The second day of live coverage from the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York included interviews with Specialty Food Association Hall of Fame inductees, a tour of Incubator Village, and other show highlights.
The webcast was conducted by the Food Institute in partnership with SFA, which produces the Fancy Food Shows.
Becky Renfro Borbolla and Lou Foah (pictured above, right), two longtime Specialty Food Association members who were inducted into the 2022 SFA Hall of Fame, have been giving back to the industry for more than two decades in the form of volunteer work for the association.
Foah is the son of Mario Foah, who was one of the founders of SFA in the early 1950s. The father-and-son partnership operates Foah International, a specialty food manufacturers and importer, focused on Italian foods.
“I have volunteered for the Specialty Food Association for more than 22 years, served on every committee, and in every facet of the association,” said Lou Foah. “We've seen the association grow into what my father and his friends envisioned it would be.”
He said he has enjoyed serving with SFA because it has given him the opportunity to help small companies navigate the challenges of the industry.
“We had the opportunity, because of the association, to grow our business, create new products, and introduce new products to the United States,” he said.
Renfro Borbolla, senior vice president at Renfro Foods, a Fort Worth, Texas-based maker of salsas and other products founded by her grandparents in 1940, has also enjoyed giving back to the industry. She has served in a variety of capacities at the SFA, including as the chair and again as the co-chair of the association.
“My life has been so enriched,” she said. “We're all one big family here.”
The live webcast also featured an interview with Alison Cayne, another SFA member dedicated to giving back to the industry. Cayne, the founder of Haven's Kitchen, also produces a podcast called “In the Sauce” dedicated to helping food companies solve challenges around getting their products to market.
“I started interviewing people in the industry, and it felt selfish not to share these interviews with people who could use them,” she said of the podcast, which now includes 160 episodes.
Cayne launched Haven's Kitchen as a cooking school in New York City in 2012, but shut it down during the pandemic. She is now focused on making all-natural, fresh sauces for consumers seeking adventurous flavors.
She also serves on the board of Naturally New York, an organization that seeks to support the natural product industry and was the sponsor of the Pitch Slam at this year's Fancy Food Show.
The winner of the Pitch Slam, Portland, Oregon-basedRösti Stuft Spuds, was also featured on the webcast. Founder Stephen Caldwell said his product, available globally in the frozen appetizers and snack sections at Whole Foods Market, has room for additional growth because of the variety of fillings that can be used.
The product is based on a traditional Swiss dish that includes fried, shredded potatoes wrapped around other foods. Caldwell said he has two patents for the process.
“We have an infinite number of cultural experiences we can fill it with,” he said.
That jibes with the trend observations of Melanie Bartelme, associate director, Mintel Food & Drink, and Jonathan Deutsch, founding director, Drexel Food Lab, who said consumers are not only gravitating toward more adventurous flavors and ingredients from around the world, but are also learning to differentiate among subtle variations of these products.
“We are seeing a lot more nuance,” said Bartelme.
Deutsch agreed, saying that makers have begun giving American consumers more credit for being able to distinguish subtle differences among flavors and ingredients.
“I am actually starting to see a little more respect for the consumer,” he said. “[They are] ready to have some spice, and have some funky fish sauce, and have some big, bold, delicious flavors.”
The rise in home cooking during the pandemic, now compounded by the pressures of inflation, are also leading many consumers to become more confident in their cooking skills and more willing to try new dishes at home. Makers can capitalize on those trends by creating sauces and seasonings that make home cooking easier, such as by suggesting specific uses for their products.
“That's why specialty food was so important during the pandemic, and continues to be so important,” said Bartelme.
Visiting the Show Floor
The webcast also included visits to the show floor, including Incubator Village and the Beverage Pavilion.
“Buyers like to see products together,” said Ron Tanner, a consultant who works with SFA, while touring the newly created beverage area.
There he stopped to visit sofi Award winner Bee's Water, which makes an all-natural, organic honey-infused water, and King Floyd's, which makes bitters and other products for both professional drink mixologists and home bartenders.
At Incubator Village, where incubators from around the country showcased some of their promising food startups, Tanner stopped to see Nolan Lewin, director of operations at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, which helps small- to medium-sized companies get to market.
He also visited two of Rutgers' featured companies: Philadelphia-based Simply Good Jars, which makes preservative-free fresh salads packaged in reusable plastic jars, and Hidden Gems, a beverage company that makes a better-for-you beverage high in antioxidants, using avocado seeds that would otherwise be discarded.
“Incubator Village is a great place to get started with the Specialty Food Association,” said Sarah Masoni, director of the Product & Process Development Program at the Oregon State University Food Innovation Center, in a separate segment of the webcast. “Some of our previous folks who were previously in our Incubator Village are now out on the main floor.”
Exhibiting at the Fancy Food Shows is just one of the benefits that SFA members enjoy, added Tressa Kennedy, director of membership at the association. Members also receive press release distribution, access to the year-round Product Marketplace, educational opportunities, and other perks, including the opportunity to win sofi Awards.
“There is nothing like winning a sofi and displaying it, and being recognized worldwide,” she said.
As the 2022 Fancy Food Show wrapped up, Jenna Harris, associate director, donor relations and supply chain, City Harvest, explained how the nonprofit manages collecting the food from the show floor and distributing it to food pantries and soup kitchens throughout New York City's five boroughs.
SFA and City Harvest have been partnering to rescue food from the show for more than 20 years, she said, thanks to the help of more than 200 volunteers who arrive as the show floor closes. They collect both perishable and non-perishable food items that vendors mark with stickers to make their jobs easier.
Perishable items are distributed to four major soup kitchens that night, while nonperishable items are delivered to a network of food pantries around the city the next day.
“We love working with the Specialty Food Association,” said Harris. "It's a really great relationship.”
Related: Rösti Stuft Spuds Wins A Fancy New York Pitch Slam; Retailers Hunker Down for 'Next Wave.'