The 2008 Summer Fancy Food Show- Diary Style

One word to describe our experience at the Summer Fancy Food Show: SUBLIME. Before the show, we had hoped that we would be well received by attendees, but nothing quite like this.

Since I didn't have time to blog during the show like I planned, I thought it would be neat to do a snapshot of our show experience.

Friday June 27

10:00 a.m. Arrive at Javits Center in our van and start to unload our stuff by hand. I have never actually been inside the Javits Center and it is massive. The first floor where our booth is located is cavernous, much like an airplane hanger.

1:00 p.m. Successfully unloaded the contents of our van and have made our way to Brooklyn where we are staying at one of my best friend's apartment while we are in town. So much more affordable and comfortable than a teeny tiny hotel room in Manhattan.

3:00 p.m. I head back to the Javits Center to start setting up our booth while my mom, Theresa and my dad, who has accompanied us as a moral supporter and extra pair of hands, figure out how our signage will hang from our booth. Ah, logistics. I make a quick stop at Pinkberry for some delicious yogurt and raspberries.

5:00 p.m. After a couple more hours of setting up, I head to the West Village to meet up with some friends for dinner. Saturday is a big day- have got several meetings with distributors and retailers as part of NASFT's 1 to 1 Business Builders Program.

Saturday June 28

8:00 a.m. Back at The Javits. Ready for our meetings with potential distributors and retailers. This is a great opportunity to pitch our Cupola Cookies & Cupola Clouds to some of the specialty food industry's best.

11:00 a.m. Go back to our booth to help my parents finish setting up. Impressed with the ingenious, Macgyver-like method they have come up with to hang our signs.

4:45 p.m. Done for the day! Tomorrow is the official first day of the show, which will be attended by distributors, retailers, brokers, individuals in food service and members of the press.

Sunday July 29

10:00 a.m. The show has begun- hurrah!

1:00 p.m. I think they like us! I mean, they like our Cupola Cookies and Clouds. At the show, each person has a badge. If an attendee is interested in a particular company or product, they can ask to have their badge scanned by exhibitors. Our badge scanner has been working quite a bit today, which is a good sign.

I could go on, but to spare you from eye strain, Monday and Tuesday's events followed suit very similarly to Sunday's events.

The Today Show coverage we received encouraged even more attendees to visit our booth, since they were really curious about our Cupola Clouds!

Debuting At The Summer Fancy Food Show

Hello all! As we speak, I am writing from my friend's lovely apartment in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, where we have been staying as we exhibit at the 2008 Summer Fancy Food Show in New York.

We received some wonderful national media coverage from the WEEKEND TODAY SHOW while we've been here exhibiting!

We were lucky to have been selected as one of just a couple products to be highlighted in a show segment that aired this past Sunday, June 29th called "The Next Big Food Fad."



This is the last day of the show, and I don't think there will ever be enough time for me to blog about the whole experience, but I am going to try and provide some highlights- this was definitely one of the most interesting, fulfilling, exhausting and worthwhile experiences I have ever had. Although we have been working in the specialty food/ natural food market for the past year now and I have been doing lots of research and studying, this trade show has been an incredible resource for us- we have made numerous business contacts and have had the chance to showcase our product among some of the best in the world!

I tell you though, I have a new found respect for anyone working at trade shows in any capacity. Heck, even attending a show the size of the Fancy Food Show in NY is a challenge! The Javits Center is a massive space.

I am going to do a follow up post with more details about our show experience later this week, but suffice it to say that so far, we have been having a very exciting, productive and delicious time here in NY!

Whole Foods Goes Local

Under the big top at Whole Foods Pittsburgh's local farmers' market

Look at this- three blog posts in three weeks! This must be some sort of personal record. I'm getting better about blogging regularly, despite the fact that this month has been our busiest to date, I think.

Yesterday was the first day of the local farmers market that Whole Foods Pittsburgh sponsors throughout the summer and into the fall. And we are one of the vendors! We were thrilled when we received an invitation to participate in the market.

