More than a dozen entrepreneurs from Endeavor’s Food and Beverage (F&B) community gathered in New York City June 25-28 for the Specialty Food Association’s Fancy Food Show, North America’s largest food trade exhibition. During the week, the group of entrepreneurs, hailing from seven countries, also participated in Endeavor-exclusive content, company site visits, networking opportunities, and of course, delicious meals.
This was the third F&B tour hosted by Endeavor, following February’s Gulfood Exhibition in Dubai and last September’s tour in Louisville, Kentucky. The tour was part of Endeavor’s ongoing initiative to offer entrepreneurs industry-specific, enriching programming.
Each tour aims to shed light on a different aspect of the food industry and on a unique food capital of the world. Catering largely to food retail and CPG companies, the NYC tour focused on issues around branding, packaging, product innovation, distribution, and much more.
Highlights included: a private tour of Eataly, the largest Italian marketplace in the world, with Global Head Buyer and Expansion Director Dino Borri; a visit to the US Headquarters of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, with Global Trade Marketing Director Fabio Chamis; and an inside look at the Chobani Food Incubator, an initiative of the unicorn Greek yogurt company to promote purpose-driven food startups, including Endeavor Detroit Company Banza.
The information-rich content sessions were washed down with even richer food experiences around town. The group took an excursion to Chelsea Food Market, the historic urban food hall; shared tapas at West Village’s Tertulia; tried Le Pain Quotidien’s new all-organic, plant based restaurant, Le Botaniste, with Head Chef Laurent Francois; and enjoyed authentic Mexican fare at Tacombi with founder Dario Wolos.
The tour provided an opportunity for entrepreneurs and mentors in the F&B space to exchange ideas, connections and lessons learned, generating much food for thought! In attendance was Yiannis Terpitsas, Creta Farms (Greece); Thomas Douzis, Ergon (Greece); Alaa Hashim, Cilantro Café (Egypt), Jalal Abu Gazaleh & Amgad Sultan, Gourmet Egypt (Greece), Santiago & Diego Arroyo, Don’t Worry Merengues (Mexico); Nicholas & Alexandros Christodoulou, CHB (Greece); Nirmal Rajaram, Cita Rasa Prima (Indonesia), Gianni Tzika, Konva (Greece), Christos Papadimitriou, Papadimitriou (Greece); Asli Tanugur and Taylan Samanci from Beeo (Turkey).
After four action-packed days, the group left with fresh insights, new contacts, prospective business partners, and very full stomachs.
View more photos from the tour below: