I will be attending Expo West in a couple weeks and can’t wait. It’ll be my first time attending as a food business. I have gone in the previous years as media support, so I’m no stranger to the event. 2020 was going to be my first year attending as a food business, but we all know how that went down! I probably met some of you at the Expo Refugee events. The unplanned freestyle events hold a special place in my heart because it was the first time that I was able to share my products with the world (other than friends and family). At the time, I had just got done getting everything ready just a little before the world shut down, so you can imagine my excitement when I was finally ready to start sharing my business with the public. Things didn’t go as planned when Expo West cancelled less than 24 hours prior to show time, but I was truly inspired by other business owners, making lemons out of lemonades while others just continued to be pissed off and complained (understandably). Before even officially starting, I was learning the importance of learning how to pivot when things don’t go as planned.
That year, I connected with personal chefs, designers, event coordinators, and more. At some of the events, I wasn’t able to make it (work kept me). But with a little help and encouragement of fellow refugees, I was able to bring Baked by A.K. to some of these places. At the end of the night, I’d be receiving messages about how much people enjoyed my items. The items I sent out at the time were my vegan tahini items. I was told that many of the people at these events were vegan, so it was reported back to me that my items were “a hit”.
Expo West 2022 will be my first major food show since pre-pandemic times. The last one I attended was Winter Fancy Food Show 2020 (still attending as a food blogger). As an attendee going for the first time as a food business, I am still trying to figure out who to connect with! I am excited to be inspired, as I always am at these events. I am a local business. The nationwide aspect of the business is limited to online consumer orders. I focus on local. I am at local farmers’ markets (mostly throughout South Orange County) every week. I work with local businesses to provide my items, wholesale. With my business being so very local and the opportunity to connect being readily available with other local businesses, I am a bit lost on what other nationwide business I can and should connect with while I am there. I will definitely be looking forward to connecting with other local businesses, but just trying to figure out how to go about with nationwide networking while we are all at the same place at once. My items are perishable. The shelf life for the products is 5-6 days (refrigerated), but they also freeze well (up to two months). For that reason, I lean more towards keeping my business local. But if there is some way to expand, I’d love to learn/discuss more. An ideal scenario might be connecting with someone that comes to town for business regularly that can directly pick up the products to take to their part of town to carry at their place of business. With shipping, I worry about the possible what ifs that are sometimes inevitable, -delays, improper handling, the weather (being out in the heat too long can ruin it), not being received and properly stored right away, etc.
I know that I will definitely be looking into packaging. If I can find and connect with companies that offer eco friendly sustainable packaging that works well with my products, that’d be great. I’d love to connect with other food service companies (meal prep and catering) and specialty food grocers. My products focus on keto friendly baked goods. All of the keto items are free of gluten and added sugar. I also have vegan items that are free of gluten and added sugar. So I am interested in connecting with local businesses that seek such products. But like I said, while I am there, I’d also like to go beyond local (with buyers). So if any of you want to connect, I look forward to meeting you!