Trend Spotter Webcast Set for This Thursday!

What do sweet potatoes and rose water have in common?

Kara Nielsen of The Center for Culinary Development

You’ll have to tune into our Trendspotter Webcast on December 3, 2009 at 2:00 pm est to find out!  NASFT’s Ron Tanner, along with Trendologist, Kara Nielsen from the Center for Culinary Development, will share the latest food trends from Mintel and other sources with viewers. Ron and Kara will discuss what they have been observing as emerging trends from their respective posts. We will also share examples of specialty food products that exemplify these trends.

In addition to the trendy discussion, find out what food trends contestants in the NASFT Trend Game have been predicting for the Winter Fancy Food Show and learn what’s in store for the winner of the game.

We welcome (and hope for!) a lively Q & A during the webcast, through the chat feature of the stream and on Twitter.  Advance registration is not required, just log on to our LiveStream to participate.

Professionals Only…

There is always some discussion in the food world about the Fancy Food Show and who attends.  The Fancy Food Shows are for food industry professionals and buyers only.

Like other industry only events (CES, Outdoor Retailer, PRSA, etc {hyper link all}), the show is for industry professionals.  Are you one?

• Specialty Food Manufacturers
• Specialty Food Importers
• Specialty Food Distributors
• Specialty Food Brokers
• Accessory Suppliers
• Publications
• Trade Organizations
• Local and State Agencies
• Foreign Manufacturers
• Consultants
• Specialty Food Store buyers
• Supermarket buyers
• Health/Natural Food Store buyers
• Wine/Liquor Store buyers
• Caterers
• Bakeries

If this is you, don’t delay! Register now!

Not to worry if you are not part of the industry – we have a place just for food enthusiasts, no matter your title.  Join us on our consumer focused site foodspring.

Consumers Eager to Taste and Vote

Voting on sofi Winners at DC Consumer Show

TV food personalities Paula Deen, Tyler Florence and Giada De Laurentiis drew crowds of food fans at the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show in Washington, D.C. We’re pleased to report that so did a selection of winners of the 2009 sofi™ Awards.

More than 1,800 attendees at the show lined up at our booth to taste and vote for their favorite sofi Award product and get a chance to win a $500 gift basket filled with 40 of this year’s sofi honorees. The crowd favorite and winner of the posh food basket, are being announced Nov. 16 at foodspring.com.

Consumers Wait Their Turns

The sofi Awards honor the best of the best from the food entrepreneurs and artisans who are members of our trade association, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. Foodspring.com, our new website, gives an inside look at specialty foods and the people who
make them.

We’re a not-for-profit with more than 2,900 members from around the world.  This year our members entered 1,997 specialty foods and beverages in  the sofi contest, our industry’s Academy Awards. A national panel of specialty food experts from the likes of Pier 1, Ebony magazine, Meijer and The French Culinary Institute narrowed the field to 128 silver finalists. Gold winners were announced at our Summer Fancy Food Show.

Casting a Ballot at MCES

The sofi products on display in DC earlier this month represented the winners and finalists. This was the first time we’ve staged such a contest. We were surprised and delighted by how seriously show attendees took their task of sampling the products and picking their single favorite. Eager eaters were willing to wait their turn to start the sampling. Many had trouble picking just one favorite product.

–Louise Kramer, NASFT communications director

Tasting a Cookie at MCES

Reserve Your Booth Space Now

It is easy to do… you planned to sign up, but have been too busy to send in the paper work. Or maybe you have wanted to exhibit, but have not become a member yet.  Well, now’s the time to send in your paperwork so that you can be part of The Winter Fancy Food Show!

This years show is January 17-19 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.  The Fancy Food Show is the largest ethnic, natural/organic and specialty food show on the West Coast.

By exhibiting in this one event, you’ll get face-to-face meetings with the people who will help you grow your business. The Show is guaranteed to have buying teams serving every major channel, including supermarkets, mass merchants and foodservice, plus influential buyers in natural and organic, gift and specialty retail. These buyers rely on The Fancy Food Shows exclusively to source products!

We know exhibiting in this show yields the best ROI for your business. We also know that budgets are tight everywhere. So this year, we’ve stepped it up to ensure you get even more for your money so you can take full advantage of all the business-building opportunities at the Winter Fancy Food Show.

Here’s how we will help you control cost:

Booth Rates at 2006 levels (only $33 per foot!) and no cost Drayage up to 200 lbs.

Booth package, including electric, worth $700—no cost to members.