Market Details-

When: The 3rd Wed. of the month from now until October. The market runs from 4- 7 p.m.
Exact Dates: July 16th, Aug. 20th, Sept. 16th, Oct. 15th
Where: The parking lot in front of Whole Foods Pittsburgh
Vendors: Everything from fresh produce (fruits and veggies), fresh baked breads, pastries, Cupola Cookies & Clouds (shameless plug here) and even handmade crafts such as purses and pottery!

Why you should come: Because this is where you'll find some of the freshest, most delicious foods that Pittsburgh has to offer. And by buying local you're minimizing your carbon footprint and your purchases are that much more environmentally friendly. If you're not in the Pittsburgh area, just visit a farmers' market near you. I guarantee that it will put you in the mood for summer- almost as much as strawberry picking!

The Sweet Smell Of.......

Strawberries!

Yes folks, that's right. Strawberry season is in full swing here in Western PA. With only two weeks left until the 2008 Fancy Food Show, we have been incredibly busy. I don't think I've felt this swamped since finals week in college. And even that's less pressure, since you don't have a P&L statement hanging over your head.

We've been pulling crazy 18 hour days- this includes all the baking we've been doing to fill orders, plus making samples for the show, not to mention the business/ administrative activities (sales calls, returning e-mails, etc.). Something tells me these hours are pretty normal for most entrepreneurs and small business owners though. And I really think my body is adjusting to getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep (but drinking those cups of coffee doesn't hurt either!).

Despite the our busy schedule, we've managed to enjoy the warm weather and abundance of fresh produce in our area. Earlier this week, my mom and I went strawberry picking on our way back from the kitchen.

There is a charming family farm that we always pass on the way home. The farm grows a variety of fruits and veggies, and right now its strawberry patches are overflowing with thousands of tiny red hearts- the color of ripe, sweet strawberries.

Yesterday I made homemade shortcake from scratch. I took some of the strawberries we picked and coated them in just a little bit of balsamic vinegar and then threw them on the grill. The result was a delicious strawberry compote that was both sweet and tangy. We had some chocolate and vanilla ice cream to top off dessert.

Sometimes all you need to recharge a bit is some fresh air and something yummy in your tummy.

Hear an interesting NPR story on strawberries here.

June = Busiest Month This Year

These past couple of weeks have been a complete whirlwind! I can't believe it's almost been a month since I've posted anything- shame on me.

I have lots of updates- some good, some not so good, but these developments are definitely proof that the business is chugging along.

First the not so good (but I wouldn't necessarily call it bad) news:

We didn't place in the sofi Awards this year. If you remember, the sofi Awards is a competition sponsored by the National Association for Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) and honors some of the finest products in the specialty food industry. Ah well, can't win them all right?

To put a more positive spin on things, the NASFT received thousands of entries for the competition this year, so it's not like we were the only ones that didn't place. And although a sofi Award is definitely great exposure and a wonderful tool, it has made us that more determined to make the most as first-time exhibitors at the NASFT Summer Fancy Food Show at the end of the month. But if you're curious about the products that were selected, feel free to check out the finalist lists:

sofi Awards Finalists Part 1
sofi Awards Finalists Part 2

Second, the good news (note how the good news outweighs the not so good news!):

1) Whole Foods Pittsburgh- The store is officially carrying our products! Look for them in the cookie/cracker aisle. In fact, last week the store had a local tasting event. Our contacts at the store were kind enough to invite us to participate. I have to say that handing out samples at the store and talking to customers was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had since we've started the business. I know it may sound silly to some, but ever since my mom and I started our business last year, we have dreamed about seeing our product on the shelves at Whole Foods. This is a milestone for us. Now we're playing the waiting game to see how they sell at the store.

2) TABLE Magazine- A couple months ago, this Pittsburgh area publication dedicated to celebrating food culture and lifestyle interviewed my mom and I for a story about our business. The article is wonderfully written and has just been published in the Summer 2008 issue of the magazine.

3) Plans for the Summer Fancy Food Show are coming along- Maybe a bit slower than we had hoped because there's so much to do, but we did already print several of the large signs we will use in our booth. Now if I could just remember all the different rules and stipulations the Jacob J. Javits Center has about unloading freight and setting up our booths, not to mention fees......

4) Education on Exporting- I have been up since 3 o' clock this morning. But with good reason I tell you! My mom and I were invited by the PA Department of Agriculture to attend an introductory workshop on exporting. The event was located in Central PA, so we had to leave at 4 a.m. to get to the site on time at 8.

