#140 Fancy Foods Show Recap from Sarah Masoni and Sarah Marshall, Hosts

Meaningful Marketplace Podcast

It’s Fancy Foods Show time again, the big industry show of the Specialty Foods Association. SFA is a membership-based trade association in the United States representing 3,000+ member companies. The SFA was established in 1952 to foster trade, commerce and interest in the specialty food industry in the U.S., worth $148 billion as of May 2020. Our very own Sarah Masoni is on the board of SFA and so is a strong believer in the benefits aspiring food entrepreneurs can receive. Attending the Fancy Foods industry show puts company owners face-to-face with distributors and retailers alike. The Association obviously has accumulated tons of data available to company owners and also offers many instructional courses for going to market and expanding. Regional support staff also is close by to answer entrepreneur questions and help keep your company growing. Enough about the organization and on to the Winter Fancy Foods show in Las Vegas this last January. Sarah Masoni took a group to Incubator Village, including Nomad Snacks, FiMi Kingston, Portland Salt Company, Community Co-Pack Northwest, TaTu Protein Waters and Tan Tan, Deli, all previous guests on our shows. Feedback from everyone was positive and there also was an Oregon pavilion which drew good crowds. Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center, of which Sarah Masoni is Director, had a space in the Innovation Village. And in that space, our own Sarah Marshall, Marshall’s Haute Sauce, had her first pop-up chef’s counter. Sarah cooked for some of the food companies Sarah Masoni brought along highlighting their products in her dishes. The extra room to cook made for a much more kitchen-like area for preparing than the usual crammed booth and the results were very well received. On the menu: Steak and potato bites on a skewer and later on, lettuce wraps. The creative and new idea brought people in who filmed the action and not only the Association but also YouTube channels filmed and played the unique idea. It has resulted in great publicity for Sarah, her Haute Sauce line and also for the recipes she has created and offers in her books. Of course, we are students in life and constantly learning, and Sarah Marshall now has learned more about transporting food and cooking utensils. One of the best parts of the show is expanding one’s palate because of all the fine foods from around the world brought to one location for sampling. The other great aspect is seeing where the food trends are going to keep up with the industry. Here are the top 10 as Fancy Foods sees them: 1.Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Culture, 2.Fermented for Function, 3.Honey Is Hot, 4.New Packaging Form and Utility, 5.Starters, Bases, Kits, and Shortcuts for Convenience, 6.Pantry Without Borders, 7.Sustainable, Upcycled, or Regeneratively Grown Ingredients, 8.High-Quality Meal Prep, 9.Health in Balance and 10.Beneficial Beans (and Lentils). Interesting; we’ve seen many products in these categories show up on the show and many more being produced in Oregon, home state of our hosts. So tune in even deeper on social media for Sarah and Sarah: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall.