leadership + Common Sense = Success (Herman Cain, Former President Godfather's Pizza)

12:30-5:30 p.m. Expo and Show & Sell Merchandising Center Open

6:30-9:30 p.m. WMMB Sponsored Party

Tuesday, June 7, 2005

8:00-9:00 a.m. Snacking Trends for Dairy, Deli, & Bakery (Brian Darr, Datassential)

10:20-11:20 a.m. Creative Ways to Rip You Off! (Harold Lloyd, Harold Lloyd Presents)

11:30-3:30 p.m. Expo and Show & Sell Merchandising Center Open

6:00-10:00 p.m. Reception and Awards Banquet