We both agreed that driving the couple hours was definitely worth it though. We may not have the capacity or resources to export our products right now, but the workshop provided us with an overview of the benefits and risks in selling products abroad. As I glanced at a handout provided in the workshop packet, it was funny how my eyes immediately gravitated towards the phrase "trade show in Paris." I promptly told my mom that I would be more than happy to shoulder the burden of making similar trips for our business if the time comes. I received a roll of the eyes in the return.

Photogenic

parmesan pink peppercorn cupola clouds

A couple weeks ago, I went down to Washington D.C. to visit my friend Serena on business- she is one of the most talented and passionate photographers I know, and she had agreed to take some photos of our products to be used on our website and marketing pieces.

This weekend made me realize two things 1) Food photography requires a great deal of patience and attention to detail 2) My friendships run deep and I have a wonderful, supportive and talented group of friends.

Serena, along with my other friend Shannon and I all lived in New York together for three years and I can honestly say that my experience as their roommates was a great one- you know you have a good thing going when your roommates surprise you with frozen yogurt after work or you spend countless hours watching the Food Network or HGTV with them.

Serena has been building her portfolio for several years now and has extensive experience photographing everything from landscapes to people and has worked in black & white and color. Having traveled internationally over the past couple years, she has taken some stunning photographs in countries such as Morocco, Lebanon and France. Our apartment in New York showcased some of the best photos she had taken in the city and I think they could have easily made their way into one of the galleries in Chelsea.

Although she hadn’t done a lot of food photography, Serena previously worked in production on the set of some commercial shoots for food and beverages, so she had the chance to see the kinds of lighting/ set-up/ styling techniques that were used.

For a day, we converted the apartment she shares with one of her good friends (who we also went to college with and who is also incredibly kind) into a studio. It was interesting to see my friend, the photographer in action again and this time I got to play the role of food stylist, prop manager and production assistant. Serena knew when additional lighting was needed, when certain shadows needed to be blocked and when to switch out the lenses on her sophisticated SLR digital camera.

I’ve always heard that working with friends may not be such a good idea, but I think this is a generalization. The photos from the shoot are exactly what my mom and I had in mind. And with Serena giving creative input on the fly, we took some additional shots that were very artistic and further enriched our collection of photos. The image above is from our photo shoot, as well as the images below, but feel free to check out our updated website, www.amandarico.com for more photos. To see Serena’s other work, log on to her website at www.serenakefayeh.com.

coffee beans

cardamom

cinnamon sticks

Chicago, Chicago that toddling town

We just got back from a great, really productive trip to the Global Food & Style Expo in Chicago. I think I may have mentioned this before, but this is a trade show produced by the National Association for Specialty Food Trade (NASFT), Organic Trade Association (OTA) and the National Association for State Departments of Agriculture. The Spring Fancy Food Show was part of this event and since we are going to be exhibiting at the Summer Fancy Food Show in June in NY, we thought we should get a better idea of how the show is laid out, what the booths look like as well as the overall ambiance in the convention center.

My mom and I were talking on the 8 hour, toll-ridden drive back to Pittsburgh and we were both really happy that we made the trip. Now we know just how much we're going to have to step up our game in NY!

I kid you not when I say that the show floor is a foodie's paradise- thousands upon thousands of feet of artistically displayed foods & beverages and almost every booth enticing you to try a free sample. And it is really hard to to say no. Really, really hard to say no, especially when it's delicious stuff like pheasant pate, organic fair-trade chocolates and Italian blood orange juice.

There was so much to see, but I think we did a good job of covering ground. If you ever go to one of these types of events though, the term "pace yourself" really applies. As delicious as they were, I'm pretty sure I overkilled on the samples.

Another highlight of the show was a keynote by Bobby Flay. Having eaten at Mesa Grill and Bolo (if you go, the dessert tapas are a must!) and being an avid Food Network viewer, it was interesting to hear him talk about his experiences as a chef, restaurant owner and entrepreneur. He was refreshingly honest and charming. To sum up his talk: do what you love, love what you do- not for the prospects of fame or fortune (i.e. to get your own television show), but because you are passionate about it and you really care.