Communicate Important Info In Your Signage
An attractive, professional sign draws attention and people to your stand, reinforces your legitimacy and trustworthiness and provides useful information. For instance, is your produce organic? Answering the question before they ask it saves you time, helps market your product and justifies your pricing. Most importantly, not all shoppers have the inclination to ask questions so you’ll gain customers that otherwise might have just walked on by. Also, be sure to visibly label prices on your products or on clear signage next to your products. Items without prices don’t sell.

Impress With Your Presentation
People definitely judge a book by its cover. Simple things like tablecloths, baskets and placing canned or jarred goods on tiers make a huge difference in how people think about you than if you just have products on a card table. Take care to think through all the details: where should you place your best selling products, what height should your table be, how will you handle any spills. Perfecting your presentation will give you an edge over many of your neighboring vendors—especially those selling similar products.

Lure Customers In With Free Samples
There is no better way to sell your products than by having people taste them and, unlike other venues, Farmers’ Markets allow you that opportunity. It helps familiarize customers with your products and gives you the opportunity to engage them in conversation. (Also- there’s the guilt factor. A lot of people feel guilty taking free things without buying something in return). Develop relationships with fellow vendors and cross-promote. If you sell olive oil, strike up a trade with a bread vendor. This way you each have appropriate products for serving samples and can promote each other’s products.

Make Them Love You/Know Your Products
You must, must, must be personable. People often go to Farmers’ Markets initially for higher quality of product, but they keep going back because of the experience. Developing relationships with your customers is the best way to ensure returning business. Along that line, be sure to staff your table with people who know your products: how they taste, how they’re grown or produced, their shelf life, why they’re special, and most importantly, creative ways to use them. This goes for unfamiliar products like crosnes (a rare tuber) as well as more everyday veggies like zucchini.

Price What Your Worth
Don’t be afraid to charge more for a better product. Is it organic? Charge for it. Is your beef grass-fed instead of grain-fed? Charge for it. But, give your customer deals when it’s called for. If you have an abundance of product, lowering the price will help you get rid of it and make your customers happy. Offer bulk prices when appropriate and adjust price when called for, such as a bruised piece of fruit.

Give Takeaway Materials
By the time a customer gets home, there’s a good chance they’ve already forgotten where they bought that bag of produce from. Want them to come back? Want them to tell their friends? Give promotional materials away with purchases and have them set up on your table so interested people can pick up as they walk by. Again, the more professional, well written and well designed the piece, the better impression the recipient will have of you. Fliers, brochures or just small cards are all good. But the best items are  recipe cards—because that’s something people may keep and use again. Be sure to include your website, address and phone number on all materials so they’ll always know how to contact you.

Trivia & Karaoke Nights
Bars everywhere are praying on unsuspecting egos by instituting weekly Trivia and Karaoke nights.  Can’t find a job because the market sucks and everyone else is more qualified?  Always thought you were a good singer but you’re too embarrassed to share your talent with the world?  Your local bar is now happy to provide you with intellectual stimulation or a stage. Of course, you’ll have to pay for the brain food and liquid courage.

Gourmet “Street” Food
As a seeming reaction to the economy, a number of new restaurants are moving away from the white tablecloth and towards the plastic tray. Paul Kahan of Chicago’s Blackbird, Avec and Publican has recently opened (with a slew of other local restaurateurs) Big Star, a $2-a-taco joint in Wicker Park. It’s a big jump from the $30 entrees at his other eateries but the restaurant is just as big of a hit. The place is packed with patrons sipping on craft whiskeys and chowing down on tostadas and tacos while tapping their boots to the country music that belts over the crowd. Other examples include Rick Bayless’s Xoco in Chicago, Michael Symon’s Bar Symon in Cleveland, and Scott Carsberg’s Bistao in Seattle.  For more on these restaurants and this topic, check out this article from Restaurant Hospitality.

Extending Hours
Many restaurants are increasing their sales simply by giving people more chances to spend.  Doors are opening early for breakfast and staying open late for midnight snacks.  The profit margin for these foods is huge– eggs, toast, pizza and french fries cost next to nothing to keep in stock or prepare.  Rent is already paid, and the increased labor cost for a couple servers and a line cook could be covered by one $20 tab an hour.  Read more about extended hours here.

So these trends seem to suggest that despite the fact people aren’t going out as often… they’re still going out. Maybe the groups are smaller. Maybe they’re not willing to spend as much. The trick is to make the experience unique, casual and fun when they do so that they choose your restaurant over your more mundane competition.

