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Brooklyn's Progress
March 2001 By Lisa Kralovic Brooklyn Goes Global (BGG) has brought Brooklyn’s Kitchen under its umbrella. We bid a sad farewell to Marie Leahy, former Director of Brooklyn’s Kitchen, who has taken on the exciting role of Marketing Director at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden - be sure to visit her! Lisa Kralovic, who directs BGG’s international food marketing program, and Marie always worked closely to provide food manufacturers both international and domestic marketing and sales services. Brooklyn’s Kitchen will continue to promote Brooklyn food and beverages not only in the Northeast but also throughout the world. Contact Lisa Kralovic ext. 120. Rugelach in Panama? Steve’s Mom Scores a Sale at the Miami FOA Show Suellen Schussel, Brooklyn manufacturer of Steve’s Mom, didn’t know what to think when she received not an inquiry, but an order from a Panama grocery store. Suellen was hesitant to believe it was valid but was also excited about the potential international sale. As with all of her international leads, she called Lisa Kralovic at Brooklyn’s Kitchen for assistance in following up with the buyer. After searching through the other tradeshow leads, Lisa found that the buyer had visited Brooklyn’s Kitchen’s booth at the Miami Food of the Americas (FOA) in November. Lisa promptly enlisted advice from trade expert, Dennis Lynch of Food Export USA – Northeast, an organization funded by the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS). Dennis knew the buyer well. He assured Suellen that “… there is a kosher segment, as well as a very affluent segment of consumers in Panama who use US dollars as their currency.” Although Panama has used U.S. currency for years, Ecuador and El Salvador also do, which facilitates sales with U.S. manufacturers. Supermercados Rey has 14 stores averaging 30,000 square meters and open 24 hours; annual sales are over $200 million. The emails flew among Suellen, Lisa, Dennis Lynch, and Bill Kimball of the NYS Department of Agriculture. Due to her patience and motivation (and a little help from Joern Lohmann and Ela Kijowska at BGG), Suellen completed her export documentation in just one week. Not all food sales happen this quickly but Supermercados Rey’s Miami-based purchasing office, and their excitement about Steve’s Mom Ruggelach, provided fast turnaround for Suellen Schussel. Brooklyn’s Kitchen Tradeshows: Past, Present and Future First, it was Paris for the European market, then Miami for the Latin American market, and finally back to New Jersey for the Kosherfest show. Throughout October and November 2001, Brooklyn’s Kitchen (BK) promoted Brooklyn food and beverage products throughout the world through tradeshows, an excellent forum to showcase the diversity and quality of Brooklyn-made foods. » Sial Paris France 2000 Feeds Sales Leads to Members Bruce Burwick, manufacturer of Brooklyn-based Dynamic Health, joined Joern Lohmann and Lisa Kralovic at the Sial Paris tradeshow. Bruce arranged second meetings with buyers who visited the booth and spent four days walking and networking throughout the world’s largest food show of the year. Besides Dynamic Health, other Brooklyn-based companies BK represented were Bell Bagels & Bialys, Damascus, Joyva, New York Pretzel and Steve’s Mom – each gained solid buyer leads. Sial Paris provided an international venue for New York Pretzel to show off their redesigned retail packaging, which caught even the eye of their competitor! When Bruce visited Brooklyn’s Kitchen’s booth, he was impressed to see Joern and Lisa constantly sampling and selling products for 6 different companies. With their multi-lingual abilities, the Chamber staff easily communicated with the buyers this large international show attracts. Bruce was quick to help promote his fellow Brooklyn manufacturers, finding that “Mmmmm” crosses all language barriers. » Food of the Americas (FOA) Miami, FL 2000 Monica Rump accompanied Lisa Kralovic to promote Brooklyn food and beverage products in Miami, the gateway to Latin America’s food market. Lisa and Monica represented Brooklyn Bottling, Dynamic Health, Bell Bagels & Bialys, Joyva, New York Pretzel and Steve’s Mom. Monica handled the Spanish-speaking buyers while Lisa commiserated with the numerous former Brooklynites who recalled growing up in Canarsie and buying their bagels from Warren Bell when he “could barely see over the counter.” Because of the many New Yorkers who relocated to the Miami area, only Brooklyn’s Kitchen could meet their demands for authentic Brooklyn food. Dynamic Health’s all-natural