New Travel Retail Division

The company is proud to welcome a new Travel Retail division. American

Caribbean Gateway –ACG – merged with Otis McAllister this April bring-

ing new commerce opportunities and an expanding premium brand port-

folio. Based in Fort Lauderdale, ACG has over 25 years experience servic-

ing the Travel Retail industry, specializing in airport stores, cruise lines,

and border stores worldwide. Both companies unite under a common

business culture based on a passion for innovating global trade and driv-

ing customer service. This new alliance will produce exciting ventures

and generate significant growth throughout Latin America, the Caribbean

and Asia Pacific. By combining resources and pooling together expertise,

the addition of this new division will advance performance and future

expansion in these lucrative markets. The company is excited to welcome

ACG to the dynamic fold here at Otis McAllister, Inc.

this issue

New Travel Retail Division IAADFS Show /Otis visits DR

ISM Show/Frey Factory Tour Farewell to Mike Gnecco /

Asiatic Visits OM Otis Ahead of Ghirardelli Sales

NASFT /Gulfood Shows Village Harvest Top Shelf

“Taste of Elegance “ Ghirardelli Demand, Guatemala

Otis McAllister Corporate Newsletter

Volume XIV

Who is American Caribbean Gateway?

Nick Tamma, CEO of Travel Retail, started in the industry in 1985. He has represented a va-

riety of highly-competitive brands in Travel Retail such as Jackson Family Wines, Beringer

Blass, Budweiser, Imperial Tobacco, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, Ghirardelli, and Turin.

Justin Nee, Director of Confectionary, started at ACG in 2005. He is the head sales director

for all confectionary brands, currently managing accounts with Jelly Belly, Ghirardelli, Turin,

and Frey.

Marc Panara, Director of Tobacco, started at ACG in 2006. He is head sales director for all

tobacco brands, currently managing accounts with Scandinavian Tobacco Group and

General Cigar (#1 premium cigar co. in the world).

Matt Panara, Brand Manager, started at ACG in 2010. His responsibilities include brand

management, sales support, and office administration.

Carla Tamma, Brand Manager, started at ACG in 2011. Her responsibilities include brand

management, promotional graphics, and office administration.

What is Travel Retail? The world’s first airport duty free shop was opened at Shannon Airport by Dr Brendan O’Regan in 1947 to

serve trans-Atlantic airline passengers travelling between North America and Europe. Flights would stop at

Shannon on both legs to refuel and passengers had time to kill before continuing on their journey. The ar-

gument by Dr O’Regan and his team was that, having passed passport control, the passenger had left the

country and therefore the duties/taxes of that country are invalid. All goods purchased after passport con-

trol should be considered duty-free. The idea was given the go-ahead in Ireland and the shop became an

instant success.

Duty Free has since become a prominent component of the larger Travel Retail industry. This encompasses

the sale of products exclusively within Travel Retail environments such as airport stores (both Duty Free

and Duty Paid), airlines (on board sales), cruise and ferry lines, down town duty free stores, and diplomatic

stores. Travel Retail products are currently divided into five different categories: liquor & wine, tobacco,

luxury products, confectionary & fine foods, and fragrance & cosmetics.

Recently the industry was ranked the 2nd fastest growing retail sector behind the Internet. In 2010, sales

turnover was just under $40 billion USD. As large as the market is, few businesses are aware of its existence

and ever expanding potential.

IAADFS Trade Show in Orlando, FL

The International Association of Airport Duty Free Stores (IAADFS) held the annual Duty Free Show of the Ameri-

cas this March in Orlando, FL. The event provides an excellent opportunity to meet with all industry members in

Travel Retail at one central location. ACG has exhibited a diversified Confectionary and Tobacco portfolio for the

past 20 years. The event helps to strengthen relationships with existing suppliers and customers but also paves

new roads for exciting opportunities currently in the market. This year ACG was very excited to have both Royce

Nicolaisen, Chairman and CEO of OM, and Chloe Nicolaisen, Business Development Specialist, attend for the first

time.