Since I love both prizes and bragging rights, I entered the following pre-show prognostications:

1) Natural/Clean Ingredients – With Food, Inc. and the big natural and organic movement gaining steam (plus having talked to at least three food companies this year who are moving in this direction for 2010), I thought this would be a big one. Maybe I was too ahead of the game as there didn’t seem to be a lot of companies promoting this attribute. I would bet that a lot of companies are reformulating behind the scenes and we’ll see more of this at the NY summer show or in 2011.

2) Single Serving Packs – This goes almost against my first trend (#1 being a more natural approach, and this trend resulting in more waste). But, at the last show, I was seeing things like single serve gelato cups so I thought this might catch on more here. I was grateful to see it hadn’t.

3) Bacon – I know bacon’s been a trend for a while now (and in the specialty food industry, I really credit Vosges Chocolate for their bacon chocolate bars). But, for Pete’s sake, there are people out there who tweet about nothing but bacon. There’s a festival celebrating bacon in Chicago. The pork product is not going away just yet.

4) Gluten-Free – This just keeps growing and growing. I’m curious if there’s really that much money to be made in this area. Nonetheless, more and more companies keep jumping into the pool.

5) Salt + Chocolate – This seems like a trend from a few years ago and that chocolatiers had moved past salt. But, right before filling out the form, I’d seen multiple ads in food trade pubs for this very pairing. Trends are cyclical right? So I thought I’d throw it out there. And, there were a few companies doing this–of course, they were the same ones of which I’d seen the ads.

The top trends, as declared by the trend spotting panel were:

1) Good-For-You Foods – You mean, healthy foods? Umm. This is so vague I don’t even know what exhibited foods they were referring to.

2) Coconut – Didn’t occur to me at the time. But, after hearing this declared, it did make me recall several products (ice creams, cookies) that had coconut in it.

3) Gluten-Free – Ha! Got one right. It will be interesting to see in two or three years who will still be around.

4) Exotic Citrus – I do recall a blood orange juice that was darn tasty and a brilliant idea. But, I’m having trouble remembering any other exotic citrus foods, let alone naming any other exotic citrus fruits. Is lime exotic? I wish the trend spotters had some sort of write up somewhere on the fancy food show site or blog.

5) Nostalgic Foods – Again… huh? What counted as nostalgic? That’s such a wide open definition you could probably make an argument for including the majority of exhibited foods on any given year.

Here are the trends I actually did see:

1) Bacon – C’mon trendspotters. You didn’t see this? In addition to the regulars that included bacon salt and bacon prep devices, there were new offerings like bacon-infused caviar (California Caviar) and bacon caramel marshmallows (Plush Puffs). Plus, Vosges was back with bacon caramel toffee.

2) Black Truffles – I would not have expected to see so many foods imbued with this expensive, albeit delicious, ingredient. There were two truffle popcorns, (479 Popcorn and Susan Rice Truffle Products) and several truffle butters. But, the most prominent example was a savory truffle macaroon from Fabrique Delices that was a truffle taste explosion (and like most explosions it verged on the hard to handle).

3) Popcorn – Notice how I mentioned two popcorns above? There were lots more where that came from. Maybe this fit into the open-ended Nostalgic Food trend?

Well, I didn’t win. But, it was fun playing the game and seeing what exhibitors are trying to get on the shelf for the coming year. I look forward to seeing how these trends hold up when I visit the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim in March and the NY Fancy Food Show in June.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think the major food trends will be this year?

The Epi-Log’s Top 10 Food Trends for 2010 of Epicurious.com says that Fried Chicken is in & Gourmet Burgers are out. Unfortunate for KFC, just as they were rolling out their “Un-fried side” the food industry gourmands pulled a fast one on them! Diners across the country have been serving up this crispy delight for decades and now chefs are inventing new ways to flip the bird. However, fried food (especially overeating it) is not friendly on the stomach. Approach this enticement with caution.

And although we can all agree the hoopla around craft burgers is probably at its peak, the concept isn’t going anywhere. Burgers have always been a go-to of the American diet. There simply is nothing like the pleasure and joy of sinking your incisors into a fat juicy piece of meat smothered in nature’s greatest gift, cheese.