Face-to-face meetings with buyers (our Business Builders 1:1) before the show starts at no cost to you!

What’s New, What’s Hot! Showcases to get additional exposure for your products.

Plus, we’ll help you give back. We have a long commitment to providing products to anti-hunger programs after each show. Last year NASFT members donated 115,000 pounds of specialty food to San Francisco area soup kitchens and food pantries.

Salivating at the business opportunity? We want to see you in San Francisco! Contact Kim Farrell to reserve your spot now!

Going Green

The Fancy Food Show re-uses about 90% of the signs and banners you see at our Shows

When I first heard the term “greening your event” back around 2003, I have to admit that that I initially did not pay much attention to it thinking it had something to do with monetizing more areas of your trade Show.  Working for the NASFT (a not-for-profit), I had no interest in how to make more money, but was more concerned with how I could provide better service to our members, exhibitors and show attendees.

The word “green” kept creeping up in different industry magazines and websites, so I thought that I had better look into what all the chatter was about.  As I quickly found out, it had nothing to do with making money and had everything to do with thinking about your show in a more responsible and environmentally-conscious way.  This was very interesting to me as I have always tried to be very conscious of my personal impact on the environment.  What I was happy to find out, was that we (the NASFT) were actually already doing a pretty good job at making the Fancy Food Shows a “green” event, but there was a lot more to learn and a lot more that could be done.

I quickly learned as much as I could and as quickly as I could, never wanting to be one that was behind on the times on any topic affecting our shows.  I started to compile a list of all the things we were doing that could be considered an effort to green the show.  We had quite an impressive list of things that we were already doing, but there were many opportunities to do them better and to do more.  With that, a plan was put into place to make the Fancy Food Shows a leader in sustainability.  We quickly shaped up our existing efforts and then each year introduced more ideas and programs into the mix.  Some achieved great success and are still in play today (like our food donation program) while others were not as well received (digital signage became too expensive and turned out to be not as eco-friendly).

Each year, the NASFT and the Fancy Food Shows donate over 300,000 pounds of food to the cities and surrounding areas of New York and San Francisco

Here we are almost 7 years later and through all of our trials, we have achieved many more successes in this area than we ever imagined.  It’s the efforts of the entire NASFT staff, our board of directors, members, exhibitors, attendees and show partners (suppliers, convention centers, etc.) that have gotten this program to where it is today.  The hundreds of thousands of people in need who we have provided meals for, the schools whose art programs have benefited from our discarded signs/banners and the personal thanks we have received from each city we work in makes these efforts well worth it.  Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of these efforts will not be recognized until after we are all long gone, but our hope is that the Fancy Food Shows can be a model for future generations and something the future of our association and industry can be proud of.

For more details about our program, please visit www.fancyfoodshows.com/green.

-Bill Lynch, CEM, Senior Director, Membership & Exhibitions

sofi Gold Winners Shine in DC

Henry Wainer, a sofi Gold winner, chats with Joan Nathan, a New York Times writer

We put out quite a spread—if I may say so—Wednesday night for local journalists in Washington, DC. We, meaning the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, hosted a tasting and reception to showcase the winners of our 2009 sofi Gold Awards for the outstanding specialty foods of the year.

The event was designed to show off this year’s winning chocolate, cheese, frozen savory, snack, food gift and USDA-approved organic product and much more to journalists who may not know our not-for-profit organization, or realize that a sofi™ is a true honor for any food artisan or entrepreneur. “sofi” stands for “Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation.”

Ed Tobias of the Associated Press samples Appledore Cove's Seaside Barbecue Sauce

I help run the awards program. This was a new effort to take our winners on the road and give them the attention they deserve. We held the event at a lovely culinary school, CulinAerie, just six blocks from the White House. CulinAerie is co-owned by Susan Holt, a chef/entrepreneur who has attended, and spoken at, our Winter Fancy Food Show.

The evening attracted an impressive bunch, including Joan Nathan, the noted cookbook author and food writer for The New York Times, and journalists from the Associated Press, Crain’s, BizBash, and more. One local writer, Andrew Evans, who writes for National Geographic Traveler and others, covered the event and tweeted about it live. Check it out at: @AEEvans.

We held the bash at CulinAerie, a cooking school near the White House

The stars of the show were the speakers: Henry Wainer of Sid Wainer & Son Specialty Produce and Specialty Food, who won the sofi for Sakurachi Sa Yuzu Marmalade, and Jeffrey Gartska and

Appledore Cove's Jeffrey Garstka and Tom Gorski, "The two guys from Maine."

