The New York Summer Fancy Foods Show
Since 1955, the Fancy Food Shows, produced by the NASFT (The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade) in both New York (summer) and California (winter) are North America’s largest specialty food and beverage marketplaces.
This is where roughly 24,000 attendees go to taste and consider new products including confections, cheese, coffee, snacks, spices, ethnic, natural, organic and, of course, chocolate. This year, in New York, there were over 2,300 exhibitors—including Choclatique—from about 80 countries.
It is a place that retailers go to discover what’s new and innovative in the world of food and beverage products. These attendees come to see thousands of exhibitors from all over the globe. Most are passionate entrepreneurs like Joan and me who have created their own recipes and started their own companies. At this show you can learn about these trend-setting businesses and watch them sell to decision-makers as they showcase more than 250,000 innovative products.
The International Pavilions are very exciting, presenting exotic new specialty foods from all over the world—some seldom seen in the U.S. There are also dozens of seminars, workshops, tours, tastings, cooking classes and special events at each show.
This year Choclatique released 8 new products for consideration to the retail trade.
These included:
- Moon Rocks Chocolate—celebrating the 40th anniversary of man’s first walk on the moon. With galactic flavors such as Apollo Almond and Cosmic Caramel Crunch, these delicious confections boldly go where no chocolate has gone before.
- The Jewel Box Collection—rare and beautiful confections designed to represent the finely-crafted precious and semi-precious birthstones that have engaged mankind from the beginning of time.
- Napa Valley Wine Chocolates—available in eight amazing varieties including Late Harvest Cabernet Chocolate, Fall Vineyard Merlot Chocolate, Estate Chardonnay Chocolate, Sparkling Blanc Chocolate, Old Oak Barrel-Aged Port Chocolate, First-Crush Fume Blanc Chocolate, Zinfandel Cuvée Chocolate, and Pretty in Pink “Blush” Chocolate.
- Elephant—Seriously Strong Chocolate (76%)—mind-blowing in its complexity, rivaling many of the high percentage cacao chocolates from the European legacy chocolate makers. It’s comparable to chocolates with higher cacao content. Elephant Chocolate shows off Choclatique’s mastery of chocolate blending. It is a harmonious mélange of Criollo and Trinitario beans that brings out the light floral aromas of ripe cherry and the essence of raisin top notes. There are deep chocolate layers punctuated by the complex flavors of tart citrus, red fruit and roasted walnut and almond notes.
- Peanut Brittle Bites—an abundance of U.S. grown, Spanish-style red-skin peanuts and a perfectly-cooked buttery sugar brittle.
- Chocolate-Covered Peanut Brittle Bites—a twist on the original, with the addition of Choclatique’s Prestige Milk Chocolate (32%) coating, and crushed peanuts for a texture that is as great as the taste.
- Chocolate-Almond Butter Toffee Bites—a blend of pure Hawaiian cane sugar, dairy-fresh butter and real vanilla all covered in our Choclatique Private Reserve Dark Chocolate (64%), and sprinkled with ground, oven-roasted California almonds, toasted cocoa nibs and Saigon cinnamon.
- Pure Power—100% Gluten-Free Power Bar—a delicious, high protein (9.5g) peanut bar that is chock-full of U.S.A. grown Virginia peanuts and all natural ingredients that are commonly found in your own pantry.
Joan Vieweger and Ed Engoron at the New York Summer Fancy Food Show 2009
We handed out nearly 5,000 pieces of chocolate over 3 days and talked to over 400 key retailer buyers, brokers and distributors, many of whom will now begin to carry Choclatique products.
So, now is the time to start planning your personal and corporate Christmas gifts—all the retail buyers are!
Chocolates Out of the Box! 