Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2023 - Westchester County Press Event Recap

This Fall Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2023 is kicking off October 30 through November 12, 2023.

With more than 130 restaurants, spanning seven counties across the Hudson Valley - Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Ulster, Orange, Sullivan and Dutchess counties. Prix-fixe lunches and dinners will be offered at $24.95, $29.95, $39.95 or $44.95. (Pricing does not include tax, beverages, or gratuity.) Prix-fixe menus will be offered for both dine-in and takeout. 

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We were able to cover Westchester County’s Press Preview at Red Horse by David Burke. While sampling drinks like Cosmos, Old Fashions, and signature cocktail “ Horse with No Name”, with Syndicate Distillers Vodka and Bourbon.

It was great to here from, Director of Westchester County Tourism and Film, Natasha Caputo, County Executive George Latimer, Catherine Rinaldi, Metro-North President and Long Island Rail Road Interim President, Mike Martinelli, Today Media’s Hudson Valley Group Publisher, and Chef David Burke himself. All showcasing the wonder Westchester has to offer while embracing dining out and tourism. This is a must for businesses, especially to create and maintain a thriving community of food and culture.

For bites the had their signature “Clothesline Bacon”, which is the only way I’ll take my bacon now. And yes, it is an appetizer option on their HVRW Menu!

We sampled their locally grown butternut squash soup, tuna and salmon tartare, chicken skewers, short rib tacos, and enjoyed their charcuterie spread.

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Get out there and dine!

Browse participating restaurants and make reservations through Valley Table.

Specialty Food Association - Summer Fancy Food Show 2023 - Breakfast Trends, Cocktail Culture, and Storytelling Focused Favorites

Overwhelming is the word used most often at this year’s Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. Occurring over 3 days (June 25-27, 2023) at the Javits Center in New York, SFA pulled out all the stops. There is a lot of ground to cover here. Let’s first start with some background about me. If you didn’t know this about me already, in my full time job I manage trade shows and events. From someone that does this in their day-to-day, I’d say it’s pretty rare to find a show organizer that is constantly improving and innovating quite like SFA. This year they had:

• Sold-out show with more than 2,000 domestic and global specialty food and beverage makers and manufacturers.

• Keynote speaker celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis

• Product pavilions dedicated to the hottest categories including: Plant Based, Deli, Bakery/Confectionery/Snacks/Sweets, and Beverage. This year they also had a Sips Bay (Beverage Pavillon and Diversity Pavillon)

• International Pavilions from 31 countries and regions across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceana, and South America, including partner country, the Kingdom of Morocco.  

• State and Regional Pavilions including Brooklyn Goes Global, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA), and Virginia. 

• NEW NOW NEXT Pavilion featuring Incubators and Startups.

• Unveiling of the sofi™ Product of the Year and New Product of the Year award winners.

• 5 Borough Block Party - End of the first exhibit day featuring food trucks from the 5 boroughs + drinks and a live DJ…. A real taste of New York.

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Most Notable Trends:

There were no shortage of mocktail inspired business here were a few that were on the top of my list.

Alcohol-Free Cocktail Culture

✨Sayso - Sayso is behind the first-ever cocktail tea bag. All you do is steep in cold water for 3 minutes and add your spirits or keep it a mocktail. Flavors include an Old Fashion, Skinny Spicy Margarita, and Rosemary Honey Moscow Mule.

✨Fauxmosa - A bubbly alcohol-free (0.0% ABV) mimosa that playfully blends California grapes, real fruit juice, and botanical flavors with a hint of apple cider vinegar to create a regret-free cocktail that suits your lifestyle. These little cans come in flavors such as: Cranberry with Hibiscus & Ginger, Pineapple with Lemon & Mint, and Orange with Turmeric.

✨Twisted Alchamic - These are 100% cold pressed, fresh juices are for those who care about quality, but would rather spend time creating killer cocktails than juicing and cleaning. I’ll admit I went for seconds on this one. The Three Citrus Margarita and Passion Fruit juice were my top favorites.

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Luxury Breakfast

Since brunch is our business, I tried to source and seek out the best new breakfast products. What I found was there were so many brands that were using the finest ingredients in their products or on a mission to make breakfast more family friendly.

High Quality Breakfast Ingredients:

✨Runamok - Runamok is a specialty foods company focused on creating fun, innovative, and delicious products with quality, natural ingredients. At the show I had an interview with the President, Curt Alpeter, he walked me through their product line of syrups, mixers, and honey.

