Rusty and I had the pleasure of attending our first Sweets & Snack Expo hosted in Indianapolis, IN last month and we both felt it was a great expo that we need to attend moving forward. Snack manufacturers, packers and distributors of all sizes were in attendance including some of the big name players such as Mars, Ferraro, Hersheys, along with some great regional players such as Albanese Candy, Zachery Confections (our partner), Barry Callebaut, Pretzel’s Inc, etc.
The event was hosted by the Indianapolis Convention Center where over 500 companies were in attendance. Each one had booths with examples and samples of their top selling products as well as new to market products and even some beta products. The event was a great opportunity to network with food manufacturers of all sizes and allowed us to connect with many potential new partners that have excess scrap/by-product that could be perfect for feeding our cattle across the country.
We left the second day with giant bags full of candy/snacks, etc. and we are very excited to get more involved next year. We both are in agreement that with the massive amount of people there, many of whom know little about what we do or how we do it, there is an opportunity to generate even more business if we have a booth setup. We will continue our efforts to find additional expos/networks to join/attend in the future but we will not miss this particular expo moving forward. Overall, we would definitely recommend you attend if you’re in the industry!
For more info on the expo, go here.
– Mike Danielson, Sourcing Director
