Chefs Samples and Brand Marketing Highlight RCA Culinary Expo

The food ingredient company booths at the 2011 RCA Culinary Expo in Atlanta offered some tasty treats and some terrific brand marketing from several of the industry’s leading ingredient manufacturers.

As always, a huge variety of foods and new product samples were upon offer, always a good reason to skip lunch. Most of the samples were demonstrations of how particular ingredients performed in different applications. National Starch had a delightful Georgia peach upside down cake made with its Ultra-Tex and N-Dulge branded ingredients.

The best sample at the show by far, was Garlic King’s Black Garlic Sauce. The Garlic King booth samples included whole black garlic that was smooth, sweet and full of garlic all at the same time.  The sauce was presented on small pieces carved from perfectly presented tenderloin. It all added up to be a great sampling experience and had myself and others coming back for more.

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One of the best booth presentations with strong brand marketing was Tree Top’s “We Know Fruit.” The display featured beautiful, oversized food photography with standard logo and slogan designs.

There was no official on-site social media feed or display screens featuring online messaging similar to those at recent IFT and IBIE shows. However, several food ingredient companies used Twitter to promote their booth locations and sample offerings including Garlic KingTIC Gums and Integrative Flavors.