Tom Gorski of Appledore Cove, who term themselves “the two guys from Maine.” The two guys won for their Seaside Barbecue Sauce. Ron Tanner, our vp of communications and education, introduced them, and noted that Henry Wainer, whose family business is based in New Bedford, Mass., has won so many sofi Awards over the years that it is hard to keep count.

We hope to do more of these regional sofi Gold road shows. Why DC? We thought it would be great to say hello to the marketplace, now that we plan to have our 2011 Summer Fancy Food Show there. Plus we’re participating in another DC event much sooner: Nov. 7 and 8 at the Metropolitan Entertaining & Cooking Show.

A big thanks to all the sofi Gold winners, many small companies, who sent us product samples for the event and for great sofi gift bags. And thanks to Susan of CulinAerie, for a great venue and soiree.

–Louise Kramer

Two Stroke Exhausts and Stilton

Scooters and stilton, really not that different.

As soon as I hear about anything intriguing I go to Google.

As someone with interests that range from bicycle racing to finding the best falafel, it would be almost impossible to indulge them without the internet at my fingertips. I’m sure the same lets-go-to-the-web behavior is true for most of you.

Sometimes I find the hunt for a particular must-have item—such as a proper Italian exhaust for my Lambretta Series III Li150 scooter—to be part of the fun. But when I’m looking for where to buy a specific specialty food brand or product, say a great Stilton or a grilling sauce, I want to have it sooner rather than later. And just as with my scooter, I know that a substitute will not be as satisfying. So, I scour the web for great sites and helpful content to get me what I need.

My information quests are no different than those you in the specialty food business encounter daily. After our Specialty Food Magazine readers learn about a cool product or trend the next step is researching it on the web. (This is confirmed in our yearly readership survey where they say that whenever an advertisement piques interest, they go straight to the company’s website.)

The problem is that in the specialty food trade, effective website, you’ll find a dozen or more that, at best, are underselling the company’s products and at worst, turning customers away through a lack of information or difficult navigation. When I’ve asked these companies why there is a disconnect between the quality of their products and the quality of their online presence, the answers come down to one or all of three things: time, resources and money. The NASFT might just have the solution for you.

The Foodspring Network is an online specialty food marketing community developed by the NASFT to help you build your website and leverage the latest digital marketing tools while saving you time and money. Hundreds of design options allow you to represent your brands professionally, and you can leverage the Foodspring Network community to drive revenue and increase the number of customers—trade and consumer—that come to your site. If you’re one of the lucky companies that already has a first-rate site you can still connect it to the network to manage your e-newsletter, trade banner ads and develop cross-marketing partnerships.

I invite you to visit Foodspring Network to see if it is the right solution for your business. If it’s not, keep looking for the best answer for your company. The marketing power of the internet can be a great equalizer between the reach of both large and small companies—if you know how to draw in your consumers and they know how to find you.

Matt Thomas

Publisher, NASFT’s Specialty Food Magazine

In case you missed it…

See the Fancy Food Show in all its splendor in NASFT’s new video, shot at the 55th Summer Show. Noted chefs Ming Tsai, Bobby Flay and Sarah Molton are featured along with dozens of NASFT members, executives and Show attendees. And, of course, there are hundreds of specialty products from around the world captured on tape in the crowded Show aisles.

Giving Back In Style

For close to 20 years, I’ve been volunteering for anti-hunger organizations. First I was a prep cook for an AIDS organization. Then I made sandwiches at a soup kitchen for homeless men. Now, on Saturday mornings, I deliver meals to homebound elderly men and women for Citymeals-on-Wheels, an organization co-founded by James Beard and Gael Greene.

Drew Nieporent at Citymeals bash

All this was separate from my professional life as a business journalist. But last year the personal and professional started to connect when I shifted careers and joined the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade as Communications Director. It turns out that the NASFT has a direct and strong connection to anti-hunger efforts.

We are a not-for-profit trade association that helps food artisans, entrepreneurs and specialty food importers grow their businesses and succeed in markets around the world. But we’re also committed to sharing our bounty with people in need. After our Fancy Food Shows in New York and San Francisco, our exhibitors donate crazy amounts of chocolate, cheese and olive oil, not to mention produce, pâté, salami and biscotti, to area food programs.

This year, exhibitors at our 55th Summer Fancy Food Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center donated 204,100 pounds of specialty food and beverages to City Harvest at the end of the three-day show. That’s enough to fill five tractor trailers, and the shelves of hundreds of food pantries throughout New York City. Stay tuned for more on this amazing effort!