On that note, Burgers will remain on the mind, but their friendly counterpart the Artisan Hot Dog is what’s gettin’ people talking. The January 2010 issue of Food & Wine Magazine’s “2010 Trend Report” is calling this a “Classic Comeback,” noting places like Bark Hot Dogs in Brooklyn, Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace in Columbus (OH) and Frank in Austin. We’d also like to tack on Hot Doug’s in Chitown to that list, as the leaders of this modest, yet very appealing trend. Give the ole’ weenie an upgrade and you’ve got yourself a real audience. Um, hi, I’ll take a Kobe dog, sprinkled with some truffle salt, a friendly serving of homemade relish and stuffed into a handmade bun. Thanks.

After a tasty frankfurter, how about some dessert? The same Epi-Log 2010 forecast is predicting that Mini Whoopie Pies – salivation inducing chocolate sandwiches filled with marshmallow cream — will be the new Mini Cupcake. We fully support this claim, although like to think that it was our prediction first, and feel that they don’t necessarily have to be miniature. We’d be completely satisfied with one the size of a Whoopie Cushion.

Sustainability, Locally Grown Produce and Locally Sourced Meats & Seafood were the Top 3 trends from the National Restaurant Associations Chef Survey, “What’s Hot in 2010?” Who’s going to argue with this? Not me. Luckily, farmers’ markets are really catching on across the country, making this trend more accessible, and less “trendy.”

Locally Produced Wine & Beer was rated fifth overall “Hot Trend of 2010” from the same NRA survey. With more gastropubs and local wine producers than we can count, we happily can’t argue with this one. Local beer is fun and unique. And, gastropubs tend to serve up equally good food. Pair the two together. Enjoy.

A few predictions of our own….

I think there is going to be a strong push for late night options. It’s already happening. Look at Big Star in Chicago for instance, they offer craft bourbons and a limited menu till 3am. More places will follow suit, offering limited menus in a drinking space. Look for craft beers, liquors and wine, burgers, and Neapolitan pizzas being offered well in to the wee hours. Yum.

On that note, I feel very strongly that Pizza is going to be huge this year. It’s another opportunity for restaurants to show off their creativity in an inexpensive, customizable and totally patron-mind-blowing way.

Lastly, a perfectly fried egg on that pizza would really be the yin to my yang. Seth (Savor Partner) strongly believes eggs as a topping is making a statement. And others agree. Restaurants & Institutions 20 Menu Trends for 2010 noted “Are eggs the new bacon?” 6th on their list of 20, quoting an egg-friendly menu, “Everything’s better with a fried egg on top.” The egg seems to be showing up on burgers, pastas, sandwiches…you name it. Eggs for breakfast, eggs for brunch, eggs on dinner and your lunch! Duck, Chicken, Quail…whatever the bird, egg is the word.

That’s all I got for now, and as a result of writing this, I am starving.

But the behemoth bright white tents, the freshly cut grass, the celebrity chefs, the scantily clad alcohol promo ladies- all with the wavering aroma of many a food awaiting my taste buds…I must admit it was a little overwhelming. Intimidating even. Not only was there row after row of tents awaiting our ready forks and glasses, but the event also miraculously swapped food exhibitors in and out of said rows throughout the duration of the day. Meaning, by the time you made one lap around the taste course, it was time to start all over again, with an array of new offerings. My first thought was “how are we going to try all of these things in one day?” And my second thought was “will I be able to physically persevere without falling victim to food coma?”

It really was a treat to be sampling dishes from many of the best restaurants our city has to offer, from the very chefs behind those menus. Looking at it from both a consumer and marketer’s mind, a lot of curiosity arose. You can’t ignore the effort and money that goes in to creating an event like this; I wondered, is it necessary for a food company to participate in an event like Chicago Gourmet?

For a restaurant, it’s probably not a bad idea. Although it’s going to put a small dent in your budget, it’s a great opportunity to get in front of someone and do something brilliant. There were a lot of memorable morsels, but some definitely made an impact while others fell to the wayside. It’s a chance to show what your restaurant and brand can serve up that will grab the attention of an entire city’s eating elite. Since being memorable keeps people talking and coming back, I vote yes, worth the investment in an event such as this.

If you are a food manufacturing company, might we suggest partnering with another company or a restaurant for optimal participation? For example, one of our clients donated the buns to a restaurant here in town that was sampling sliders for the day. Without making the financial commitment of renting a tent, staffing a team or putting in the hours of time, they were still able get their name and product on people’s lips, and in their hands.

