Pennsylvania Brings Flavors Worldwide
Pennsylvania recognizes that trade shows are often invaluable to young or small-scale companies. Trade shows provide businesses with a platform and targeted audience for their goods and services, as well as opportunities to identify new customers and partners. Those opportunities are what Pennsylvania’s Office of International Business Development (OIBD) and 12 Pennsylvania companies aimed to build on at this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City, June 27-30.
Established in 1954, the Fancy Food Show is the largest food industry trade event in North America and the premier showcase for industry innovation, highlighting specialty food brands from across the United States and 45 countries. The Pennsylvania booth at the show gave our companies a great opportunity to share their products with a wider international audience — including buyers, executives, writers , chefs, and others in the food industry.
Pennsylvania is no stranger to the specialty foods and unique snack industry — York County has a longstanding reputation as the Snack Food Capital of the World. The state leads in crop production and food manufacturing, and has a robust food export industry. Since our founding in the 1700s, agriculture has overwhelmingly influenced our heritage and remains one of our key iconic industries.
For this year’s show, OIBD worked with the World Trade Center of Harrisburg to develop and recruit interested companies, resulting in 12 Pennsylvania companies signing on and exhibiting in the Pennsylvania pavilion. These companies spanned modern and trendy eats to time-honored classics and traditional Pennsylvania favorites:
- Bella Lucia, Inc. (Blair County)
- BumbleBerry Farms LLC (Somerset County)
- Cooke Tavern (Centre County)
- DelGrosso Foods Inc. (Blair County)
- Dieffenbach’s Potato Chips Inc. (Berks County)
- My Boy’s Baking (Northampton County)
- Nuts About Granola (York County)
- RM Heagy Food Inc. (Lancaster County)
- SIPP eco beverage co., Inc. (Chester County)
- Steaz – Healthy Beverage LLC (Bucks County)
- The Stroopie Co. (Lancaster County)
- The Sunshine Tomato Company (Cumberland County)
These companies walked away satisfied with their experience at the show, and many hope to participate again in the future.
“Since our founding in the 1700s, agriculture has overwhelmingly influenced our heritage and remains one of our key iconic industries.”
OIBD not only assisted these Pennsylvania food companies at the event, but it was also there to identify international companies looking to expand into the U.S. market. Reaching out and meeting with these companies allowed OIBD to share comprehensive information regarding opportunities for doing business in Pennsylvania’s food industry, and by the show’s conclusion, OIBD had several prospects interested in learning more about establishing their businesses here.
Trade show support is just one of the many services OIBD performs. OIBD offers a wide range of programs and services to expand the global reach and export capacity of the commonwealth’s business community. Together with 10 regional offices across the state and 15 international trade representatives covering 52 markets worldwide, it offers one of the largest, most comprehensive state-sponsored export development programs in the United States.
To learn more about the Office of International Business and its no-cost export services, visit dced.pa.gov/trade. To stay up-to-date on all Pennsylvania news, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook.
Kate Skopp is the Director of Global Partnerships & Operations in the Office of International Business Development (OIBD) at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) in Harrisburg. OIBD includes one of the largest international networks of any state, comprising nine representatives covering more than 30 countries across the globe. The office offers customized services to help international companies who are looking to expand or relocate in Pennsylvania.
