Don't believe me? See pictures below (disclaimer: image heavy!!! And... This is a miniscule representation of the show):
Delicious stoneground nut butters
Pick n Mix
So Delicious - one of the most beautiful booths there imo. It was a 2-storey cafe.
I wasn't kidding!
Some ginseng tea... They were collecting feedback as it was a new product soon-to-be-launched. I think it needs more tweaking.
A hipster-looking booth. I loved this! Seven Sundays - all natural gourmet muesli
There were also multiple packaging solutions. This was rice paper packets. I thought they were beautiful.... But CO2 concerns?
Needless to say, I got lost a couple of times.... And gave up on my conferences as I really didn't have enough time.
There were MANY MANY amazing booths and products. But one of the BEST booths, in my opinion, was the "What The Starbucks?"/"Monsanto Latte" petition - encouraging Starbucks to stop using GMO milk in their coffees. It was a really cool initiative by GMOInside and they were giving out free t-shirts and stickers.
I got M & myself a tee each. And thank god too! They ran out in 1 hour!
Awesome stickers.
Awesome tee.
The tee created havoc whereever I went. Everyone wanted to read it. Everyone wanted one. Everyone signed the petition. And why wouldn't they? After all... This is what is hanging in Starbucks in USA:
Maybe it's time to galvanise them (e.g. Starbucks and other food chains) into action.
A perusal at the NEXT Engredea products revealed some pretty innovative products:
L hated it and had to wash out the crunchiness of the bugs from her mouth soon after sampling a small cube... I got away lucky. Mine wasn't crunchy. Anyway, the value of cricket bars is that it is high in iron, protein and is sustainable.... Regardless, I'm not too sold on the flavour although the concept is interesting and bug-eating isn't so foreign to Asian me. We do eat bugs in Asia. In fact, dried cockroaches are a traditional chinese medicine remedy!
2) Algae Powder/Milk by Solazyme
It's so new and so revolutionary, I strongly suggest reading about it yourself:
- http://www.algaeindustrymagazine.com/solazyme-introduces-algae-milk/
- http://seekingalpha.com/article/2081023-why-solazyme-believes-algae-milk-is-the-next-big-thing
- http://www.shape.com/blogs/weight-loss-coach/will-algae-milk-be-next-big-dairy-alternative
A shroom-lover's fantasy. Growing your own maitake, shiitake, oyster mushooms and reishi all in the comfort of your home and in a lovely, compact box! Go figure. This was pretty cool in my opinion.
I suggest to click the link above to check out this wonderful sugar alternative. Conscious Food explains it best. But we're proud to say that we, at Anything But Salads, are using this all-natural Ayurvedic medicinal sweetener in the production of our CACAO 'raw' chocolate bars. I love what Conscious Food stands for and think this is a brilliant product. Finally, calcium + magnesium in a raw chocolate bar. Say "BYE" to magnesium depletion.
Revitin Oral Therapy Toothpaste with NuBath Bioactives is the gentle way to deeply clean, enhance and brighten your smile. Revitin contains a natural blend of key antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that stimulates your teeth and gums. This formula promotes fresh breath, helps heal tired and damaged gums, removes stains and reduces harmful plaque in minutes. Available as a 3.5 ounce dispenser.
(Small shout-out: Gerry, if you're reading this, L and I miss you! Definitely swinging by to NYC in Summer!)
There were tonnes of other cool products, but these were my top 5. Please feel free to share if you were there and think I've missed out a few others!
Anyway, if you're wondering about how my sample collection went... It went like so:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Yep, I went home with 20kg worth of samples & brochures.
My ABS team, M and Gaia (the dog) had a ball of a time going through the samples. I thought we were going to be set for at least a month. How wrong I was. This barely lasted 2 weeks!
At the end of my time at Natural Products Expo West 2014, these are my few take away points:-
- It is a GREAT trade show to visit. You will experience lots, learn lots, taste lots (take my word on that. My belly if happy) and experience lots. If you want to meet the founders of your favourite brands, this is the place to do it.
- The natural products and health foods industry is an exciting place to be in as a health foodpreneur myself. The energy and stories are so inspiring!
- I'll only exhibit there if I have enough money to spare - my experience is that booths that are small and not well decorated get the least traffic. If you're going to pay that much for a booth, you might as well attempt to monetize it by collecting contacts. And visibility amid the thousands of booths is CRUCIAL.
- Have a plan before day 1 of the expo. You'll thank yourself for doing it in advance. Do NOT attend unprepared. You will be overwhelmed.
- Be prepared with an empty suitcase. You will leave with a luggage-worth's samples and brochures.
- Be open. Do not expect anything. Just enjoy.
Will I visit it again next year?
HELL YEAH!
I'd want to see what's new, what's trending, catch up with friends and to EAT. Haha! I'm never one to turn down free food. #shameless!
And so ends my picto-diary of my time at Natural Products Expo West 2014 and also, my first international trade show.
It was amazing. I learnt so much, met so many inspiring and beautiful people. I'm so glad I got to experience it.
I highly recommend it.
P.S. If you're wanting to sign up to exhibit at Expo West 2015, applications are open: click HERE.
Were you at Expo West 2014 too? Or did you attend previous years'? What was your experience like? I'd love to hear from you. =)
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