Newly launched this year is their Maple Grenadine cocktail mixer. They showcased this by having this really nice side-by-side comparison of the leading grenadine and the comparison of their quality ingredients. It was delicious and I don’t make a ton of things with grenadine but I’m pretty sure they converted me. Along with this, Curt really took his time to explain to me the different grades and quality of maple syrup. As well as where and how they source their honey, and what the difference is between raw and processed honey. It was a really fascinating conversation about agriculture.

✨Jesha’s Sourdough Pancake Mix - This pancake mix is made from stone-ground whole grains that have been slow fermented with sourdough culture giving it a ton of nutritional value. I love a sourdough, and it didn’t dawn on me how truly tasty a sourdough pancake could be. Plus, I loved that Jesha is a town over from me. Did we just become best friends?!?

✨Cometeer - This coffee company works with some top quality roasters (Joe Coffee, Counter Culture, Birch, Intelligentsia, and more) to brew and flash freeze into these little pods so unlimited flavor. And I will say the the quality shows. As a huge cold brew/iced coffee girl; this packed smooth, bold flavors. I could have taken 20 of these with me.

✨Natural Blonde Bloody Mary Mix - Admittedly, I’m not a big Bloody Mary fan, but, this bloody mary mix was smooth as so much less acidic than a traditional Bloody Mary. It’s made from yellow tomato juice giving it its light blonde color and lower in sodium.

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Breakfast Made Easier for Families:

✨Happy Grub - Is a squeezable instant pancake mix, aimed at more fun and less messes, with the goal of bringing more families in the kitchen. Ashley, the founder has been on our podcast before and honestly I’m all for making breakfasts easier and fun with my kiddo. Plus her whole team is incredibly nice and so generous with their time.

✨Hidden Foods Co. - Homestyle Pancakes - With an addition of flaxseed and oats to this protein packed mix--and the hidden fruits & vitamins. I love the concept of sneaking extra goodies in, plus the pancakes tasted great.

✨Mama Biscuits - A gourmet biscuit company, Mama Biscuits specializes in a variety of biscuit flavors including sweet, savory, vegan and gluten free. In the fall of this year, Mama Biscuits will be launching some new ready to-go breakfast biscuit sandwiches.

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2023 Overall Show Vibes:

In terms of overall show vibe, it felt different than last year. I had gotten far more Press Releases last year. I’m not sure if it is because more companies didn’t do them. Specialty Food Association honestly provides so many great resources to their exhibitors and members. Including a webinar on PR 101 and how to engage with media and they have cubbies in the press room where you can decorate and drop off materials.

My only thought here was last year in 2022 it was the first real year back with less restrictions after Covid. Perhaps companies had more time to create press releases and new product launches compared to this year. Overall, many exhibitors felt very standoffish and focused on buyers and didn’t engage much. Or even worse were the ones that didn’t sample their products at all.

This leads me to shout out the companies that made a real effort to engage, tell their stories, and had really great products…

More Favorite Brands from Summer Fancy Food 2023:

✨Kola Goodies - Sajani Amarasiri is the founder behind Kola Goodies, vegan superfood lattes for energy, mood, immunity, stress relief & wellness. I tried the Sri Lankan Milk Tea and it was out of this world, incredibly tasty, warm, and gave you all those cozy vibe feelings.

✨Brooklyn Dehli - Premium Indian Pantry staples from sauces, condiments, and spices. My all time favorites are the Coconut Cashew Korma, Tikka Masala sauce, and Mango Chutney. Meeting Chitra Agrawal was also pretty epic, we mostly chatted about kids and Kingston, NY, she was super down to earth.

✨Yolélé - Yolélé is changing conditions for rural West African smallholder farmers. Their mission is to support biodiverse, regenerative, and climate-resilient farming systems; and to share Africa’s ingredients and flavors with the world.

Best know for producing chips, pilaf, and products with Fonio, a gluten-free African grain; what was new this year were their African Spice Rib + Dip mix set - and yes they were so tasty and make for a perfect summer dip.

✨Xinca - Authentic Salvadoria Food - Xinca is a family-owned company led by Cynthia Duran, a *Salvi (Salvadorian American) Latina. After her family migrated to the United States while fleeing the Salvadorian civil war, her family found comfort in cooking authentic dishes that reminded them of home. The Four Bean & Cheese Pupusas were my favorite and absolutely flying off the sample table.

✨ Matriark x Sfoglini - Two great brands that teamed up at the show to collaborate on their products - Sfoglini pasta with Matriark’s tomato sauce.

Matriark Foods upcycles farm surplus and fresh-cut remnants into healthy, delicious, low sodium vegetable products for schools, hospitals, and food banks.

