There’s nothing quite like The Big Apple during the holidays, and when you combine that with fresh produce industry folks coming together to promote their fresh products, it’s nothing short of magical! We’ve always been fans of the New York Produce Show which takes place each December. It’s easy to navigate for attendees looking to get meaningful face time with the brands, and the exhibitors rave about the quality of the buyers that attend this show. During this year’s expo, we saw several stand out booths and products that we’re excited to see more of on retail shelves. Here’s what blew us away:
Attractive and Entertaining Booths & Displays
“Central Park” On the Show Floor
First of all, we’d like to give props to the organizers at The New York Produce Show for this smart set-up at the center of the tradeshow floor. “Central Park” was not only full of comfortable places to sit, but also included endless food and drink options and scenery that fit the bill. We especially loved the fence featuring photos of our favorite produce peeps from across the show floor.
New Product Showcase Displays
Several companies like Procacci Brothers, Gotham Greens, Litehouse® Foods and Terrafina took their displays in the New Product Showcase to the next level! Since the NYPS is only one day, many companies have kept their displays simple in the past. This year, The NYPS team encouraged exhibitors to create custom signage and add pizazz to their display shelf to excite the New York buyers in the competitive market. We look forward to seeing more exciting displays in next year’s showcase!
Arrowfarms’ Oxygen Bar
Arrowfarms recently rebranded their organic line to “Feel Good Organic” and to support this effort, they wanted tradeshow attendees to feel good when stopping by their booth. They created an in-booth oxygen bar complete with therapeutic scents to heal any tradeshow-goer’s ailments. The DMA team opted for stress relieving and energizing aromas to keep us moving at a New Yorker’s pace!
Chef Alex Callegari’s Soup at the Continental Fresh Booth
The “Firefighter Foodie” in the Continental Fresh booth cooked up what was easily one of the tastiest samples on the entire tradeshow floor: Butternut Squash Soup. Just a little chorizo and a dollop of cream fraiche along with winter spices like nutmeg really brought out the flavors in the butternut squash. We would’ve downed a whole bowl if we could, as this hit the spot on a chilly winter afternoon!
The New York State Grown & Certified Booth
This was one of those tradeshow booths that you just can’t help but stop and admire. The marketers in us gushed at the gorgeous display and the unique, textured wood signage created by the certifying agency. It had that “down home” farm-to-market feel without feeling overdone or generic.
Concord Foods’ Consumer Knowledge Display
We’ve mentioned brands who create similar displays for tradeshows in previous editions of “What Blew Us Away,” and we’re thrilled to see that Concord Foods also put their marketing prowess on display! The booth included a banner that demonstrates to their buyers that they are working to understand more about the shoppers that purchase their products. To buyers, this is a signal that Concord Foods is a brand that will work to drive more traffic into their stores because they’re connecting with shoppers on a deeper level.
On-the-Go Solutions
We had fun learning about this new Brooklyn-based brand of drinkable soups packed with superfoods and good-for-you ingredients. To us, the product screamed “busy, on-the-go millennial” and we thought it would be the perfect convenient, healthy lunch to enjoy while heading to your next meeting in the car or on the subway. We especially enjoyed the brand’s collateral comparing the nutritional content in their products to other popular juice and on-the-go meal substitute brands. We hope that this products finds success and makes its way to Dallas soon!
Terrafina’s Healthy Snacks
To add to the exciting healthy and convenience snacking products we encountered at the show, we loved getting a taste of this local New York brand’s various snacking lines. The company has a variety of products in their portfolio, but we especially loved the dried figs packaged in a pinwheel shape that tasted just like the fig newtons we ate as a kid! We also enjoyed the root veggie chips and trail mix products packaged with labels touting their omega-3 and fatty acid ingredients.
Wholly Guacamole’s “minis”
Local to us here in Dallas, we’re huge fans of Wholly Guacamole, and not just because guac is a Texan’s diet staple. To add to the healthy snacking craze, Wholly Guacamole has created individual serving cups of guac called “minis” that are perfect for throwing in a lunch box to add to sandwiches or snack on at the office! We can’t wait to buy these!
Products Designed for Usage Occasions
Okay – so we did gush about this product previously following Fresh Summit, but we were excited to see it again in New York, this time featuring a fresh “margarita” juice that will make any margarita oh-so-smooth. Once we had a bite of some Wholly Guacamole, we jumped over to the Ripe Craft Juice™ booth to sample this other staple for a Texan diet! We love that this product is perfect for both the at-home cocktail enthusiast and professional mixologists alike (plus the packaging is fantastic!)
Mamzells® – Potatoes with a Purpose
One of the products that impressed us the most during the expo was Mamzells® line of potatoes packaged with a specific purpose or usage occasion in mind. The different varieties lend best to a slow cooker, baking, mashing or frying and are conveniently packaged so that consumers don’t have to question which potatoes they need to buy to satisfy their recipe requirements. The brand also includes a line of potatoes labeled by flavor and variety. Talk about a new way to market a staple product like potatoes!
Juicing NuGreens from San Miguel
San Miguel has long been an authority on greens in the fresh produce industry, so we were delighted to learn that they’ve created a new product specifically for juicing! The packaging is clean and attractive and features a specific usage directive for active consumers looking to get the most out of their greens. We look forward to learning more about this product as it hits retail shelves in 2017!
Overall, this year’s New York Produce Show & Conference was a success for the DMA Solutions team, and from what we heard on the tradeshow floor, it went very well for the exhibitors, too! We look forward to #celebratingfresh again next year in NYC, and potentially at other Produce Business events like the Amsterdam and London Produce Shows!
