Request for Proposals
The National Rural Grocery Summit, hosted every other year, is the premier networking and resource-sharing venue for independent grocers and rural food access stakeholders. It brings together grocery store owners and managers, community leaders, food suppliers, academic researchers, healthy food access stakeholders, policy makers, and funders to connect and share lessons learned. The event is focused on sustaining locally-owned rural grocery stores and improving access to healthy food in rural communities.
We invite you to submit a proposal to share your work at this important conference. We are seeking presentations, panel discussions, workshops and posters that relate to summit objectives and suggested topic areas. Proposals should be submitted online by 11:59 PM Central on October 1, 2025.
Click here to download the complete Request for Proposals (RFP) for more details on presentation formats, submission requirements, and more. Please read the entire RFP before submitting a proposal.
Summit Objectives
- Explore the connections between rural grocery operations and community prosperity
- Provide rural grocery store owners and rural grocery stakeholders the opportunity to network and learn from each other
- Highlight innovative models and strategies for strengthening healthy food retail in rural communities
- Chart a path for robust rural food systems that improve the health and well-being of rural communities
Key Dates
- Presentation Proposal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM Central
- Selected Presenter Notification: December 2025
- Conference: May 5 - 7, 2026
Potential Topic Areas
Topics to be covered at the NRG Summit include, but are not limited to:
- Rural grocery best practices: This could include ways to increase sales, attract new customers, handle produce, recruit and retain employees, overcome challenges, build customer loyalty, increase business value, plan for transition, and more.
- Rural grocery stores as community builders: This could include examples of community-led rural food access efforts, partnerships among grocers, rural grocery as part of broader community planning and development efforts, and connection to broader community health and Food as/is Medicine programs.
- Equity in rural food systems: This could include experiences supporting rural food access in historically marginalized or underserved communities, as well as innovative examples of programs that encourage rural grocery led by Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs.
- Rural grocery policy and legislation: This could include discussion of relevant state or federal grocery or rural food access policies and/or legislation, overview of fair pricing efforts related to grocery, and tools for rural grocers to engage with policymakers.
- Industry trends and competitive landscape: This could include an overview of the grocery industry, basics of operating a rural grocery store, and strategies for operating in a competitive landscape.
- Innovation in rural food access: This could include emerging grocery models, rural food distribution solutions, creative partnerships, alternative ownership models, and strategies to address rural grocery challenges.
- Local food system connections: This could include strategies for sourcing local products in local grocery stores, partnerships with local producers or other food systems stakeholders to build capacity for the local food system, etc.
- Resources (financial and informational): This could include startup grocery resources, information on funding programs, getting the most out of wholesalers and supplying your store without a mainline wholesaler, and resources for rural grocery advocates.
Click here to download the complete Request for Proposals (RFP) for more details on presentation formats, submission requirements, and more. Please read the entire RFP before submitting a proposal.
Questions?
To learn more about the Rural Grocery Initiative, please visit www.ruralgrocery.org. For additional questions about the initiative or the summit, please contact us at rgi@ksu.edu.