FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2023
Contact: NGA Communications Office
202-938-2584
communications@nationalgrocers.org
Celebrity Chef Carla Hall to Deliver Keynote Address at 2024 NGA Show
'Top Chef' veteran, TV host and author to open annual gathering of independent grocers in Las Vegas
Washington, DC, and Shelton, CT – The National Grocers Association (NGA), the trade association representing the independent supermarket industry, welcomes celebrity chef Carla Hall as the keynote speaker for the 2024 NGA Show, to be held March 10-12, 2024, at the Caesars Forum Convention Center in Las Vegas.
The opening keynote session is sponsored by The Kraft Heinz Company. The annual trade show and conference is being produced by NGA and Clarion Events.
After appearances on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef: All Stars,” Hall spent seven years co-hosting ABC’s Emmy-winning lifestyle series “The Chew.” She is currently featured on Food Network shows such as “Thanksgiving, Holiday and Halloween Baking Championships” and “Worst Cooks in America.” Her most recent cookbook, “Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration,” published in 2018, landed on annual “Best Cookbook” lists across the country and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.
“We are thrilled to have Carla Hall, a dynamic entrepreneur, chef and female leader, as the 2024 NGA Show keynote speaker,” said Greg Ferrara, NGA president and CEO. “Carla’s tremendous positive energy, her love of food and her experiences pushing outside of her comfort zone to tackle her fears will resonate with NGA Show attendees and will be the perfect kickoff to another successful grocery industry gathering.”
Born in Nashville, Hall believes food connects us all, and she strives to communicate this through her work, her cooking and in her daily interactions with others.
Hall’s journey to becoming a chef has been a winding road. A graduate of Howard University’s business school, she worked as an accountant for two years before deciding to switch gears to work as a runway model. It was during that time, as she traveled (and ate) her way through Europe for a few years, that she realized her deep-rooted passion for food could be her career path. Today, she is a trained chef who has worked in several professional restaurant kitchens in and around the Washington, D.C., area.
Hall’s other cookbooks are “Carla’s Comfort Food: Favorite Dishes from Around the World” and “Cooking with Love: Comfort Food that Hugs You.” In November 2021, she published her debut picture book, “Carla and the Christmas Cornbread,” a heartwarming tale loosely based on Hall’s childhood growing up in Nashville that celebrates family traditions, old and new, and also includes a child-friendly Christmas cornbread recipe.
Find more information about and register for The NGA Show at https://www.thengashow.com/welcome.
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The NGA Show has been the place where independent grocers gather for more than 40 years, connecting supermarket retailers and wholesalers, food manufacturers and service providers from around the world to share innovative solutions and best practices that support and strengthen the independent supermarket channel. The NGA Show is produced and managed by Clarion Events as part of the Food & Beverage Group in partnership with the National Grocers Association (NGA). For more information and to register, visit www.theNGAshow.com.
The National Grocers Association is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale community grocers that comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry. An independent retailer is a privately owned or controlled food retail company operating a variety of formats. The independent grocery sector is accountable for about 1.2 percent of the nation’s overall economy and is responsible for generating more than $250 billion in sales, 1.1 million jobs, $39 billion in wages and $36 billion in taxes. NGA members include retail and wholesale grocers located in every congressional district across the country, as well as state grocers’ associations, manufacturers and service suppliers. For more information about NGA, visit www.nationalgrocers.org.
Clarion Events (US.ClarionEvents.com) produces 37 events across 13 sectors of both trade and consumer events. Clarion Events, which is the U.S. division of Clarion Events UK and backed by The Blackstone Group, has become one of the fastest-growing event companies in the U.S. with aggressive growth through both acquisition and launch. Clarion acquired PennWell in early 2018, bringing four Tradeshow 200 events into the U.S. portfolio and supercharging the already rapid growth. Clarion Events has offices in Shelton, CT; Tulsa, OK; Tacoma, WA; and Fairlawn, NJ. www.US.ClarionEvents.com.