black cherry extract found its way into a delicious sauce created by Chef Michael McCarthy of the New England Culinary Institute. Chef McCarthy said that Dynamic Health’s fruit extract was his inspiration for the sauce, which he drizzled over New York-made Middle Eastern delights. The desert was sampled in the Culinary Theater, an interactive cooking demonstration (funded by Food Export USA Northeast) featuring products and ingredients from the Northeast region. FOA garnered international and domestic sales leads for all represented manufacturers. The majority of Latin American buyers, however, were looking for kosher food, something for which Brooklyn is known. Steve’s Mom quickly picked up a sale to Panama with the large supermarket chain, Supermercados Rey (see related article). » Kosherfest Secaucus, NJ 2000 Marie Leahy and Ela Kijowska spearheaded the organizing efforts for Kosherfest 2000 while Lisa Kralovic slipped it in between her busy international tradeshow circuit. Fortunately, Warren Bell, Bell’s Bagels and Bialys, and Suellen Schussel, Steve’s Mom, were there to help in Brooklyn’s Kitchen’s booth while our dynamic sales consultant, Sherrie Krupnick, intercepted buyers in the aisle. Besides Bell Bagels & Bialys and Steve’s Mom, Brooklyn’s Kitchen also represented Brooklyn Bottling, Damascus Bakeries, Dynamic Health, Joyva, Tribeca Oven and Water Lilies. Kosherfest was the first Brooklyn’s Kitchen-sponsored tradeshow Water Lilies participated in. Water Lilies manufactures Asian vegetarian prepared food and enjoyed some press recognition through Marie Leahy’s article in the November 2000 Food Distribution Magazine (FDM), “It’s not Just Gefilte Fish Anymore: The Expanding Kosher Food Market.” Angela Chen, president of Water Lilies, said, “When we started the retail packaging of our meals, I knew that I wanted to offer diversity to those who keep kosher.” Steve’s Mom completed negotiations on a lucrative holiday sale when the buyer visited the Brooklyn’s Kitchen booth. Suellen said, “Exhibiting with Brooklyn’s Kitchen is the most cost effective way get exposure and you get the added benefit of sales people [BK staff].” The Chamber’s booth at Kosherfest attracted nearly 200 visitors. Kosherfest draws an increasing number of international buyers to Brooklyn’s Kitchen. International buyers came from Latin America and Canada. Therefore, Brooklyn’s Kitchen intends to focus their international marketing efforts in Canada at Sial Montreal 2001 and Latin America at Sial Mercosur 2001 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brooklyn’s Kitchen 2001 Tradeshow Calendar In an effort to take advantage of NAFTA trade opportunities and extend Brooklyn’s Northeastern sales just across the border, Brooklyn’s Kitchen will represent Brooklyn food and beverage manufacturers at Sial Montreal, March 4-6. The show attracts 12,000 visitors; find out which visited Brooklyn’s Kitchen in the next Brooklyn’s Progress. Please contact Lisa Kralovic at ext. 120 if you would like to participate in any Brooklyn’s Kitchen 2001 tradeshows. You must be a Chamber Member in order to participate in a tradeshow. » FMI, May 6-8, Chicago IL 6,000 international visitors; 15,000 domestic visitors. FMI is the premier supermarket industry exposition. » NASFT Summer Fancy Food Show, July 8-10, Javits Center, NYC 24,000 visitors. This specialty foods show, is an excellent opportunity to showcase products to key specialty retail chains and independents. » Sial, Mercosur, August 21-24 Buenos Aires, Argentina 30,000 visitors. The economic region of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Bolivia) is the third economic block at world level after the European Union and NAFTA. The majority of the international buyers who visited the BGG booth at the Miami show were from Mercosur countries. As Argentina has the highest per capita GDP in Latin America, the Mercosur show provides the best forum for Brooklyn products to enter Latin America. » National Prepared Foods Festival, September 20, Giants Stadium, NJ 3,000 visitors. This food service tradeshow focuses on Northeast sales. » Anuga, October 13-17, Cologne, Germany 185,000 visitors. Held every other year, Anuga is the world’s largest food and beverage show of its year. Visitors include importers and buyers from nearly every country. » Natural Products Expo-East, October 12 – 14, Washington, DC 21,000 visitors. This show focuses on the all-natural and organic markets in the Northeast. » Kosherfest, November 6 – 7, Secaucus, NJ 13,000 visitors. This is a key show to showcase kosher food and beverages. |
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