If you consider yourself a food lover, buy the ticket. Eat and enjoy yourself. It’s a rare occurrence you’ll get to sample various delightful things from a collection of great restaurants (or wineries, or spirits companies, or other food companies) all in one place. Take the time to ask questions-no matter what the takeaway, you’ll learn something new. Chances are that thing you learn will taste really nice also.

Trying to find a commercial kitchen in Chicago? We’ve had good experiences (and know people who cook out of) the following kitchens:

Now We’re Cookin (located across from Savor’s offices)
www.nwcookin.com
847-570-4140 

Kitchen Chicago:
www.kitchenchicago.com
312.455.0863

Want more information? Kitchen Chicago, Now We’re Cookin’ and the benefits of commercial kitchens are all discussed in this recent Time Out Chicago article, which features testimonials from renters.  

Have you had an experience with a different commercial kitchen? Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Let us know, and we’ll add them to our list.

In this case, General Mills has decided to develop a product for the 1% of the U.S. population that suffers from Celiac disease (OK, to be fair their research shows about 12% of U.S. households want to eliminate or reduce their gluten intake). For a large corporation like General Mills the target market for these new products would traditionally not bring in the revenue to make it worthwhile. Just ask Ann Simonds, General Mills’ President of Baking Products. She was recently quoted by AdAge.com as saying, “It used to be, as a marketer in the food industry, you needed a $50 million idea to make the business model work. Today, you can meet an unmet need that will be a $5 million business.”

So what has changed? The mass communication outlets. In the past, General Mills’ needed a huge budget for traditional media (TV, Radio, Print, etc), and to support that budget, they needed huge expected sales. Now, using social media, web sites, etc, General Mills can target smaller niches and skip the traditional methods and huge budgets that used to be necessary to promote their product.

So what can the rest of us learn from this (i.e. those of us smaller than General Mills)?

1. Well for one, don’t count the big guy out just because you’re in a niche market. Yes, historically big companies jump into niche markets then later back out, not having made the revenue to make it worthwhile. This may still be the case. But are you willing to sit back and find out? Learn from them and do it better. They may have the deep pockets but smaller organizations have the agility to respond to market needs much faster than our larger colleagues. Which brings me to my next point…

2. Marketing is changing. The old rules don’t always apply. Look at your current marketing methods and ask: “Is my current marketing leading to conversations with my customers?” “Am I broadcasting to my customers or talking to them?” Start thinking of ways that you can engage in conversations with you customers. This can include social media but more importantly research. Finding out what your customers need and want is the first step to the providing products and marketing messages that hit home.

3. Target marketing. The beauty of the new forms of marketing is that it allows us to target customers like never before. Have multiple target customers? Use new marketing tools to talk directly to these separate and distinct targets. You can develop micro-sites, blogs, social media campaigns and pay-per-click ad programs to communicate directly with your specific customers.

In the end, this news can either be a glass half full or a glass half empty proposition. Half full: I can now use the same tools as this big guys and cut into their market share. Half empty: The big guys can invade my market space using new marketing tools. Either way, realize they’re coming, and you’re not safe. So, don’t just use these tools better than the big guys. Do them first. It will be a lot harder for other companies to invade if you’re already soundly entrenched.

Here’s some rambling thoughts on the show from a food perspective:

Natural Products? No Kidding.
Hemp, chia and grass were several of the very, very natural products I saw and tried at the show. Hemp showed up in Hemp Milk. Chia in various granolas and as a topping on yogurt. And, grass? Amazing Grass was promoting its SuperFood energy bar.

Know How To Intro A New Product/Concept
As mentioned above, chia was a food ingredient being touted by several companies. “What is it?” I asked the booth rep of one such company. “You know what a chia pet is?” he asked. Well, yeah, I thought. But, I’ve never wanted to eat a chia pet. The guy manning Dylan’s Chia Granola booth had a much better explanation. It’s a seed that’s high in Omega 3 and tasty in granola. Now, that made way more sense. Dylan’s seems to understand that they’ll need to separate themselves from the famous Cha-Cha-Cha Chia pet.

Best Use of Social Media
Linda at the Tanka Bar booth was tweeting (you know, as in twitter) people’s comments after they sampled the company’s dried buffalo and cranberry bars–even the negative reviews. Why the bad ones too? Because it enhanced the believability of the positive comments, she told me. And, heck, the posts got me over to the booth to try the product.

Sample That Inspired The Longest Line
Applegate Farms’ Beef Hot Dogs. I’ve seen this phenomenon at other shows too with different vendors. What is it about free hot dogs? The line was three booths long. Makes you feel sorry for the booths being blocked.

