Anatomy of a Tradeshow

March 8, 2018

Seminar: How to Start a Food Business

Monday, March 12, 2018 (9:30 AM to 12:00 PM)
North York Civic Centre (North York, Ontario M2N 5V7)
Cost: $25

Thinking of starting a food business? This half-day seminar is for you. Join Michael Wolfson, City of Toronto Economic Development & Culture’s Food & Beverage Sector Specialist and Food Starter as they discuss the essentials of starting a food business. Topics range from set-up to branding, location to pricing, as well as how to find help and join a food incubator. Click here for more details and to reserve your spot.

RS Show 2018 – Life in the Start-Up Lane

Held over 3 days, hosting more than 1000 exhibitors and 8 curated pavilions, Restaurants Canada’s annual RC Show is the country’s largest food service tradeshow. It’s easy to get lost in such a huge event, so the City of Toronto offered eligible Food Starter clients a substantially discounted rate to take part in a shared booth in the Start-Up Lane.

Who was Eligible?
While Food Starter invited all our clients, we selected those who not only expressed an interest but were actively producing and/or scaling up their business. In the end, seven vendors had the product, people, and time to operate a booth at the show.

Experience Over Product
To help the vendors get the most out of their tradeshow experience, Michael Wolfson, City of Toronto Economic Development & Culture’s Food & Beverage Sector Specialist, met with the new food entrepreneurs to educate them on ways to make the most of their tradeshow.

“It has been my experience over the years attending many food and beverage food shows that those companies that have produced an experience for the attendees rather than sample products do much better. This does not have to be an expensive proposition. The use of props, marketing materials, knik knaks, and other substances can set a theme for your booth that will give your potential client a reason to stop and talk and show them exactly how to use, market and promote your products.” -Michael Wolfson

Our Start-Up Lane
With the newest samples of our clients for the Food Starter’s booth – from the seven attending vendors as well as those clients who couldn’t attend – our Start-Up Lane booth showcased more than 30 different samples, exposing them to thousands of food industry experts, potential buyer and decision makers.

Jaswant’s Kitchen: All-natural spice mixes that capture the authentic flavours of Punjab, India.
KABKEB: Mastering the art of Kibbeh, East Mediterranean most popular STUFFED appetizer & main course
Living Farmacy: Smoothies taken to the next level.
Abokichi: All-natural Japanese-inspired condiments.
Ma’s Best Foods: Premium-quality soups that would make Ma proud.
Sherni’s Sauces: All natural, gluten-free, and low-sodium Gourmet sauces that are produced locally.
The Mustard Mill: Small batch, handmade mustards and salts made the good ole way.

Was it worth the work? You bet.

“The RC Show was another milestone on the road toward successful launch of our brands. It was without a doubt an insightful opportunity to explore the market and meet with the big players and listen to what they have to say about our product, brand, now and future, what to expect toward markets entry and where to go from there.”~ Nader Hallal, NH Foods

“We just want to express the big gratitude to City of Toronto and Food Starter for the RC Show. We could get an order from Raddison Hotel (4 cases to try) at the site and also got so many retail and food service prospects, including Costco. Thank you very much!” ~ Fumi Tsukamoto, Abokichi Inc.

We’re so pleased with the response, we’re planning on taking part again next year. Stay tuned for details in future newsletters or email [email protected]to be notified for RC Show 2019.

Join our Weekly Tour & Information Sessions held every Friday at 11:30am!

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Tell us a bit more about your food business here, and let’s scale up your food production!

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Bio
Latest Posts

Mingki Choi

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Anatomy of a Tradeshow

RS Show 2018 – Life in the Start-Up Lane