SHFM Then & Now hough the Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management is only officially T 45 years old, the group really came about as a result of banks and other companies providing free lunches to their employees in the early 19th century. World War I perpetuated and fueled this need for at-work meals as production needed to be met to support the war effort. By the end of the second World War, there were nearly 13,000 American industrial plants that offered their employees some kind of foodservice, according to the SHFM. That number swelled to more than 60 percent of corporations by the 1950s. What does all this have to do with a trade organization? Well, as there was a groundswell of people working to produce a great number of meals for employees, there was a need for training, sharing best practices and education. Thus, in late 1950, the National Industrial Cafeteria Managers Association (NICMA) was created. But that was only for self operators, leaving companies that outsourced this valuable work out of the mix. These corporations that worked with caterers would hire liaisons to oversee and audit the work being done by the catering companies. So that group of foodservice management contractors and liaisons formed their own trade organization called the Association for Food Service Management (AFSM) in the early 1970s. The reason that these two groups came together can largely be credited to Richard Ysmael, a major self operator, who was managing NICMA and then became more involved with AFSM.
It wouldn’t be easy to get these two sets of people to come together though. According to the SHFM, it took two years for a meeting to even be scheduled between the board of directors of NICMA and AFSM. But the two groups eventually met and in June of 1979, the Society for Foodservice Management was formed. The newly-combined trade organization had 240 members. The SHFM, even with a different name, has always been focused on pushing the industry forward and encouraging change. In October of 2013, the group became the SHFM. This trade organization currently has several membership options including military, supplier, education, emeritus for self-operators/client liaisons, integrated facility managers, and contract managers. Member benefits include various networking opportunities where industry leaders connect with each other to share best practices and become leads, $200 savings on national conference registration, $130 savings on the Critical Issues Conference and Young Professionals Summit, free access to SHFM original research including the conference center and hospitality and benchmarking study as well as an online career center and monthly e- newsletter. Qualifying SHFM members can also participate in the Young Professional Rising Star and Julie Flik Rising Star Continuation Scholarship programs. There are upcoming events in Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, New England and North Texas for members to take part in.
It seemed silly to him that these two groups whose only difference was the makeup of their personnel didn’t combine their strengths and resources.
HOSPITALITY NEWS FEB | Page 09
Powered by FlippingBook