Matt Panara, Nick Tamma, Carla Tamma, and Chloe Nicolaisen in ACG exhibition booth at the IAADFS

Otis McAllister Visits the Dominican Republic

Royce Nicolaisen, John Koppel, and Nick

Tamma visited the General Cigar factory in

the Dominican Republic where each pre-

mium cigar is hand rolled with superior

craftsmanship. The factory employees 2,500

skilled hand rollers and produces approxi-

mately 100 million cigars annually.

After the General Cigar tour Royce Nico-

laisen visited a local food market in Santo

Domingo. Otis McAllister’s La Sirena brand

is known for superior quality in their local

markets and food stores and has become a

food staple for many Dominican families.

ISM Confectionary Show in Cologne, Germany

Justin Nee Tours the Frey Factory

Justin Nee, Director of Confectionary Sales, had a wonderful opportunity to tour the Frey factory following the

ISM show in Cologne, Germany this past January. Frey is the #1 selling premium chocolate brand in Switzerland,

the largest consumer of chocolate per capita in the world. This rare opportunity also allowed Justin to taste their

premium chocolate fresh off the production line. While meeting with Frey, Justin finalized the business plan for

introducing Frey chocolates into ACG’s Travel Retail portfolio. Justin’s diligence and hard work has brought Frey

sales into the United States, Caribbean, and onboard cruise ships. This account will bring a large array of new op-

portunities, amplifying sales and opening many doors for the company.

The ISM refers to International

Sweets World, the world’s leading

trade fair for the confectionary in-

dustry. The event was held in Co-

logne, Germany this January. Royce

Nicolaisen, Nick Tamma, and Justin

Nee attended with great success.

Two big deals were closed with Frey

Chocolates and Jelly Belly at this

event.

Nick Tamma and Royce Nicolaisen with a professional Chocolatier at the

Frey Cocktail & Dinner event.

A Fond Farewell to Mike Gnecco

After many decades of dedicated service to the food

industry, including many years at Otis McAllister, Inc.,

Mike Gnecco, Director of European Sales retired on Feb-

ruary 1, 2012. With almost every employee present for

his farewell party, many tears were shed and many kind

sentiments were expressed by all to honor all the time,

effort, and expertise Mike had put into serving his cus-

tomers, his vendors, and the mentoring he provided

everyone around him throughout his long and prestig-

ious career. We thank you again in this newsletter and

want you to know that we will miss you Mike!

We were honored to have Jirawat Srikong and Weerawat Thongsinchailaoha of Asiatic Agro visit our San Fran-

cisco office and meet with key Otis staff. Asiatic Agro (located in Thailand near Bangkok) is a conglomerate of

several food businesses including a coconut processing plant. They produce several kinds of coconut milk as

well as coconut juice, and coconut water. The Cheesecake Factory Restaurants selected coconut milk made by

Asiatic Agro as the product they wish to use in their restaurants. The product has been packed for Otis

McAllister under the Super Lucky Elephant brand, and is sold to DPI Distributors, Inc., who are servicing The

Cheesecake Factory restaurants through Sysco. We are excited to expand into coconut milk as there is a big

demand for coconut milk which seems is growing in the food service as well as grocery retail markets in the

US. The Super Lucky Elephant Coconut Milk has a high fat content and lots of flavor, and is considered a pre-

mium product.

Jacqueline Acuña, Jirawat Srikong,

Weerawat Thongsinchailaoha, Nancy

Bieraugel, and James Kochheiser

Asiatic Visits Otis McAllister

Otis Ahead of Ghirardelli Sales

Royce Nicolaisen, Chairman and CEO of

Otis McAllister, and Dan Bush, Director of

Travel/Retail and Export of Ghirardelli

Chocolates attended the Ghirardelli Na-

tional Sales Meeting in February at the San

Francisco Grand Hyatt, where Rob Bu-

dowski, Vice President of Sales at

Ghirardelli’s presented awards to Royce

and Dan for achieving some very impres-

sive budget results.

Since 1955, the Fancy Food Shows have been North Amer-ica’s largest specialty food and beverage marketplace. Between the Winter Show in San Francisco and the Summer Show in New York City, the National Associa-tion for the Specialty Food Trade events bring in more than 40,000 attendees from more than 80 countries to see 260,000 innova-tive specialty food products such as Village Harvest rice and grains in dry and ready-to-eat frozen packages. This year was record-setting with many existing and potential customers stopping by our booth to get a look and taste of our new and innovative prod-ucts aimed at both high nutrition and convenience. For more in-formation about Village Harvest rice and grain products, please visit our web site at www.villageharvestrice.com.

