Boxoffice Pro - Winter 2020

Industry INDUSTRY INSIDERS
A FLAVORFUL
FAREWELL
Daniel Borschke Says Goodbye
to the National Association of
Concessionaires
BY REBECCA PAHLE
“When I took this position, I
remember telling someone: ‘They’re
actually paying me to do this. I get to go to
the movies and eat popcorn and candy. I
would do it on my own!’”
So began, in 2011, Daniel Borschke’s
journey as executive vice president of the
National Association of Concessionaires—a
journey that ends this month, as he caps off
a four-decade career in trade associations
with a well-deserved retirement.
Although an avid fan of moviegoing
since childhood—his family would go
to the movies once a week—Borschke
began his career in quite a different field.
Throughout high school and college, “I was
a mail clerk for the Milk Foundation, which
is a trade association for milk and cheese
producers nationwide,” he says. One
master’s degree in communications later,
and his bosses asked if he’d be interested in
applying for a job. “Here I am out of school,
without a job opportunity. I said, ‘Sure.’”
The position he ended up applying
for was CEO. At age 24, just out of college,
Borschke found himself at the head of
a $3 million operation, in charge of 24
employees. It’s a job he held for nearly
25 years, until the Milk Foundation was
merged with another group. (Incidentally,
Borschke is lactose intolerant, a fact he
would bring up in a later job interview
when asked how he could represent a
group without being part of it himself.)
From there came a short stint as
executive director of the American Lamb
Board, a role that had him working with
“salt of the earth” ranchers and making a
weekly commute from Chicago to Denver.
(“You know you’re getting into a routine
when the flight attendant knows you as
you get on and get off the plane every
week.”) It was the latter part of the job
that had Borschke looking elsewhere
after a year; the hunt landed him at the
National Association for Retail Marketing
Services, where he served as president
and CEO until 2011.
Then came a move back to Chicago
and his most recent role, heading the
NAC and its annual expo. (Replaced
this year, by necessity, with the “NAC
ReTreat Week,” which despite being
online still managed to host a wine
tasting.) The NAC, like Borschke’s career,
has undergone some major shifts over
the years. Founded in 1944, it initially
represented popcorn growers, eventually
expanding its purview to include popcorn
machinery manufacturers, movie theater
concessionaires, and—now—concessions
product and service providers across a
variety of businesses, including movie
theaters, sports arenas, and colleges
and universities.
A veteran of trade associations,
Borschke looks at heading the NAC with
special fondness—and not just because of
all the food he gets to eat. “[The member
companies of] all those other associations
always had proprietary information,”
he says. “They were competitors. They
never wanted to talk about their own
information, because they didn’t want
to share it with anyone.” Working in the
concessions industry, however, has been
“an absolute treat,” because the companies
involved “are willing to share. They’re
willing to help.” Borschke touts that spirit
of open communication as one of the
key draws of the NAC, allowing as it does
members from different fields—whether
cinemas, convention centers, or sports
venues—to seek out inspiration from each
other. NAC member companies “show
a warmth that just isn’t there in other
groups, by any stretch of the imagination.”
That spirit of comradery has proved
essential in 2020. Through much of the
year, the NAC has hosted weekly calls,
allowing its members to share ideas, news,
and—hey, it’s 2020—concerns about
the future of their respective industries.
“Especially now,” says Borschke, “it’s
comforting to know that everyone is out to
help each other under the circumstances.
I had to wait all these years, but I finally
found an association that’s heartwarming
and works together.”
High levels of “involvement and
engagement” from NAC members has
been fundamental to the cross-pollination
of ideas that’s thrived during Borschke’s
tenure. “The committees were always
very, very engaged in the activities of the
organization,” he says. Unfortunately,
that level of participation has gone down,
Borschke explains, as individual members
have had more work piled on them and
thus have less time for active participation
in the NAC. “Some of the theater people
are now representing prisons and
vending,” too, says Borschke. It’s a change
that was in the air already but has been
accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic and
the industry-wide belt-tightening it led to.
This could, Borschke fears, have a longterm
impact on the NAC.
24 Winter 2020