LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 10, 2022 / Clarion Events Food & Beverage Group is thrilled to announce a dynamic keynote discussion that has just been added to the line-up for the upcoming Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo. On Sunday, August 28 at 1:45 pmScottie Pippen, NBA veteran and world champion and Dave Phinney, Napa wine legend and creative mastermind behind Savage & Cooke Distillery, will take Center Stage to discuss Wine, Whiskey & Winning. The panel will be moderated by Nightlife & Hospitality Expert Art Sutley in the exhibit hall at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Pippen will then stay to help judge the Hip Sip Competition: Bourbon Edition which will feature the duos new Digits Bourbon brand. For more information, visit www.westernfoodexpo.com.

"We invite all restaurant, beverage and foodservice professionals to join us for this must-attend event, which will highlight how Phinney and Pippen became all-stars in their respective fields, with a love for bourbon bringing their paths together. Show participants will uncover how integrating craft spirits into beverage programs can meet the demand for spirits, increase bar revenues and craft new cocktails," saidRita Ugianskis, Vice President, Clarion Events Food & Beverage Group. "As a team, Phinney and Pippen share a strong, competitive nature for delivering Digits Bourbon, a quality bourbon that will ignite any on-premise location's offerings.

A 17-year NBA veteran, Scottie Pippen played in 1,178 games and averaged 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists and 1.96 steals during an illustrious career that placed him among the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all-time in 1996 and brought the Bulls six NBA World Championship titles (1991-93, 1996-98).

Pippen led his teams to postseason appearances in each of his first 16 seasons and compiled NBA Playoff averages of 17.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.96 steals in 208 games. At the time of his retirement, Pippen's 208 career playoff appearances ranked second in NBA history behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 237. During his 12 years in a Bulls uniform, the 6-8, 228-pound forward/guard affixed his name at or very near the top of every major statistical category in franchise history. At the time of his retirement, Pippen was the team's all-time leader in three-point field goals (664) and three-point field goal attempts (2,031), and ranked second in 12 other categories.

Dave Phinney has a colorful, storied history in the craft beverage world. Twenty years ago, he took a friend up on an offer to spend a semester "studying" in Florence, Italy. This trip sparked what would become lifelong passions - history, agriculture, winemaking and the profound act of turning something from the earth into a beverage. After this epic trip, Dave moved to the Napa Valley and landed a job at the Robert Mondavi Winery in 1997 as a temporary harvest worker. He decided that if he was going to work this hard, it would eventually have to be for himself. So, in 1998 he founded his first brand with two tons of zinfandel and not much else. He spent the next decade making wine for others as well as himself and has since grown several companies into multinational brands. During this time, Dave also became increasingly interested in spirits. In 2016, Dave started the Savage & Cooke distillery. He applied all that he learned over the years in winemaking and took a very different approach, notably finishing all of his spirits in wine barrels from his collection of projects. Dave decided to base Savage & Cooke on Mare Island, which is renowned for its rich history and architecture.

The keynote will be moderated by Art Sutley, Nightlife & Hospitality Expert, and one of the industry experts behind Bar Business Magazine. As an educator in the industry, he speaks at many of the top restaurant and cocktail tradeshows globally. Art has appeared on the Paramount Network's hit TV Show Bar Rescue as a Recon Expert assisting host and industry expert Jon Taffer. Most recently Art has joined the team at Savage & Cooke Distillery.

From Sunday, August 28 through Tuesday, August 30 the Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo and Coffee Fest Los Angeles will showcase hundreds of leading vendors, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, demonstrating and sampling the newest food products, technology and equipment for the restaurant, foodservice, specialty beverage and hospitality markets. The Show Floor is now accepting applications for new vendors. For companies interested in exhibiting, contact Brian Bernstein, Show Manager at (203) 484-8056 or brian.bernstein@clarionevents.com. For access to the most up-to-date floor plan, click here.

The Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo is owned by Clarion Events Food & Beverage Group and sponsored by the California Restaurant Association. Clarion Events (us.clarionevents.com) produces 37 events across thirteen sectors of both trade and consumer events. The Clarion Events Food & Beverage Group also includes the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show, the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York, Coffee Fest and The NGA Show. Clarion Events acquired PennWell in early 2018, bringing 4 Tradeshow 200 events into the U.S. portfolio and super-charging the already rapid growth. Clarion Events has offices in Trumbull, CT; Kennesaw, GA; Boca Raton, FL; Tacoma, WA, and Fairlawn, NJ.

For further Information, Contact:
Amy Riemer, Media Relations
978-475-4441 (office) or 978-502-4895 (cell)
amy@riemercommunications.com

SOURCE: Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo