This past October I attended the second annual Chesapeake Food Summit, an event designed to bring together a diverse group of leaders from the region's food system with the goal of celebrating and strengthening our ecosystem here in the Mid-Atlantic.

In a city where dozens of networking functions and expert panels happen every single day, the summit stands out as one of the most informative and engaging events I attended all year because it's all about the future of food and the people who work in it.

This year I had the honor and the pleasure to attend the summit in multiple capacities: as a partner and investor with sponsor HUNGRY, as the Board Chairman at La Cocina VA, and as an industry stakeholder with Mothersauce Partners. This vantage point gives me a unique perspective on the challenges facing our food system and the opportunities available to us as our ecosystem continues to grow.

These are the three main things I took away from this year’s summit:

1. Staying connected and conscious takes commitment.
It's easy for restaurants and food-based businesses to be disconnected from where their food comes from. The environment is fast paced and too often driven by the bottom line, which can cause owners and operators to lose sight of the source. For example, when we say food is "local" what does that really mean? Where does it come from and how does it make its way on to our plates? At Mothersauce, we believe it is critically important to understand how our food is coming to us because it is changing, and it is our goal to truly support the people who supply our food to ensure mutually beneficial, sustainable growth for the long term.

2. Mutual understanding is essential if we want to change the game.
The fact is that if farmers, fishers, and ranchers are struggling, our restaurants and food business will struggle, too. If the people who source, distribute, cook, and serve our food face challenges, our businesses will also face challenges. In order for restaurants to thrive, restaurateurs must seek to understand these issues. The summit was an amazing opportunity to get all the stakeholders in this ecosystem together in one place to explain who we, what we do and what are the challenges we face. It became clear that the only way to find workable solutions to the stressors facing our complex food system is for each of us to take the time to communicate our own needs and listen to the needs of others. Despite the fact that many of the issues presented at the summit are quite dire in both the immediate and the long term, I left feeling positive and energized by the communication and collaboration that took place between food suppliers, non-profit leaders, policy makers, donors, and restaurateurs invested in creating new ideas for lasting change. This kind of open and honest dialogue and the sharing of best practices is how we operate at Mothersauce Partners, and it was inspiring to see it happening at such a broad scale.

3. The resources to effect change exist; we just have to find them.
One of the biggest things that struck me over the course of the summit was the striking disconnect between business and government. Over and over again I encountered instances where businesses needed help and the government wanted to give it, but the path to connect the two either didn't exist or was so challenging to navigate that both parties were stuck at the start. Here again, though, I left feeling hopeful after many in-depth discussions with smart, passionate people who are committed to exploring new solutions to change the status quo. It is our goal at Mothersauce to be a bridge between government, businesses, and non-profits in order to forge a positive path forward into the future of food.

A summit is nothing without a call to action, and what we all do when we leave is what will determine how successful it was. For Mothersauce Partners, we have had a number of follow up meetings with stakeholders outside of our traditional sphere in an attempt to keep the conversation going.

Our goal in 2020 is to move from conversations to actions—we are working on implementing changes within our businesses to address the very real challenges we all face.

I hope you will join us.

3 Takeaways from the 2019 Chesapeake Food Summit