It was a record-breaking year at Produce Marketing Association’s 33rd annual Foodservice Conference, including the unseasonably warm temperatures in Monterey, CA, which soared into the high 80s.

The conference by the numbers:

MONTEREY, CA — For a show that already is one of the favorites among produce industry members, the PMA Foodservice Conference & Expo managed to set the bar even higher this year, reaching new heights in a number of different categories.

The 33rd year of this popular event, held July 25-27, here, saw a record number of attendees (1,821), foodservice operators in attendance (203), booths (164), participants in the 5k race (389), and attendees of the plant and field tours (60).

Beginning with seven new fruit- or vegetable-forward offerings, Bolthouse Farms in Bakersfield, CA, has launched a new line of kid snacks designed to be sold in a healthy kids section of the produce department.

Farm Fresh Produce Inc., based in Faison, NC, hired Dennis Sever on June 26.

One might call Martin Eubanks the dean of produce marketing in South Carolina. A 28-year veteran in the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, who today is head of its marketing efforts as assistant commissioner of Agriculture, Eubanks has seen the produce industry in the Palmetto State adapt to market changes and as a result it has not only survived, but thrived. Eubanks not only serves on many industry boards and associations that kept the industry nimble, he helped start several of them.

Children and parents continue to benefit from the high level of commitment Mastronardi Produce Ltd. embraces when it comes to healthful eating and lifestyles. “As a family company, we believe in the importance of healthy lifestyles and leading by example,” Paul Mastronardi, the company’s president and chief executive officer, told The Produce News. “Our goal is to share our passion for flavor with families everywhere and to encourage healthy living through the consumption of fresh, greenhouse-grown produce.