HITEC 2001 Interviews - The ViaLink Company - Mr. Mark Bromberg - President Foodservice & Hospitality

About The viaLink Company
The viaLink Company VLNK is a leading supply chain management company providing business-to-business electronic commerce services that enable bricks and mortar companies to manage their highly complex supply chain information. viaLink's core service, syncLinkSM, allows manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, sales agencies (food brokers), retailers and foodservice operators to communicate and synchronize item, price and promotion information in a more cost-effective and accessible way than has been possible using traditional electronic and paper-based methods. The viaLink Partner Package is a suite of advanced e-commerce services which give trading partners visibility into product movement through the supply chain and enable more collaborative business processes. These services include clearLinkSM, promoLinkSM, honor check-in and sbtLinkSM. For more information, visit viaLink's website: www.vialink.com.

Bio Mark Bromberg
President - Foodservice & Hospitality
Mr. Bromberg joined viaLink in May 2000 as President of Food Service and Hospitality. His career spans more than 25 years in the restaurant and hospitality industries, most recently as founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Group, L.L.C., a portfolio company of casual dining restaurants. He has served on the boards of numerous foodservice and hospitality industry companies and associations in both the U.S. and Canada. In addition, he is a visiting lecturer at Cornell University's School of Hotel and Restaurant Management and serves on the advisory board of the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourist Management at the University of Denver. Mr. Bromberg received both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration from Cornell University.

Covered Interview Topics

• Topic #1: "A Professional Epiphany: Out of the kitchen and onto the Internet" - If 25 years in the restaurant and hospitality industries taught Mark Bromberg anything, it's that the foodservice supply chain is plagued by inefficiencies. As a former operator and chief executive officer of several of North America's larger restaurant chains, Mr. Bromberg has a unique perspective on how to solve the aches and pains of poor communications along the supply chain. In this interview, Mr. Bromberg will discuss how his belief in data synchronization led him to switch from operations to the service side of the industry. Prior to joining The viaLink Company as President of the Foodservice & Hospitality Group, he founded and served as the president and chief executive officer of Pinnacle Group, L.L.C, a portfolio company of casual dining restaurants. Prior to Pinnacle, Mr. Bromberg served with PepsiCo as president and chief executive officer of East Side Mario's Restaurants, Inc., a division of Pizza Hut, and as the founder and president of Toronto-based Prime Restaurant Group, a multi-brand operator and franchiser of casual dining restaurants operating across Canada.
• Topic #2: "Data Synchronization: A Potent prescription for hospitality supply chain inefficiencies" - The hospitality industry, like the foodservice, grocery, automotive and high technology industries, is beginning to recognize the many benefits and new opportunities created for the food and beverage operations through data synchronization and B2B e-commerce. But as other industries have discovered, stumbling blocks exist for those eager to jump on the fast-moving bandwagon of e-business. The most troublesome problems are often those related to the accuracy of data exchanged between trading partners. The resulting invoice errors drive up costs, and resolving these discrepancies wastes staff time that could be better spent servicing customers, building sales and solving critical problems. In this interview, Mr. Bromberg will discuss how industry leaders, exchanges, and emarketplaces are addressing these issues with data synchronization and related services.
• Topic #3: "Be the hero of your company with synchronized data" - No matter where your company sits in the hospitality food and beverage supply chain - manufacturer, broker, distributor or operator - there are numerous, proven benefits to be gained through the use of synchronized data for item, price and contract related information. Mr. Bromberg will discuss why synchronization is foundational to any B2B e-commerce initiative, as well as how you can make it happen at your company. He will also explain how the benefits of data synchronization are available to all participants in the hospitality food and beverage supply chain.