John and Nancy Bieraugel – NASFT 2012 - San Francisco

Otis Attends NASFT 2012 – San Francisco

Royce Nicolaisen and Dan Bush Celebrating Solid Achievements in Sales

Otis McAllister Attends Gulfood 2012 – Dubai

This was Otis McAllister’s first time exhibiting at Gulfood in

Dubai. Karri Donahue and Alanna Maldonado presented

Martintelli’s Gold Medal apple juice products and

Ghirardelli’s Chocolates at the show that is known as the

world’s biggest annual food and hospitality exhibition

(68,681 trade visitors attended the show that covered an

exhibition hall of more than 100,898sqm). More than 3,800

exhibitors were in attendance, and better than 61% of

those were international buyers. For more information

about Gulfood, or to obtain a Post Show Report for the

2012 show, please visit www.gulfood.com.

For many years now, the family of Village Harvest Rice products has expanded to satisfy our many consumers’

demand for high quality ethnic rice and grain ingredients for their recipes and dishes. With imported Basmati

rice from India, Jasmine rice from Thailand, Arborio rice from Italy, and Quinoa from Bolivia, consumers every-

where are singing praises about our products, earning our brand recognition as a true “top shelf” product,

such as the above photos taken from a recent visit to an Albertson’s store in Texas. To see what people are

saying about our products, visit: http://villageharvestrice.com/about/the-fan-room. www.gulfood.com.

Village Harvest Products – A True Top Shelf Item

Karri Donahue and members of Minel Gida Ltd. STI.

Otis Attends “Taste of Elegance” in Pittsburgh, PA

Sysco Pittsburgh invited Otis McAllister

to present our rice products at their

premier food show “Taste of Elegance”

held at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The

one day show always has a huge turn-

out of Sysco Pittsburgh customers who

enjoy gourmet samples in an atmos-

phere of “elegance”. Presentation is

key for the suppliers who are invited to

participate. It gave Otis the opportu-

nity to meet many sales people and

customers to expand our business.

When it comes to promoting

and selling the finest prod-

ucts available, the Otis family

really gets into the spirit

(Christmas spirit that is…). As

a testament to that spirit,

Ignacio and Marcos, sons of

Lorena Ruiz Perdomo from

our Guatemala office were

busy promoting Ghirardelli

Chocolates at Santa’s Sugar-

Land stand in Guatemala dur-

ing the holidays, where the

demand for Ghirardelli

Chocolates is growing rapidly

and quickly becoming a

Christmas tradition.

Nancy Bieraugel of Otis McAllister, Inc. and Margaret Celani, Merchandising

Manager for Sysco Foods Service

Ghirardelli Products are in Demand in Guatemala

John Bieraugel Joins the Food Service Team

John was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Hudson, Wisconsin with his

younger brother David, by his parents Bob and Nancy. Throughout high school and into

his college years John enjoyed working in the food industry for Kristian Regale Inc., a fam-

ily-owned specialty beverage company, where he learned a variety of skills while working

in all aspects of the business. He graduated from Hudson High School and went on to

Inver Hill Community College where he studied business, history, and Spanish. While in

college the housing market was booming, John left college to pursue a career as a builder/

contractor, where he worked for Bluff Creek Builders for four years. He learned a lot in

those years and decided to build a spec home for himself with the hopes of selling in the

future for a profit. When the housing market bubble burst, John started his own company

called JB Tiles & More. Although he did very well for himself, he wanted a career that of-

fered more stability and opportunity. At the time, Otis McAllister was searching for talent

to further manage its Food Service Division. With opportunity knocking, John took on the

challenge and joined the team. John is currently working under Nancy Bieraugel for the

Rice Division at Otis McAllister. His primary focus is Food Service sales. Other responsibili-

ties include working with Woodman’s, Roundy’s and Supervalu, who are all grocery retail

customers that Otis sells to on a direct basis. John is very excited to be part of the Otis McAllister team and is currently

studying Spanish and taking computer classes in addition to working for Otis. John has many interests including scuba div-

ing, snowboarding, camping, hunting, and fishing.

