September 30 2025
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The Summit is organized by the promotional body of Foods & Wine from Spain, and aims to enhance engagement with Spain’s key export markets. In 2023 the US imported 3.1 billion dollars worth of food and beverages from Spain. Products such as wine, spirits, water, olive oil, olives, seafood (octopus, tinned sardines, etc), pimentón, tortas, cheese, jamon, to name a few. It will take place on September 30th at Mercado Little Spain in New York, as the opening event of the 31th edition of Spain’s Great Match New York.
The Spain Advisory Councils are a joint initiative between ICEX Spain Trade and Investment and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which plans to further develop the Spain Food Nation Summit concept.
Schedule:
8:30 a.m. - Registration + coffee
9:00 a.m. - Pitch Exhibition
● Moderator: Luke Abbott Founder and CEO of Vdriven, Former President of KeHE Monterrey Provision, and Jimbo’s Naturally
● Experts:, John Lawson, Forager at Whole Foods Market; Dan Portnoy, Former Chief Merchandising Officer at The Fresh Market
● Pitch Exhibition Participants:
○ To be announced
9:40 a.m. - Coffee Break
9:50 a.m. - Welcome and Opening remarks
Ms. Elisa Carbonell CEO of ICEX Spain Trade and Investment
10:00 a.m. - Food Roundtable Discussion
● Moderator: Luke Abbott, Founder and CEO of Vdriven, Former President of KeHE Monterrey Provision, and Jimbo’s Naturally
● Panelists: John Lawson, Forager at Whole Foods Market; Dan Portnoy, Former Chief Merchandising Officer at The Fresh Market; Pere Selles, Branded Products Manager at José Andrés Group; Jennifer Sussman, VP of Category Management at The Chefs’ Warehouse
● Topics:
○ Finding and Owning Your Niche
○ Refining a Formula for Success Before Scaling
○ Developing a Winning Go-to-Market Strategy
10:50 a.m. - Coffee Break
11:00 a.m. - Wine Roundtable Discussion
● Moderator: Brandon Barcoman (Writer alt Large&Reviewer for Northwest Spain, Wine Enthusiast)
● Panelists: Susan Kilgore, SVP of Marketing at Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits; Patrick Mata, Co-Founder of Olé & Obrigado; Clay Risen, Writer and Author at The New York Times; Gretchen Thomas, Chief Creative Officer at Barcelona Wine Bar; Julie Wagner, Director of European Wine (excluding France) and Oceania at Total Wine & More
● Topics:
○ Using Storytelling to Drive Brand Equity
○ Leading with New Use Cases to Drive Discovery
○ Investing in a Winning Go-to-Market Strategy
11:50 a.m. – End
Food Roundtable Summit Panelists
Luke Abbott |
Founder and CEO of Vdriven, Former President of KeHE Monterrey Provision, and Jimbo’s Naturally |
John Lawson |
Forager at Whole Foods Market |
Dan Portnoy |
Former Chief Merchandising at the Fresh Market |
Pere Selles |
Branded Products Manager at José Andrés Group |
Jennifer Sussman |
VP of Category Management, The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. |
Wine Roundtable Summit Panelists
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Where we are
Trade Commission of Spain in New York (Embassy of Spain)
405 Lexington Ave, 47th Floor (New York, NY 10174)
(+1) 212-661-4959 / (+34) 91-732-4135