The Winter Fancy Food Show is taking place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA from January 16-18, 2011. The Fancy Food Show is expected to attract 25,000 attendees from specialty food, wine, gift and department stores, supermarkets, restaurants, mail-order and other related businesses. These attendees come to see more than a thousand exhibitors from around the world, presenting more than 180,000 specialty foods. Business booms at these trade-only shows, as an impressive 87% of all attendees either authorize or recommend purchasing decisions.
The decision to participate was precipitated by an invitation from the Canadian Food Exporters Association, in cooperation with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Consulate General in San Francisco. Ontario East will be joining several Canadian manufacturers and food processors to make up the popular Canada Pavilion at the Show.
The Ontario East Food Sector Marketing Team is made up of the following municipalities:
- City of Brockville
- City of Cornwall
- County of Lennox and Addington
- County of Northumberland
- Greater Peterborough Area
- Bay of Quinte Region
- Town of Smiths Falls
- United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
The effort will be multi-faceted and will involve exhibiting as part of the Canada Pavilion at the show, and meeting with companies in attendance at the show. As part of this effort, a comprehensive directory of food-related companies in Eastern Ontario will be distributed at the show. This directory is a unique resource that has proven to be very popular.
The Food team is attempting to leverage existing activity in the Food sector in Eastern Ontario to attract new investment. Ontario has some competitive advantages when it comes to the food industry and of course, proximity to consumers (Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal) is a key factor as well. These advantages are outlined in brochure that will be distributed at the show.
The Ontario East Food Sector Marketing Team is funded in part by the Eastern Ontario Development Fund (EODF) and the Eastern Ontario Development Program (EODP). Additional funding comes from the sector municipal partners.
The focus on the Fancy Food sector is one that has evolved as experts have indicated that the specialty foods and natural foods sectors are converging and these sectors are providing most of the growth in the grocery sector. The Fancy Food show has been identified as being a key gathering of influential decision makers.
The Ontario East Economic Development Commission (OEEDC) is a group of over 124 Ontario East economic development professionals and business leaders who are working co-operatively to promote Eastern Ontario as a premiere business location. Together, the Commission represents more than 200 communities, thousands of businesses and nearly 2 million residents.
The OEEDC represents an area from Kawartha Lakes-Haliburton on the west to Prescott-Russell on the east and from the Ottawa River in the north to the St. Lawrence River in the south.
