After a four-year run, the Tri-City Development Council won’t be putting on its annual FABREO conference this year.

The Food and Beverage Retention & Expansion Opportunities program, which began in 2015, was held annually to bring food and beverage processors together with industry brokers, distributors, retailers, exporters and service providers from throughout the Northwest.

“We are taking this year off from doing the expo to see how we can better serve the food and beverage processors of the region,” said Traci Jao, TRIDEC’s director of member services and communications, said in an email to the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

TRIDEC’s Gary White, who helped to launch the trade-only expo, retired from TRIDEC as director of business retention and expansion in fall 2018.

“With Gary’s retirement, we are looking at revamping the program,” Jao said.

The 2018 expo featured 45 participating exhibitors and a dozen brokers and buyers, as well as a two-day agenda with sessions on food safety compliance, exporting, legal issues and product packaging tips.