The Summer Fancy Food Show in New York was my favorite ever.The trend reports and top picks from the 2015 Summer Fancy Food Show are out.
While the memory is fresh, I’d like to share the most poignant experiences from the show:
Amazing Speakers
Retail store experience expert Kevin Kelley spoke about how retail customer experience should echo the scenes in a really good story.
As a fan of Mandy Aftel’s The Story of Your Life – Becoming the Author of Your Experience, Kevin’s methodology for helping retailers go from failing to thriving completely made sense.
Shopping is as much as hero’s journey as our lives — which ties back to the age old aphorism that a customers whose problem you’ve solved is more loyal than one who never had a problem at all.
Got relationships for which that’s true, too?
I predict one day this non-profit market will be “everywhere.”
An ex-Trader Joe’s president is taking a bite out of solving hunger in underserved communities — with an awesome retail store.
After seeing Doug Rauch’s inspirational talk at the Fancy Food Show, I made a side trip to Dorchester, Mass. to visit Daily Table market to see how they are producing healthful meals for around $1.50. It’s a suburb of Boston just a few miles from all the universities and another world away.
Adventures on the Trade Show Floor
Here’s a peek into some odd thoughts and things I saw at the show…
All that made me think “who woulda thunk it.” Let’s see if you’d have thunk it…
The French make their own version of Oreos. I was so shocked I forgot to get the brand name.
You can bring a bed into the Javitz Center (as Chuao Chocolatier did) and some attendees will even lie on it for no apparent reason.
Regional candies are allive and well! Apparently these Coconut Patties are a long time favorite in Florida. Back in the day, on road trips, I’d rush to convenience stores and supermarkets to see what regional foods were there to try.
While Anastasia wants to expand, it’s fun to have first heard of this treat at the show.
You can set up an entire apothecary facade at the show too, as did Dallmann’s Sage Lozenges.
Partnership is everything. This maple syrup aged in bourbon barrels is magical. Some of the best products at the show came out of flavor, ingredient and production partnerships like this.
Even meteorologists are in on the hot sauce game! This food entrepreneur dishes out weather in Bangor, Maine and Todd’s hot sauce here at the show
The beautiful simplicity of a thank the Italian buffalo who gave their milk to produce this pillow of loveliness. Artisanal food is alive and well – and this is the perfect example of it.
You can turn a garden variety confection into a dog’s head and make everyone want to eat it.
Layoffs can have a silver lining. A big layoff from Sabra led the team that started Eat Well Embrace Life “other bean” hummus – a ragingly fast growing hummos company whose products I love. Apparently they want to be the Chobani of hummus. Great vision! (Terrible photo.) 🙂
What a difference a little toothpick with a flag on it makes for sampling. Can you say “grab and inhale?”
More to come from this incredibly interesting show! See my 19 picks from the show, some new twists on old favorites and some radically interesting new foods.
What do you want to know…or what did you see and take away?
