I was talking to Beth Goslin, Austrade’s Business Development Manager for Food in New York about the success of this year’s Fancy Food Show in San Francisco recently. Beth was saying that The Australian Pavilion was home to an unparalleled, 37 Australian Food and Wine companies all promoting their products to American retail buyers. These Australian companies exhibited products from Down Under including olive oil, puddings, honey, tea, meat pies and authentic Australian herbs and spices.

“The Australian Pavilion was home to the largest-ever gathering of Australian foods and beverages in the US and the response from the trade was overwhelmingly positive. We were certainly the busiest international pavilion and our clients received a tremendous amount of interest in their products from highly-qualified buyers. This enthusiasm has already translated into US export sales, including a AU$250,000 deal that was secured at the show.” says Goslin.

The response from the press was also positive: The San Francisco Chronicle noted that Australia was “charging to the front” of new food trends and was as “hot as a ‘roo steak off the barbie.” According to Goslin, “We fully expect this trend to grow in the coming years and envisage Australian food being embraced by American consumers with the same enthusiasm as Australian wines.”

The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) provides numerous tariff reductions on cheeses, nuts, olives and other specialty food items, many Australian specialty food exporters are able to pass these savings along—making Australian products even more appealing to American buyers.

The Australian Food and Wine Companies that were involved included;

Alchemy Cordial Company
Arrowfield Estate
Aussie Gourmet Direct
Australian Food & Drink
Australian Harvest
Australian Olive Oil Corporation
Bahrmann’s Intercontinental
Beechworth Honey
Bellata Gold Gourmet Pasta
Brokenwood Wines
Burra Creek Wines
Cherikoff Rare Spices
Ding The Recipe
Foods From Victoria, Australia
G’day Gourmet
Golden Boronia
Kailis Organic Olive Groves
Koala Tea Company
Limestone Coast Olives
Linden Valley Cheese
Macarob Carob
Macadamia Oils of Australia
Massel
Metabolic Food Company
Monastic Marvels
Myles Trading
Newcastle’s Pudding Lady
Nine Green Bottles
Noodles King
O18 Pure Water From Fruit
Ollo
Pepper Tree Wines
Pure Mountain Natural Spring Water
Three Hats Imaginative Foods
Tinara Estate
Yates Traders
Valley Produce Company
Walkabout Foods
Whisk & Pin
Yellingbo Gold

More than 50,000 people attended the 31st Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco from January 22-24 making it the largest and most influential trade show for the American specialty food industry.

The next Fancy Foods Show will be in New York City from 10th to 12th July at the Jacob K. Javits Center. For any Australian Food companies interested in exhibiting please contact Austrade for more information about Fancy Foods.