The Winter Fancy Food Show will feature Incubator Village, where startups will exhibit alongside the incubators they use.
Oregon State University Food Innovation Center, which is a resource for client-based product and process development, packaging engineering, and shelf life studies, food safety, and consumer sensory testing, will bring the following companies to the show:
Bend Sauce LLC is a small-batch chipotle sauce and seasonings company based in Bend, Oregon. Bend Sauce is made with all organic and natural ingredients, including organic chipotle peppers from a family farm in New Mexico, and Jacobsen Salt from the Oregon coast, which help deliver a balance of flavor and heat. The manufacturer removes the seeds and pulp to create its seasoning products.
Best Damn BBQ Sauce, LLC gives consumers a premium taste of trending North American flavors—with a kick. Its flavors target both the adventurous foodie and the consumers who like traditional hot and spicy, it says.
Bobbie’s Boat Sauce is the maker of a “spicy-umami-goes-with-everything sauce” that was created on a sailboat. Onions, garlic, and ginger are sauteed with fresh jalapenos, then simmered with spices, tomatoes, Thai chilis, lime, and vinegar. Maple syrup balances out the spice and tang and a touch of Vietnamese fish sauce adds depth and umami, according to the company.
Community Co-Pack is a low barrier contract manufacturer that incubates and scales BIPOC- and women-led businesses and centers more on the maker to foster a more equitable and inclusive consumer products industry.
Khalsa Salsa combines bold Indian spices with the classic fresh ingredients of Mexican salsa. The salsa is crafted in small batches in the Pacific Northwest.
Pink Wagon Foods is bringing Pickled Pink Onions from the restaurant world to consumers’ kitchen tables. Use on tacos, salads, burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, deviled eggs, in vinaigrettes, with meats and cheese, and more.
Queen of Hearts Superfoods is a women-owned and operated maker of premium superfood dressings and nutritional oils and seeds that deliver flavor and nutrients.
Retreat Foods, Inc. is a snack brand dedicated to fighting stress. It offers four flavors of decadent nut and seed butters—Balance, Calm, Focus, and Boost—each with a functional dose (i.e., pill's worth) of adaptogens in each spoonful.
Saba's Awaze Sauce (Ethiopian) puts a twist on traditional recipes made by families in Eritrea and Ethiopia, who have been home-blending berbere spice for centuries to create their own awaze sauce. Saba's Awaze Sauce creates a blend between modern and traditional flavors.
Sibeiho LLC is a Singaporean food startup based in Portland, Oregon, that makes Sambal chili sauces. The products are made in small batches using all-natural ingredients (and local whenever possible) following a family recipe. Sibeiho Sambals are a versatile way to add bold umami flavor to everyday meals either as a condiment or as an ingredient in many different types of recipes.
Straightaway Cocktails is a maker of cocktails that are ready to be poured over ice and enjoyed straight away. Lemons and limes are juiced fresh, simple syrup is made from scratch, and bitters are brewed in-house.
Thrilling Foods Inc. is a maker of plant-based “bakon” made from soy milk, non-hydrogenated palm oil shortening, yeast extract, sea salt, maple syrup, allulose, citric acid, natural food color, and black pepper.
Ubah Hot LLC is a maker of hot sauces that bring a taste of Africa to your plate. It was created for those who strive to eat healthier and want to consume more vegetables and less processed foods.
Waves Caribbean's family recipes have traveled through waves of generations reflecting its founders' Jamaican and Trinidadian lineage. Its mission is to translate family recipes over the last 200 years into great tasting, table-ready sauces with the cleanest ingredients possible.
“Attending with our team is often a first-time experience for small food and beverage companies, and it can be overwhelming for folks to figure it out,” said Sarah Masoni, director of the product and process development program at Oregon State’s Food Innovation Center. “By having our incubator at the Fancy Food Shows, we create the opportunity for startups to learn and participate with us under our watchful eye. All food companies, from micro enterprise to small and mid-sized and multi-national, are looking for meetings with buyers. Those buyers interested in new brands and interesting flavor profiles can stop buy our Incubator Village booth and taste foods that the FIC has helped get started, from a group of makers that are diverse with origins from around the world. Many of our past booth participants have connected with their first big sale in our booth in Incubator Village at the Fancy Food Show.”
Another incubator, The Hatchery Chicago, which enables local entrepreneurs to build and grow successful food and beverage businesses and provides job training and placement programs, which in turn create sustainable economic growth and new job opportunities, will also exhibit alongside the companies with which it works.
“The Hatchery Chicago is thrilled to continue its participation in the Fancy Food Show alongside six innovative member companies,” said Dani Zuchovicki, membership and community manager for The Hatchery Chicago. “As a nonprofit incubator, The Hatchery is committed to supporting entrepreneurs with access to financing, production space, resources, and a vibrant, supportive community. Opportunities like the Fancy Food Show are essential for emerging brands looking to connect with buyers, industry experts, and fellow innovators. We look forward to an exciting show.”
These member companies will exhibit at the Show:
Chia Leah LLC's clean snacks and treats are produced small batch, crafted by hand, and made with high-quality ingredients and no refined sugars or preservatives.
Gifted Breads LLC is a woman- and minority-owned, gluten-free artisan bakery located in East Garfield Park in Chicago.
Hoppy Planet Foods LLC has a mission of bringing delicious, more nutritious, sustainable snacks to the world. Supported by its key ingredient, Acheta Protein, it strives to delight customers by rebuilding everyday snacks with these core principles in mind.
Nemi Native Foods LLC makes snacks with fiber-rich nopales, ancestral seeds, and chiles and spices. It partners with small, independent Mexican farmers using sustainable farming techniques.
Roam Snacks is a maker of crunchy, plant-based crisps, crafted with whole shiitake mushrooms.
Rumi Spice, PBC, a certified B Corp., was born out of its founders’ desire to cultivate peace in Afghanistan by creating demand for the country’s agricultural products. Today, Rumi Spice exports whole spices that it sells via retail, foodservice, wholesale, and direct to consumers.
Related: Winter Show Exhibitors Shake Up the Dressing Category; Cheeses From Around the World to Make Fancy Food Debut.