67TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF
THE FOOD DISTRIBUTION RESEARCH SOCIETY
October 3-7, 2026 | Hershey, PA
FDRS’s 2026 Annual Conference will be held in the “Snack Food Capital of the World” home to Synders of Hanover, Hershey’s Chocolate World, and Utz, to name a few!
Book your reservation at the Hershey Lodge now!
The room block is set up to accept online reservations at the Hershey Lodge. Hershey Lodge is using a new online booking system, so guests must use only the web address below to make their reservations. Please copy and paste the link into a new browser any time you need to visit the site.
Room Reservation Link: https://book.rguest.com/wbe/group/1294/Hersheylodge/auth
Group ID: a06Qj00000kZYh4IAG
General Attendee Passcode: FDRS2026
Important notes:
- Guests may see a message of no availability- please let them know they need to search their specific dates of stay to see room availability.
- Group numbers and passcodes are space- and case-sensitive!
Guests who prefer to call to make reservations may call 855-729-3108 and ask for the room block for Food Distribution Research at the Hershey Lodge, October 2-7, 2026. The Hershey Lodge reservations team is available seven days a week from 8 AM – 8 PM to assist our attendees.
Our Group Room rate is: $219.00 per room/per night plus 11% taxes.
Credit cards are charged a one night’s advance deposit including tax at time of booking a room reservation.
Please be aware that the room block cut-off date is Friday, September 4th, 2026. Please inform guests of this date. After the cut-off date, rooms and/or group rate may no longer be available. The room rate includes free Hershey resort benefits, so bring your snack cravings, your family, and your leaf-peepers as this will be a SWEET event!
Registration Link – COMING SOON!
FDRS Research Sessions and Symposia will be scheduled on 5-6 October 2026.
Call for Proposals
The FDRS 2026 Call for Proposals is now open. We invite submissions for the 67th Annual Conference, October 3–6, 2026, in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Submission deadline: Friday, June 15, 2026
Submit your proposal: Google Form Submission Link
Submission Categories
- Research Report — completed or near-completed research, presented in a 15-minute session.
- Research Update — research in progress, presented in a 10-minute session.
- Organized Symposium — full session (1 hour + 30 minutes for discussion) on a focused topic, with organizer-invited panelists.
- Teaching Case Study — 15-minute presentation of an innovative teaching case for food distribution education.
Authors of accepted submissions will have the opportunity to be invited to publish their work in the Journal of Food Distribution Research (JFDR).
Key Dates
- Call distributed: April 16, 2026
- Submission deadline: June 15, 2026
- Reviewer evaluations completed by: July 7, 2026
- Authors notified: Shortly after July 7, 2026
- Conference: October 3–6, 2026, Hershey, PA
Reminder emails will be sent every two weeks until the submission deadline. For questions about the Call for Proposals, please contact the VP of Research via fdrsvpresearch@gmail.com.