The whirlwind of meeting as many prospects, shippers, and carriers as possible can make you feel overwhelmed with the possibilities of fresh opportunities of new business as well as expanding current business. The event drew 20,889 attendees from 65 countries. By the time I finished meeting everyone I could, I was overwhelmed because of the sheer magnitude of the event.

 

However, this event was a chance for Allen Lund Company to show off our core values of Family, Integrity, and Community to the produce world. Certainly, we could have stayed at a convenient, upscale hotel near the epicenter of the hustle and bustle of the convention center in downtown Orlando, but Allen Lund Company opted for something so much more meaningful.

 

We stayed at the legendary Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Club and Lodge which, I feel gets to the very root of the Allen Lund Company and exemplifies the values that brought Allen Lund Company to where we are today.

 

Arnold Palmer was many things to many people...world famous golf immortal and sportsman, highly-successful business executive, prominent advertising spokesman, skilled aviator, devoted family patriarch and a man with a down-to-earth common touch that made him one of the most popular and accessible public figures in history.

 

The parallels to Arnold Palmer's legacy, and that of the Lund family was not lost on me.

 

Besides the magnificent performance record, his magnetic personality and unfailing sense of kindness and thoughtfulness to everybody with whom he came in contact with has endeared him to millions throughout the world and led to the informal formation of the largest non-uniformed "military" organization in existence...Arnie's Army.

 

In this business loyalty and respect can make or break you...we are Allen's Army.

 

The importance of the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit cannot be overstated. It places the Allen Lund Company on a grand stage, and lets the story and saga of the Allen Lund Company's core values become a mainstay in our community. This business is more than a paycheck to so many people we come into contact with every day...people will remember Allen Lund Company, and events like the PMA Fresh Summit which help us to reach out to the masses.

PMA and ALC represent integrity in the industry and as Mr. Palmer's website states, A Life Well Played. In this business loyalty and respect make or break you...we are Allen's Army.