The 2024 New York Summer Fancy Food Show entered its second day on June 24th at the Javits Center. According to the organizers, potato chips, chocolate, and ice cream continue to be the top three fastest-growing specialty food categories. However, this year’s focus remains on unique and distinctive specialty foods.
This year’s food exhibition includes innovative products with unique flavors and new production techniques, as well as emerging popular foods that have been successful in company operations.
In response to the new trend brought by high prices due to inflation, there is a growing interest in gourmet home cooking, with related seasonings and quick frozen foods becoming popular among the public. Traditional foods, however, still take the spotlight at the exhibition, attracting widespread attention.
Traditional food vendors stated that their high-quality products and marketing strategies continue to be well-received at such exhibitions. These foods include popular Western items such as ham, cheese, traditional beverages, seasonings, and various snacks from around the world.
Fratelli Beretta, a family business founded in 1812 and currently led by President Simone Bocchini in the United States, has been passed down to the 8th generation. Their products, including ham, salami, sausage and cheese assortments, as well as various platters, are supplied to major retailers in the United States. Bocchini introduced that due to the current importance of protein intake, the company launched a series of portable lunches four years ago, including combinations of ham, cheese, and crackers, which have become their best-selling products over the past four years.
Jessica Kesselman, the coordinating manager from the Swiss company Appenzeller Cheese, a classic traditional cheese company with a 700-year history, explained that their products come from milk produced by Swiss brown cows fed only fresh grass, wildflowers, and hay, making it 100% natural. They utilize long-standing traditional craftsmanship and exclusive family-secret recipes.
At the health exhibition, some innovative companies showcasing refreshing healthy flavors caught the visitors’ attention.
The President of Tokyo’s Shibuya-based company “Fruits” founded in 2017 presented a fruit popsicle with different fruit flavors, which garnered much interest and eager tasting from many attendees. The exclusive new technology used in these fruit popsicles, delivering a cool and authentic fruit taste, has gained popularity among the Japanese, offering a unique melon popsicle flavor created using Japanese melon flavor in the U.S. market for the first time. His goal is to use Japan’s unique manufacturing techniques to take his product global.
Dr. Jae-ho Hwang, the CEO of a smart factory from South Korea, introduced his company’s production of collagen, including biomaterials, mainly for cosmetic products. However, at this food exhibition, they showcased several collagen-rich jellies and healthy Korean kimchi. He also aims to promote cosmetics, as collagen-rich cosmetic products have partnerships worldwide, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia.
Local emerging food companies from New York also came to promote their foods, hoping to enter the international market with both inherited family delicacies and newly developed specialty drinks.
Dan, a Chinese participant at the New York-based food exhibition “Homiah,” showcased curry ham fast food, with a recipe originating from the founder’s grandmother, Granny Nonie, popular in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia. The Homiah brand only entered the market a year ago.
“Our chili punch products are specially crafted with unique ingredients and recipes,” now stocked in major supermarkets like Sprouts, Walmart, and soon to be available at Whole Foods. Dan confidently stated, “It’s going smoothly, these products are really great!”
A prominent booth at the exhibition was from Moshi, a new Brooklyn-based beverage company. Horin Yip, the brand marketing manager, introduced their new product, a sugar-free “Sparkling Water” made with real fruits, such as yuzu and matcha from Japan and oolong tea from Taiwan. However, Asian pear, Fuji apple, and cantaloupe are sourced from different regions.
Yip mentioned that although the company only started operating in 2020, the use of healthy ingredients and flavors have attracted a diverse range of age groups. Packaging in glass bottles presents a challenge for export, but he hopes to first export to neighboring countries like Canada.