DC Delivers! 57th Summer Fancy Food Show

The 57th Summer Fancy Food Show relocated to Washington, D.C. from its longtime home in New York City, and the move was a success. The show, July 10 – 12, 2011, was held at the state-of-the-art Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where exhibit space sold out weeks before the show, and goals for the show were met on all counts.

The exhibit halls were filled with 2,400 specialty food companies featuring 180,000 foods and beverages from 80 countries and regions, including hand-crafted salami from Salt Lake City, caramels with ghost chili from Seattle, hibiscus jam from Senegal and plantain chips from Ecuador. The products represented the best in new flavors, ideas, trends, and innovation that the global specialty food industry is known for.

There were 15,400 attendees representing important names in retailing and restaurants from across the U.S. and around the world. The show attracted a new cadre of attendees: almost half the buyers had never before been to a Fancy Food Show, or had not attended in the past five years, reflecting a lot of potential new business for exhibitors.

The show used the entire convention center, covering more 318,000 square feet of exhibit space. There were 197 first-time exhibitors, including 46 international newcomers such as Botswana, Bulgaria, and Kenya. Countries back with larger exhibits than at last year’s Summer Fancy Food Show included Barbados, Tunisia, Peru, Sri Lanka, Greece, Morocco, China and France. Italy boasted the largest international presence.

Great Buzz

The Fancy Food Show made headlines around the world. Close to 500 journalists scoured the show for trend-setting products and the stories behind them. Good Morning America kicked it all off with a pre-Show segment on July 6, and The Today Show aired a post-Show wrap-up on July 26th. During the Show, there was extensive television coverage on FOX 5 TV, the Washington, D.C. news affiliates of ABC, CBS and NBC, and Voice of America. The Washington Post, Reuters, The Philadelphia Inquirer, O, The Oprah Magazine, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, plus all the key industry publications including Gourmet Retailer, Gourmet News, and Specialty Food Magazine were there.

For a sampling of coverage, go to the Summer Fancy Food Show In the News Page.

Show Highlights:

• Opening Ceremony presenting donation to Operation Homefront DC Metro, a not-for profit organization that provides emergency financial assistance, food and housing to wounded veterans and families of service members.
   
• Visits from elected officials invited by the NASFT, including three U.S. Senators and close to 40 Congressional staff members, who attended the show to visit companies from their districts.What’s New, What’s Hot! a display with hundreds of on-trend exhibitor products representing the latest in gift, holiday and natural and organics.
   
• New Brands on the Shelf Pavilion drew crowds. This sold-out area featured 26 of the industry’s newest producers who showcased dozens of niche and artisan foods on table-top displays, including pasta sauce with ouzo, smoked sausage, and apple-pie kits. These companies are candidates for membership in the NASFT.

A-List Buyers Seeking New Products

If there’s one show for specialty food buyers to attend all year, it’s the Summer Fancy Food Show, the largest marketplace for specialty foods and beverages in North America. This year’s show drew buyers from top names including Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, Crate & Barrel, Sam’s Club, Delta Airlines, Christmas Tree Shops, and such notable regional markets as Central Market, Di Bruno Bros., Hubbell & Hudson and Hyde Park Gourmet.

An impressive 84 percent of all show attendees surveyed either authorize or recommend purchasing decisions. Every major food channel was in attendance, with a more of the most important categories of buyers than last year such as:

• Specialty food retailers: 9.3 percent of attendees vs. 8.3 percent in 2010
• Foodservice buyers: 20 percent of attendees vs. 17 percent in 2010
• Importers: 7 percent versus 6 percent in 2010.

New Faces, More Time

Close to 50 percent of attendees were new to the Fancy Food Show, or had not attended a Fancy Food Show in the past five years. With the show’s new location in Washington, D.C., attendance jumped to 44 percent versus 9 percent in 2010 from the Southern Atlantic states of Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, District of Columbia, Georgia, and Florida. This significantly made up for an anticipated decrease in attendance from around New York City, the show’s longtime summer home. More than 2,000 attendees visited the show for more than one day versus in 2010.

NASFT Speed Dating Program: Largest Ever

Business Builders 1-to-1 paired buyers with suppliers for 10-minute meetings the day before the exhibit halls opened. This free service featured 1,309 pre-planned meetings in six hours, plus 170 private meetings between buyers and exhibitors during the show.

sofi™ Awards Shine

The 39th sofi Awards broke records. NASFT members submitted the most entries ever: 2,326 specialty foods and beverages across all 33 Awards Categories. In the spring, a national panel of specialty food experts narrowed the list to 125 Silver Finalists over five busy days of tasting and evaluating at NASFT offices in New York. Those finalists were judged at the Summer Fancy Food Show by more than 230 buyers, whose votes were tabulated on the spot to determine the Gold Winners in each category.

On the Red Carpet

Celebrity Chef Cat Cora announced the sofi Gold Winners in a red-carpet ceremony. Cora, the first female Iron Chef America, sampled the winning products right before she went on stage, and gave an inspirational speech. A complete list of sofi Gold Winners and Silver Finalists is at foodspring.com/sofiawards.

More Opportunities to Learn

The NASFT presented a two-day Super Retailer Summit in Washington, D.C. right before the show started. It offered 15 sessions aimed specifically at specialty food retailers eager to deepen their knowledge. That was followed by the show’s Education Program, which featured 19 sessions presented by industry experts, including two market tours, tastings of kosher food and pickled products, and a hands-on workshop on gift basket design. The Fancy Food Show’s most popular classes were those aimed at start-up specialty food manufacturers including The Basics: the Business of Specialty Foods (seven hours) and Start-Up Saturday, with such sessions as Learning the Lingo of Specialty Foods and Top Ten Mistakes Beginning Manufacturers Make and How to Avoid Them.

Attendees from Across America and Around the Globe

The show drew buyers looking for the latest in specialty foods and beverages from 130+ countries from Afghanistan to Vietnam. They hailed from:

The Latest Products Filled Exhibit Halls

From Appetizers to Kosher Products to Seasonings, spices, herbs, extracts and flavorings, the exhibit halls were packed with 180,000 specialty foods and beverages in more than 30 categories. The American Cheese Society had a pavilion as did the Brewers Association, which represents American craft brewers. The NASFT assembled a trend spotter panel of top food journalists to declare the hottest trends at the show retailers need to know for the coming year. Their top five picks:

• Booze-Infused Foods
• Give it a Try Kits
• Popped Food
• Japanese Inspired Eats
• Cherries

Other trends noticed at the Summer Fancy Food Show include coconut in food and beverages, salts from around the globe and innovative dairy products such as goat milk yogurt.

Reaching the Right Buyers

The NASFT’s Specialty Food Media connects exhibitors to the right buyers before, during, and after the Fancy Food Show, and year-round. Through its variety of media properties focused on food and beverages, Specialty Food Media is the leading information source connecting buyers and sellers in the $70-billion specialty food trade. Channels include:

View the Show Issue

• Specialty Food Magazine: Mailed to 30,100 subscribers and with bonus distribution in the exhibit hall, the Summer Fancy Food Show Issue provided 212 pages of food trends, products and business insights.
   
• specialtyfood.com – NASFT’s trade website--where 85% of Fancy Food Show attendees register to attend—features rich content as well as the popular foodle™ product finder search tool.
   
• Specialty Food News, the daily newsletter featuring the news affecting the industry is emailed to 50,000 subscribers, including show registrants.
   
• foodspring.com: NASFT’s consumer website for specialty food enthusiasts, providing an insider’s look at specialty foods and the companies, food entrepreneurs and artisans behind them.

Giving Back

Fancy Food Show exhibitors have a long tradition of giving back to people in need in the cities where the shows are held. This year was a special success as exhibitors provided 153,000 pounds of specialty food, the largest donation ever, to D.C. Central Kitchen, a leading anti-hunger organization in Washington, D.C. that feeds 6,000 people daily and provides culinary job training to at-risk individuals.