Sfoglini pasta sources the finest North American organic grains and unique ingredients from local farms and green markets with traditional Italian techniques to create fun pasta shapes that hold optimal sauce. Plus they are based in the Hudson Valley.

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Would love to hear what your experience was like if you attended Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show this year. What were some of your favorite brands and trends? Let me know in the comments.

I already can’t WAIT to see what next year’s show has in store.

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How to Exhibit at a Food Trade Show - Marketing Strategies and Tips for Food Brands and CPG Exhibitors

If you’re planning to exhibit at any of the major trade shows this is a blog post for you.

First, let me introduce myself. Hi 👋 I’m Nicole. A bit of background on me before I shell out the advice. I come from a background of over 10+ years of experience working in event management. From working in Special Events at the Guggenheim Museum, to planning conferences and networking events for tech startups, to managing over 150+ regional US courses, workshops, and shows plus 8 major trade shows (per year) for my current company, FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas Corporation. The obsession for events is real and I’m here to teach you some simple ways you can manage your ROI at your next food and beverage trade show. And why am I focusing on food? Because I simply love food and new CPG brands.

Let’s start with the basics - What Trade Shows Are Out There?

Specialty Food Association - (Winter Fancy Food around January in Las Vegas, NV // Summer Fancy Food - Around June in NYC. ) SFA is membership-based trade association in the United States representing 3,000+ member companies. Where they create, connect, support, and share the extraordinary experience of specialty food with the world.

Natural Product Expo (New Hope Network) - Is behind two trade shows: Expo East (Philadelphia, PA) & Expo West - (Anaheim, CA) - The world's largest natural, organic and healthy products event, brings together an inspired community of industry members and exhibiting companies.

International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York: A once-a-year event that focuses on serving the foodservice industry in the Northeast.

Sweets and Snacks Expo - The Sweets & Snacks Expo is a can’t-miss event for thousands of confectionery and snack retailers, manufacturers and suppliers.

+There’s a ton more niche ones from grocer’s, suppliers, to coffee and pizza.

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Let’s Dive In…

Tip #1: Don’t Sleep on a Press Release

Storytime - This year I attended Specialty Food Association (SFA) Summer Fancy Food in NYC on a press pass to cover the show. TONS of cool brand, check out the recap here.

Needless to say I was overwhelmed with press releases and requests to “come check out our booth!”. One positive I will note; compared to Expo East, SFA had a great press room.

Couple of tips on this topic... I honestly tried to visit every single booth that had reached out to me and had sent me a press release. One, because there were so many new and interesting products that I had never heard of and 2. It’s low hanging fruit. It’s free, and it’s an offer that is being provided to you from the organizers to reach out to their press list. It’s worth an extra quick “goggle” to find a template and create one. I’ll truly never forget a company named Boulder, who was the last press release I received before the show. When I went to visit the booth and spook with the founder, she admitted she googled it, created it the night before and sent it. Press releases are worth it and they work.

This leads me to… Tip #2… Offer Press, Buyers, Suppliers, or anyone you identify as “High Quality Leads” a Special Gift or Offer

What do I mean by this? Well, there’s a few ways to approach this…

1. In your Press Release, offer some times to check out and stop by the booth. Once you get your responses, account for that X amount (if not a few extra) special gift bags or tchotchkes/swag items for when press comes by. This gift can include a printed brochure, flyer, copy of your press release and something nice, customizable, or even full size samples of your product.

   Here are some memorable Press gifts I’ve received:

   • Fancy Milk Frother

   • Limited Edition High Quality Bags (Customization and Limited Quantity is key here.)

     • Example: Lesser Evil had released two different high quality and different totes at ExpoEast, they only had limited quality. I got one the them and can’t tell you how many people stopped and asked me where I got it.

   • Scrunchies/bracelets/pins/branded shirts/socks - I personally love a shirt or pin of my favorite CPG brands.

   • OR think outside-the-box and have an experience at your booth. I’ve seen this done well with Eat Happy Grub where they hire a traveling pancake artist for their booth. Trust me, everyone loves a personalized experience.

2. *Even better, if possible, offer to ship products to press so they don’t have to “carry a bunch of stuff” around the exhibit hall. Trust me this small gesture is worth GOLD. No one likes shleeping stuff around all day plus you’ll likely get bonus social media content and shares out of it…Because who doesn’t love a PR box?

Tip #3: Understand how your are qualifying leads and what your expected goals and ROI post-show will be.

Knowing this and spending some extra time strategize is important here. I know because I manage my company’s trade show budget. Trade shows are a HUGE investment and can be extremely beneficial.

