Meet Phil

Phil Kafarakis is an American businessman - a globally recognized and respected food industry insider with an insatiable appetite for all things business! With more than 30 years of leadership experience across all segments of the agri-business landscape, Phil is a trusted Board, CEO and Government Trade Agency advisor, mentor and confidante. Recently, Phil was appointed President & CEO of The International Foodservice Manufacturers Association.

With a proven reputation as an food industry advocate, Phil possesses a unique ability to access an extensive and influential network of food industry leaders; powerful C-suite decision-makers, entrepreneurs, qualified investors and government policy makers. His leadership experience in advising young start-ups and global enterprises focused on penetrating the U.S. food industry is well documented within the B2B food industry trade press.

Industry Leadership

Phil serves as a trade association President & CEO after decades of executive leadership at several global food companies, he continues to operate within the cross-roads of the global food industry. Always pursuing an opportunity to learn, to inspire transformation and to build lasting businesses.

Mr. Kafarakis is a leading advocate and authority in the $1.4 Trillion Food-Away-From-Home industry. Phil’s industry experience also includes an intimate understanding of the $160 billion U.S. specialty food industry, one of the fastest growing food segments in the world. He is a globally sought after media source given his industry insider status and is often quoted by a variety of press including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Financial Times, Food Navigator, Food Business News, and others. At the same time, Phil is a popular Forbes contributor reporting on global Agri-business, specifically the Food & Beverage industry. Phil’s editorials have been published in a variety of food industry press including; Progressive Grocer, FoodDive, The Hill, Food Engineering, Ivey Business Journal, SmartBrief, and Food Quality & Safety magazine. Mr. Kafarakis is also a frequent speaker, moderator and facilitator at global business events, conferences and company retreats focused on topics such as, the future of the U.S. Food Industry, disruptive innovation, responsible entrepreneurship, and strategy development focused on transformation. Phil has regularly presented customized perspective across the United States, Europe, UAE and China.

Non-profit Leadership

Most recently, Phil was appointed the President & CEO of the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA), a non-profit trade organization representing foodservice manufacturers in the $1.4 Trillion U.S. Food-Away-From-Home industry segment, previously he was the former president of the Specialty Food Association. The SFA is a non-profit trade association representing more than 4,000 food artisans, importers, buyers, distributors, and other entrepreneurs in the U.S. and abroad spearheading innovation in the $160 billion specialty food industry.

Mr. Kafarakis is credited with responsibly navigating the SFA through the impact of COVID-19 so the organization could serve and guide it’s members while remaining financially secure. The accelerated transformation of the more than 65 year old organization, recognized globally for producing the internationally renowned Winter and Summer Fancy Food Shows, an annual Specialty Food Business Summit, the sofi™ Awards honoring excellence in specialty foods, an online Product Marketplace, and the award-winning Specialty Food Magazine, is work attributed to Kafarakis’s unrelenting leadership. The prestigious SFA State of the Specialty Food Industry and Consumer research continues to be published annually and is globally recognized as the "go-to" source for planning strategy and understanding the U.S. marketplace.

During the four years Kafarakis led the SFA, he developed and implemented the SFA’s Forward2022 strategic plan - created Incubator Village to highlight new product innovation from emerging new companies, built the LevelUP premier experience for more than 3,000 qualified industry buyers at SFA events both domestic and global, recruited and mentored talent as well as produced the “Disrupt or Be Disrupted” panel series at the SFA Fancy Food Shows to highlight young entrepreneurs. Phil’s leadership also enabled the development of contemporary and relevant branding for the SFA, the repositioning of the Fancy Food Show franchise to a qualified B2B industry commercial event, modernization of the SFA media platform (The FEED) and pioneered global partnerships between the association and Food Marketing Institute (FMI), National Grocers Association (NGA), National Restaurant Association (NRA), Comexposium’s SIAL, CIBUS/Parma, TUTTOFOOD/Milano, Enterprise Greece, the American Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, and Seeds&Chips - Milan.

Phil’s most impactful and lasting contribution to the almost 70 year non-profit was the appointment of new legal counsel (Arnt Fox) in 2019 and the collaborative development and implementation of world-class governance. A critical element of Phil’s legacy is the ethical leadership he demonstrated at a time of Board chaos, as a result of an attack on the SFA’s non-profit status by an expelled former Board Chairman. The defense and protection of the organizations’ charter and by-laws that Phil led with the then Board remains intact, despite on-going baseless litigation and vengeful personal attacks that are being pursued by the disgraced ex-Board Member. Integrity, truth to power and the unwavering commitment to put the organization first have always been character traits that distinguish Mr. Kafarakis as a global leader and industry advocate.

"The Specialty Food Association has undergone a significant transformation over the past few years and we sincerely thank Phil for his leadership and guidance in pioneering programs that will have a lasting impact on the SFA and its over 4,000 Members,” said Becky Renfro Borbolla, Board Co-Chair. “We intend to build on these initiatives to continue the advancement of the association for years to come.”

Phil is also prominently involved in legislative and regulatory policy and he regularly provides comments on behalf of the industry to the U.S. Trade Representative, Congressional leaders and government influencers. He is affiliated with a prominent DC lobby firm and recently was heavily involved in global trade legislation, organic and GMO label definition policy.

Prior to his appointment as SFA President, Kafarakis served as the Chief Innovation & Member Advancement Officer at the National Restaurant Association, the leading business association for the $900 billion restaurant industry that employees more than 16 million people. Under Kafarakis’ leadership, the NRA expanded member products and engagement programs by building an Insurance Exchange to assist members with ACA legislation, acquiring National Registry of Food Safety Professionals to extend the ServSafe® training program, increasing allied membership, enhancing the NRA Show through creating the Signature Leadership Keynote and Incubator Alley, as well as transforming the NRA Restaurant Innovation Summit.

Corporate Leadership

During Phil’s years of C-Suite leadership experience in the global food and beverage industry, he led businesses at McCormick & Co., where he created McCormick for Chefs; Cargill, where he was instrumental in developing the Brand Management Solutions, LLC business unit; Jones Dairy Farm where he led the Snow Brand Foods JV in Japan; and Kraft where he mastered the basics of sales and marketing. He is a current member of the ASAE’s Key Industry Association Committee and has served on the board of Meals on Wheels.

Phil volunteers his time as a global mentor within the Endeavour LLC a young entrepreneurs network, teaching and guiding early food start-up founders the principals of diversity, equity and inclusion, compassionate capitalism and social responsibility as they navigate the challenges of launching innovation.

Service & Philanthropy

Mr. Kafarakis is a devote Greek Orthodox Christian faithfully serving the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church as an Archon within the Order of St. Andrew, dedicated to defending religious freedom around the world. Phil’s philanthropic stewardship extends to 14 various Greek Orthodox parishes across the country during his years of being promoted professionally while pursuing a successful career in the food industry, he also serves the Greek Orthodox community nationally as a Leadership 100 member. As a principal benefactor of the newly constructed church at his home parish of Sts. Constantine & Helen of Washington, D.C. in Silver Spring, Maryland, Phil and his family are active locally despite living in New York City. The Kafarakis Family generosity extends to Greece on the island of Lefkada, caring for an orphanage and a nursing home.

Phil was born in Athens, Greece and immigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child. He and his wife, Katherine have four adult children living in Phoenix, AZ and Washington D.C. and they both are also caretakers of Phil’s 90 year old mother. Mr. Kafarakis holds an International Executive MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a BSBA from Northern Arizona University.