Another recent donation was to Citymeals-on-Wheels. We reached out to many of the 128 finalists for our 2009 sofi Awards to donate their finalist products to an annual fundraiser at Rockefeller Center in New York. The sofi Awards recognize excellence in specialty foods and beverages and our considered our industry’s Oscars.

The Citymeals event featured some of the most prominent chefs in the United States, who all donated their time and food to help raise money for the organization. Our members donated chocolate, pasta, spice rubs, snazzy snack chips, harissa, unusual rice and more for gift bags for the chefs.

Chef Alfred Portale donating his time to Citymeals event at Rockefeller Center

The roster included Daniel Boulud, Alfred Portale, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Restaurateur Drew Nieporent, partner in Myriad Restaurant Group of Nobu, Corton and Tribeca Grill fame, was there, as was John Schenk, executive chef of Strip House. Schenk declared his good bag, brimming with sofi products, “the best gift bag ever.” I had a chance to attend, and it was a fabulous New York night. The food was spectacular, and even the design was beautiful, donated by David Rockwell, the architect and designer.

For me, what made our small gift bag effort so nice was the eagerness of our members to contribute. Of course they wanted to get their food in the hands of these great chefs, but there was a true desire to help a great food cause too. Also, my colleague Betsy Schwartz, our creative director, jumped in and made a beautiful thank-you card to all the chefs for donating their time.

My only regret is that we had to turn away some of the sofi finalists who wanted to donate. The gift bags weren’t big enough, and we had to limit the donations to products the chefs could transport on airplanes. So there are a few great olive oils and vinegars that did not make it into the bags because they were too heavy, and exceeded that pesky 3-oz. limit for liquids in carry-on bags.

–Louise Kramer

Roll out the red carpet for our new sofi video!

This year we gave our annual sofi Awards the star treatment they truly deserve. They’ve always been a highlight of the Summer Fancy Food Show, but we felt they deserved much more considering how important a sofi Award is for our members. So we staged our most glamorous Awards Ceremony ever. And we decided to capture the entire sofi process on video so we could try to capture the essence of the sofi Awards, the highest honor in the specialty food trade. sofi stands for Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation.

The NASFT is typically very “hands on.” But this time we wanted to do it right. So we left our personal cameras to our family vacations, and brought in professional videographers, David Horvilleur and Patrick Sasso of Loop Seven in NYC.  Both are true “foodies” and they said this was a dream assignment. We engaged them right before the first phase of judging last spring at our offices on Wall Street. (sofi awards are open to members of the NASFT). The finalists are picked by a nine-member panel of specialty food experts who meet at our offices to evaluate all the submissions. Then to pick the gold winners, the finalists are judged by retailers and foodservice buyers at the Summer Fancy Food Show.

During the initial judging David and Patrick arrived ready to shoot. They interviewed several of the judges, who were great about taking a break from their huge task of tasting and evaulating close to 2,000 specialty foods and beverages. Our final video features these interviews, including with Julie Wyrick of Pier 1 Imports and Tim Calderone from Meijer in Minneapolis. Once the finalists were selected, the video team visited a few including Rick’s Picks, Sarabeth’s Kitchen and Gustiamo.

Then the big event was the Summer Fancy Food Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center last month. Loop Seven arrived ready to roll. They set up an interview room off of the huge show floor and interviewed 100+ exhibitors and shot 15 + hours of footage. They had two crews blanket the 316,000 square feet of exhibit space that was filled with was filled with 140,000 specialty foods and beverages from across the U.S. and 70-plus countries.

They captured everything from the final sofi judging (more than 260 retailers sampled 125 finalists across all 33 awards categories) to the dazzling red-carpet awards ceremony hosted by noted Boston chef Ming Tsai. Chef Tsai delivered an inspiring and in-the-know keynote address about taste and innovation. Then he announced the winner in each category, alongside NASFT president Ann Daw and Vice President Ron Tanner. The video crew was there to capture the excitement. The next morning, the last day of the 55th Summer Fancy Food Show, Loop Seven raced through the show to capture many of the gold winners at their booths, who were still dazzled by their gold wins.

Then Loop Seven got to work again. The team spent four full days reviewing the footage, and another five in the editing suite. The fruits of their labor is our first ever sofi Awards video. We hope you enjoy it. Please let us know what you think.

–Betsy Schwartz (bschwartz@nasft.org), NASFT Creative Director