Gilda Kochheiser Joins the Office Services Team

Gilda Kochheiser recently joined Otis McAllister as an

Office Services Coordinator whose primary job is to

digitally archive over a decade of printed files. She is

also the friendly face behind the reception desk that

greets the many visitors our staff meets with daily.

After graduating National High School in Zambales,

Philippines, she went on to study general business

and computer programming at Columbian College.

After working in the restaurant management industry

for nearly a decade, she decided that a career change

was in order and began studying medicine, earning

first a Medical Assistant certification, then the cov-

eted Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certification, a certification that she put to good use at Oak Valley Hospital

where she worked in the MED/SURG Department helping patients recover after surgery. Gilda is fluent in English,

Tagalog, Ilocano, and Visayan. The hobbies that she enjoys most are gardening and networking with her friends and

family on Facebook.

John Bieraugel of Otis McAllister, Inc. and Ralph Lowe of Sysco Food Service at Sysco Taste of Elegance Food Show – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – February 2012

Damaso Vidalon Joins the Latin American Division

Providing expert freelance translation and

language tutorial service for nearly four

years, Damaso Vidalon has accepted our

offer to join the Latin American Division as

an Exports Coordinator. Tasked with the

chief responsibility of assisting with com-

plex Spanish legal (trademarks, export do-

cumentation, product registrations, etc.),

general business, and translation services,

he will also remain our resident Spanish

language guru and continue helping Otis

staff with learning and becoming more

proficient with the Spanish language.

Victoria Umaña is truly one in a million. In fact, she is one of 3.2

million Girl Scouts (2.3 million girl members and 890,000 adult

members working primarily as volunteers) that work continu-

ously to inspire, challenge, and empower girls everywhere.

The Girl Scouts was founded by Juliette Gordon Low on March

12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia. On March 16, 1950, the Girl

Scouts of the USA was officially chartered by the U.S. Congress.

For over a century the Girl Scouts organization has helped girls

discover the fun, friendship, and empowerment of girls by put-

ting together extraordinary field trips, sports skill-building clin-

ics, community service projects, cultural exchanges, and envi-

ronmental stewardships – helping girls grow courageous and

strong in the process. Girl Scouting helps girls develop their full

individual potential; relate to others with increasing under-

standing, skill, and respect; develop values to guide their actions

and provide the foundation for sound decision-making; and con-

tribute to the improvement of society through their abilities,

leadership skills, and cooperation with others. At Otis, we

thought we would do our part by contributing to the average

sales of 175 million boxes sold annually (in 28 varieties,

with Thin Mints making up 25% of the overall sales as the

most popular variety). Thin Mints anyone?

Girl Scouts – A Worthy Cause

Girl Scout Victoria Umaña delivering her cookies

Editor-in-Chief: Royce Nicolaisen

ISSUE XIV March 2012

Otis McAllister, Inc. is a proud recipient

of the U.S. President’s “E” Award

for Export Excellence

Global Trade Experts Since 1892

OTIS MCALLISTER, INC

160 PINE STREET, SUITE 350

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111

415.421.6010 ph

415.421.6016 fax

www.OTISMCALLISTER.com

Carla Tamma

Email comments to jkochheiser@otismcallister.com

Editor:

Contributors:

Come Join Us

FHA 2012 Singapore at Booth 7D2-10 in the USA Pavilion at Singapore Expo (Halls 1-9), April 17-20, 2012

SIAL China 2012 at Booth N4-D034 in the USA Pavilion at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, May 9-11, 2012

2012 Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, IL May 8-12

ASUTIL Conference 2012 at Iguazu Falls in South America, May 20- June 2.

James Everett Kochheiser

Assistant Editor, Graphic Layout & Design:

John Bieraugel Nancy Bieraugel Karri Donahue Gilda Kochheiser Mary Lobaugh Alanna Maldonado Lorena Ruiz Perdomo Victor and Victoria Umaña Damaso Vidalon