ESC GFEN NA Consortium Minutes 071620

ESC GFEN/NA Consortium Minutes from July 16, 2020 Meeting was called to order at 2:07 pm Eastern Time Attendance: Gregory Anderson Atmos Energy Patricia Riber Black Hills Energy Kristi Hardy CenterPoint Energy Ann Lovcik CenterPoint Energy Greg Denston Chesapeake Utilities Greg Tomsick Energy Solutions Center Frank Johnson Gas Technology Institute Cortney Dennis ONE Gas Garrett Hibiske Piedmont_Duke Carl Peterson Piedmont_Duke Patti Reardon Spire James Robinson Spire Ramona Stevens Spire Maru Sims TECO Peoples Gas System Update from Greg Tomsick, Relationship Manager: Greg reiterated that his schedule has been rather open since the start of COVID-19. Most events have been cancelled, but as of now the MUFSO (Multi Unit Food Service Operators) show, scheduled for September 28 – 30 in Denver, is still planning to be held as scheduled. Greg did note that he has been partaking in webinars when possible. He did share two good resources for people pertaining to the foodservice industry and COVID. The National Restaurant Association (NRA) recently sent a document to Congress which outlines what actions the government needs to undertake to support the restaurant industry right now as well as to begin to rebuild the industry in the future. According to the NRA, the restaurant industry has lost more jobs and revenue than any other industry due to COVID and this industry needs support. To read the report, entitled “Blueprint for Restaurant Revival” use this link. https://restaurantsact.com/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT1Rrek5UUTBNalZpTlRNMSIsInQiOiI1YXdyY2pNVDUxNGhLc0NHOWZHK2w0aDMyT25seGNxZHhHWFwvZzNrTm9lZVRmVkFERVcyZjFEQjlnMHlrUlNVczFpSmdpVm0rbGIwZ1F4ZGx3RDE3V21lbmt2Q3BwUm1mdE9HbVVQVzRHUExBUzN3cm81bDA4THlocytKaDQzenEifQ%3D%3D Another resource that Greg shared was Restaurants Rise by Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. Restaurants Rise debuted in early May as “an on-demand resource and education center to provide foodservice leaders with the information, inspiration and solutions to help drive business during this unprecedented time of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”. This initiative included a virtual event, Restaurants Rise Live!, which ran from June 2-5. There were twenty webinars and keynote sessions covering menu, marketing, leadership, operations and workforce strategies. The August agenda is not yet available but the link to Restaurants Rise website is as follows: https://restaurantsrise.com/resources/ If you have any questions on either the NRA or Restaurants Rise you can reach out to Greg. Virtual TMAF: Barb shared that the October TMAF has been cancelled due to COVID but that ESC was planning a virtual TMAF during the same dates, October 6 – 8. The agenda currently includes a foodservice track on the morning of October 7, and we are hoping to be able to share “live” cooking demos. It is also our intent to finally hand out the 2020 Blue Flame award! Save the dates and watch your email for additional details on registration. Fryett Study: Barb shared that Doug Fryett has started the chef preference study that was approved by the consortium. Doug started the study in late spring and hopes to share the results by late August to early September. New to this year’s study are questions pertaining to the potential requirement to buy Energy Star appliances and the electrification movement. The last time this study was completed was in 2011. Branding/Marketing Campaign: The consortium as a whole has approved moving forward with White Whale to develop a branding/marketing campaign to better position GFEN/NA to educate about natural gas with the spreading of the electrification movement as well as to develop a consistent message about who we are and what we do. Our first call with White Whale will be held on Monday afternoon, July 20. This will be an on-going topic in our monthly calls. Open Discussion Carl Peterson, Piedmont Natural Gas, started the discussion by sharing that the construction of the state-of-the-art tech center was going well. Carl has been sharing pictures of the new tech center almost weekly and they have been uploaded to the gfen site for all to watch and follow. The grand opening will be held mid-October and it will be a virtual event due to COVID. The grand opening will be a combination of videos and people speaking. Watch your email for more details. We briefly discussed the speakers for the virtual TMAF. It was mentioned that ONE Gas had produced some great videos with professional chefs entitles “Good vs Gourmet” and it might be worthwhile to invite ONE Gas to present on how the videos came about and to share a few of the videos with all. Cortney Dennis from ONE Gas was on the call and commented that Teri Green was in charge of this effort. Barb noted that she would reach out to Teri. With no further discussion the meeting was adjourned at 2:45 PM Eastern time.