Some of the companies and their leaders who have been recognized with awards at this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show were featured on Monday’s Fancy Food Show Live broadcast, sharing advice about how to make the most of the show.
Dave Hirschkop, founder and former owner of Dave’s Gourmet, and Specialty Food Association’s Hall of Fame inductee, said it’s important for startup specialty food makers to think about their product from the consumer’s perspective.
“People really need to look at their item with an objective lens, through a consumer’s eyes, and say, ‘Is it really that special?’ Is there really a reason for the consumer to buy my item, versus the 17,000 other items out there?’” Hisrschkop said in an interview with Susan Choi, digital media director, Food Institute, which is broadcasting from the show live in partnership with SFA.
If a product is not differentiated enough to stand out from other products, makers should look at what they can do to make it more unique, he said.
In addition, vendors should have specific goals in mind, and strategies for achieving those goals, when they bring their product to a trade show, Hirschkop said. Makers also need to focus on networking and approaching other people at a venue like the Fancy Food Show, he said.
“A trade show is a people event,” he said. “It’s food-forward, but it’s really about people. You need someone at your booth who can introduce people to your company and tell your story.”
Choi also spoke with Joan MacIsaac, co-owner, Effie’s Homemade, which has won a total of 11 sofi Awards from SFA, including its recent Gold Award for its Corn Biscuit product.
MacIsaac said a key to her success has been leveraging the educational resources available through SFA, which Effie’s Homemade joined shortly after the company launched in 2008.
She said SFA also provides a great opportunity to network with other vendors, but makers also need to take advantage of the opportunity to interact with retail buyers when they are at the Fancy Food Show.
“You have to try your best to meet them while you are here,” she said.
MacIsaac also had advice for snack makers seeking to capitalize on consumer demand for snacks. As more people replace traditional meals with all-day snacking, makers need to remain flexible, she said, and consider providing snack products that are more healthful.
Alisa Barry, founder of Bella Cucina, an SFA Hall of Fame inductee, emphasized the importance of having attractive packaging.
Bella Cucina, which has won multiple sofi Awards through the years, has always been known for the high-quality appearance of its packaging, which Barry said seeks to match the high-quality, classic-yet-modern nature of the brand’s products.
She said brands need to think about the qualities that differentiate their brand when they design their packaging.
“As [consumers] look for a product on the shelf, or here as a retailer, you want something that stands out,” said Barry. “You really want to capture people’s attention.”
She said that while her company has been successful with its current network of retail partners, she’s always looking for opportunities to expand in more retail doors, and the Fancy Food Show provides a great platform for that.
“It’s really refreshing and heartwarming and wonderful to see everyone here back [after the pandemic], seeing our accounts that we haven’t seen in a long time, and building new relationships,” Barry said.
Importance of Awards
Cathy Strange, vice president of specialty at Whole Foods Market, said products that win recognition such as the sofi Awards can often earn close consideration from retail buyers.
“Any award is a validation of work well done,” she said. “It is important to know that a product has already been evaluated by a panel of judges.”
Speaking with Ron Tanner, a reporter for SFA, at the sofi judging booth on the Show Floor, Strange demonstrated how she judges products and also talked about what she’s looking for at this year’s Fancy Food Show. That includes products made using regenerative agriculture, new ways of using spent ingredients, and new ways of using traditional products, including fruits and chocolate.
Also at the sofi judging booth was Russel Kolody, manager of operations at SFA, who explained the new process for determining some of the sofi winners based on votes from retail buyers who can sample some of the finalists at the booth.
This year’s show also offers specialty food startups the opportunity to perfect their pitches to retail buyers, with the Fancy New York Pitch Slam competition.
Adrienne DeLisio, executive director at Naturally New York, which sponsored the Pitch Slam, said this year’s Pitch Slam had more than 60 applicants, which was about twice as many as last year. Five finalists competed for prizes worth an estimated $150,000-plus, including cash, services, and a free booth at the 2024 Winter Fancy Food Show.
Naturally New York, which seeks to foster sustainable and responsible business practices, bolster community among brands, and provide platforms for brands to tell their stories, has also doubled in size since last year, she said in an interview with Choi.
Leveraging the Data
Specialty food makers, retailers, and others in the industry can also make use of the data in the recently released State of the Specialty Food Industry report, said David Lockwood, principal researcher for the report.
In an interview with Choi, Lockwood said the report shows the impact that inflation is having on the industry, as unit sales declined last year for the first time ever amid the spike in price increases.
Other takeaways from the report included:
• Plant-based products overall saw sales growth of 6.6 percent last year, driven by the persistent strength of dairy alternatives and ongoing innovation across plant-based categories.
• The top 10 specialty food categories were the same as the previous year, but salty snacks leaped to the top position, ahead of meat and cheese, for the first time. Water and chocolate/confections also moved up in the rankings.
• Sales of shelf-stable products have returned to 2020 levels, Lockwood said. People are acting like it is a recession, and are stocking up on things like soup, and rice and beans,” he said.
Lockwood also said the report helps uncover how industry companies are responding to these changes.
“It all comes down to what are people doing about those numbers,” he said.
Touring the Show Floor
The Fancy Food Show Live cameras also visited several other areas of the show floor, such as the Plant Based Pavilion, the Beverage Pavilion, and the State Pavilions.
At the Plant-Based Pavilion, Tanner met with the Upcycled Food Association, which had a booth for the first time during this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show. The association, which represents about 160 different product companies from 20 different countries, was promoting its flagship service, the Upcycled Certified seal.
Tanner also met with Renewal Mill, one of the founding companies of the UFA, which makes flours, baking mixes, and cookies using the spent ingredients from other foods, such as the oat pulp leftover from oat milk manufacturing. The company also recently formed a partnership with dairy alternative company Perfect Day to make a cake mix using that company’s byproducts.
At the Beverage Pavilion, Jordan Wiklund of Food Institute visited with some of the many on-trend vendors in that section, including Mingle Cocktails, which makes a variety of nonalcoholic beverages, and Wild Bill’s Craft Beverage Co., a veteran-owned company that makes vintage-style soft drinks such as orange cream soda and birch beer.
In the Virginia Pavilion, Tanner met with several different vendors, including:
• Firehook Bakery, a maker of gourmet crackers that has been a longtime exhibitor at the Fancy Food Show and was highlighting its new Crispy Graham Crackers at the show;
• Clark + Hopkins, a maker of hot sauces that are ideal for use in creating recipes for globally inspired dishes at home, and which have won several sofi Awards, including one this year for an Ethiopian blend, and
• Belmont Peanuts, a family-owned farm producer that offers a variety of on-trend and gourmet flavors, such as a Maple Bourbon Butter Toffee Mix and Black Truffle Sea Salt.
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