Make Room For Stevia
The trend with the best chance of really hitting it big was Stevia. Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Probably it’s already hit it big what with Coke & Cargill making Truvia and Pepsi & Merisant, the maker of Equal, producing PureVia. While at the show you could find many products touting their use of the brand, and even some independent growers selling direct, it’s only a matter of time before it ends up in actual Coke and Pepsi products and Stevia expands beyond Natural Products Expo West to grocery and convenience store trade shows.

The Functional Foods Viewpoint
Two functional food companies told me that the category is about to really take off. Their reasoning was based on the economy. Less money and healthcare meant that people were turning to functional foods as a way to stay healthy. Is this a good idea? I don’t know. Nonetheless, a current study predicts a 7% compound annual growth rate for the category through 2012, so there’s no denying the companies were on to something.

My Breaking Point
Some 20 aisles in on Sunday, I started to get a little loopy. The low point came when I walked up to someone at the Amy’s booth and said, “I like your chicken sausage. Are you sampling any?” The woman looked at me funny, “We only produce vegetarian products.” Yeah, um, oops. Turns out I was thinking of Sausages By Amylu (not at the show). So, that was kind of close.

Faux Foods
There were so many foods trying to be something they weren’t. Rice-based meat alternatives. Meatless Chicken Parmigiana. Vegan cheeses and ice creams. Plus, and this is just a rough estimate, a million gluten-free items. It’s amazing the creativity that’s gone in to these “alternatives” and how diverse they’ve gotten. But, is there really a market for all of these? No. How can there be? That’s why these companies will have to fight tooth and nail to capture the minds of those people who are the target and thus, enough market share to stay alive. But, then again, that’s the case with any brand and product, isn’t it?

“The cheesecake was smooth and lush, with the personality of a warm and well-to-do uncle who knows a hundred dirty jokes and will die of sexual exertions in the arms of his mistress.” 

Sure, we can’t really get away with writing something that graphic. But, it’s a good reminder of the passion and sensations we all associate with the food’s we love. Sometimes that gets lost as we worry about what consumers will think or try to write by committee. 

So what’s my thought here? Don’t be forget to be passionate about what you’re selling/marketing/producing. And, if you can’t muster that heat, get out of the kitchen. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an 800-page epic to get back to. 

This is one of those marketing moves that is in one sense brilliant and in another, ummm, kind of annoying.

Here’s the gist of the story as I understand it. PurAsia, a UK-based company that sells Asian ingredients, hired the research company Future Foundation to closely examine the new trend in food: men cooking. Nay, not just men. MEN. M-E-N. Picture Antonio Banderas whipping up a seafood paella… or some such food-oriented fantasy.

Yes, cooking, according to this report, has become part of “the dance.” So ladies be warned, that culinary lothario cozying up to you may want to serve up more than just a plate of pasta puttanesca.

Still not sure just who might be considered “gastrosexy?” No problem. The report outs Chef Jamie Oliver, best known for his Food Network series “The Naked Chef.” Hmm, now I know why he was naked. Also outed? Chef Gordon Ramsay. You might recognize him from the heavily bleeped Fox network series “Hell’s Kitchen.” Wonder if he talks as dirty in the bedroom as he does in his restaurant’s back room?

In general, this “report” is meant to make us titter and talk and at least occasionally, mention the company who first commissioned the research, PurAsia. It’s an interesting way to use PR. Come up with an idea that’s one part obvious, one part silly and one part sex. Then, send it out on the interweb and get people talking. I first heard about it as part of the “Hey, Get A Load Of This” story on a Chicago radio station’s newsbreak. But, it’s all over the web, including PurAsia’s gastrosexual.com. The term even has its own entry on Wikipedia (for now, “the notability of this article’s subject is in question”).

Not bad for a report that started in the UK. I mean, I’d never heard of PurAsia before. And why should I have? They’re a UK brand that just launched… But, I’ve heard of them now. Bango success.

Yet, for all the publicity they’re getting (of which I’m now a part), I do find something a little off putting about this. There’s a crassness here. The whole thing revolves around sex. And, while I find sex amusing… I mean, err, um, (cheeks turn red)… I like to sometimes pretend that I’m mature enough to be above that sort of thing. And when it’s so “tee hee hee” obvious and plays so clearly into the stuff of late night talk show monologue humor, well, that’s when I start to get more turned off than titillated, leading to apathy and even worse antipathy toward the brand.