local food & gift show overview
DESCRIPTION
The Midwest Pantry Local Food & Gift Show is a private event, designed to connect wholesale buyers with qualified, professional, local producers. Taking place twice each year, the Local Food & Gift Show has proven to be a time and cost effective way for local producers and retail store owners and wholesale buyers to establish business relationships that benefit both businesses and our local economy. Locally sourced products continue to be a fast growing sector in both gift and grocery, yet finding store ready products available in wholesale quantities can be time consuming. The Midwest Pantry Local Food & Gift Show is a private event, designed to connect wholesale buyers with qualified, professional, local producers.TRANSCRIPT
Hello, we’re Midwest Pantry!
We are a collective of local food producers from America’s Heartland.
We created the Local Food & Gift Show
Which showcases Midwest-made products to be sold to wholesale buyers from across the region.
The Local Food & Gift Show is a little different than the average tradeshow.
(my business partner)
(my Mom)
It’s an intimate experience…
Crafted to connect quality producers and motivated wholesale buyers
To establish business relationships that benefit both businesses.
We know wholesale buyers are busy.
Even as we are growing, we know we must make it worth the buyers time
So, we vet producers at our Shows: 1) They must be licensed & insured
2) They must be unique; we minimize dupes to maximize variety
3) They must be shelf-ready, with great packaging & a UPC Code
We’ve been doing this for a while…
established in
!
MMX !
(2010)
We started organizing groups at the Food & Wine Show here in Mpls...
And at one of the expensive tradeshows in Chicago...
It worked…
!
We saved $$ and proved a group of producers can attract attention!
So we grew, starting a “pop-up” show
It worked! So…
We grew again, securing the Grain Belt Bottling House and assembling 35-40
local producers, and attracting over 100 buyers…twice in 2014!
It’s working. We’re turning heads...
We’re attracting media...
We’re attracting buyers…
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We’re attracting local producers…
It’s working. Business relationships are forging...
It’s working for new producers...“Including new accounts landed at the recent Fall Show, a full 60% of Cool Jerk’s wholesale accounts have been acquired from Midwest Pantry’s Show” -- Owner Mali Kouanchao, Cool Jerk
It’s working for experienced producers
“The costs of most wholesale shows run in the thousands of dollars, making it difficult for smaller producers to attend and get access to large groups of buyers. We need a show like this in Minneapolis.” -- Owner Michael Sedlacek, WorkerB
…and it’s working for show sponsors“We are a small business disrupting a entrenched industry with similar values [to Midwest Pantry]. As Johnson-Turner works to make the practice of law more accessible to businesses and people in our region, we are finding tremendous value by placing our brand at Midwest Pantry’s shows.” -- Owner Erin Turner, Johnson-Turner Law
It’s working. We continue to build & grow.
Together we can grow the local food community in America’s Heartland.
Together we can return local food to the mainstream & make it sustainable.
Our next get together…
Local Food & Gift Show Monday, March 16th, 2015
Minneapolis, MN
We’re Midwest Pantry
!
!
Thank you