Some things to consider and ask yourself: Will you be investing in a lead scanner at a trade show? Old school business cards? Who are you targeting at a show? What’s your goals - brand awareness, new product, networking/sales, press?

BONUS Tip that I saw from Summer Fancy Food Show from Queen Majesty. If you’re bootstrapping and your goal is to simply get some email sign-ups for your newsletter, check out this example. Queen Majesty, a hot sauce company, simply set up a laptop/tablet on a table in their booth. I thought this was a brilliant, easy, and affordable way to collect new emails to feed their newsletter funnel. I still think a lead scanner and having a set of pre-defined criteria for MQL’s/leads is ideal, but this was a smart alternative. You can also easily set up a simple email landing page via your email CRM. Very smart.

Tip #4: Have a pre-show and more importantly a post-show plan for next steps and following up.

Just as important as it is to set up all your social media content for the pre, during, and post show, press releases, email marketing, etc. Spend time creating a few email templates based on your target “customer profiles”. Example: One post-event email for attendees, one for press, one for buyers/wholesale, etc. Have them ready to go after the expo ends.

Next, post-show, you have about a couple days to “rest”, then you need to be sorting through your business cards or combing through your Excel full of leads (if you purchased a lead scanner), and adding them to your CRM or email list for follow ups.

Tip #5: Don’t forget the Awards, Accolades, and Tapping into your Membership Benefits/NetWork

I learned this a few year’s ago from an exceptional Brunch & Learn podcast guest of mine, Kim Kaupe, on raising your hand. No one is going to knock on your door for an opportunity, you need to vote for yourself and raise your hand. Highly suggest taking a listen to the podcast episode here.

Here’s a few ideas to get your started:

Sofi Awards - At the Specialty Food Association, their sofi™ Awards have been honoring the best in specialty food. You get a cool trophy, a whole display section at the trade show, an awards dinner, and all the bragging rights. Plus SFA has a great membership community. I love how much they promote their members.

ExpoEast/West has fantastic content for members, attendees, and press leading up to the show. From trends, what to expect, and even best practices on how t make the most out of the show. Use and tap into everything. Attend webinars, reach out to the conference organizers, pitch them on new products, tap into any member benefits or networking events.

Overall, don’t sleep on opportunities.

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Finally, I know we’re tired of hearing about the pandemic, but honestly live in-person events are back in full swing. It’s a point I’ve said for YEARS… I won’t remember a Instagram post or Tweet from a week ago but I will always remember some aspect of a live event. Whether it’s the food, decor, learning something new, or meeting someone new. That’s what makes events and trade shows a special piece to your marketing strategy.

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Bonus - 2024 Show Calendar

Specialty Food Association - Winter Fancy Food Show - Jan 21st -23th - Las Vegas, NV

Specialty Food Association - Summer Fancy Food Show - June 23rd-25th - New York City

Sweets and Snacks Expo - May 14 -16th - Indianapolis, IN

Good Food Awards Ceremony - April 28th - Portland OR

Cherry Bombe Jubilee 2024 - April 20th - New York, NY

Natural Products Expo West - March 12th -16th - Anaheim, California

Natural Products Newtopia Now - August 6th -8th - Savannah, GA

NACS (Convenience Stores)- October 7-10th - Las Vegas, NV

BevNet Live (Beverage) - June 12 - 13th - New York, NY

Stay in Touch

I want you to succeed and if you want to hear more tips on exhibiting or planning an event. Feel free to shoot me an email and reach out to me @ info@womenwhobrunch.com

Women Who Brunch Event Recap - Brunch Board Virtual Event with Dream Boards Co.

This Summer in August we hosted our first virtual event, (oh quarantine!) - a demo/workshop with Rachael from Dream Boards Co.

The shopping list for our brunch board workshop featured mini bagels and croissants, two types of cheese including triple creme brie, hand rolled everything but the bagel seasoned goat cheese, a soppressata rose, fresh seasonal fruit, honey walnuts, honey and pansies.

In the demo we were taught:

• The 5 basic steps of building a board, tips on cutting goat cheese

• How to create your own seasoned goat cheese (demo with seasoning)

• How to create movement on your boards, how to make a salami rose

• The different kinds of brie, fruit currently in season

• How final touches like edible flowers and nuts can elevate your boards and what edible flowers are best.

This workshop was so much fun. My key take aways were learning how to make a salami rose and just when you think you’re done with your board keep layering.

Here’s some photos of my final brunch board and some behind the scenes of the demo.

Behind the Scenes - Virtual Set Up On My End