Good outcomes are expected following the presence of Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) NZ and 10 producers from the Pacific region at the Fine Food Show in Auckland, 25–27 June. The Pacific companies hosted by the PTI NZ stand benefited from exposure to the 6,400 visitors to the trade show – as well as business links made with the other 2,275 exhibitors there.
At the PTI stand, show-goers experienced a good range of products from the Blue Pacific including Fiji’s Aztec Farm, Fiji Fire Chilli Sauce, South Pacific Coffee and Fijiana Chocolate, French Polynesia’s Bora Bora Sea Salt, Vanuatu’s Gaston Chocolat, Pacific Santo Kava, 83 Islands Premium Rum, and Venui Organic Spices and Vanilla, New Caledonia’s L’Assiette du Broussard and Malongo, Samoa’s Banana and Breadfruit gluten-free flours, Niue’s Niue Vanilla International, Papua New Guinea’s The Cacao Ambassador, the Solomon Island’s Soltuna fair trade canned tuna, and more. A feature of the PTI NZ stand was the premium selection of artisan products promoted by the Department of Industries Vanuatu.
Commenting on the experience of being a Pacific exhibitor at the show, Gauthier Mescam of Fiji Fire said, “It was great on many levels – especially feedback from potential clients and distributors.
“I had great leads to follow up on and had many incoming emails the very next day. One New Zealand distributor picked us up immediately, and there are possibly two more coming on stream for us.”
Ellen La Porte from Aztec Farms said she was “very happy” with the outcomes of their presence at the show.
“The booth of PTI NZ – that was one of the best in the entire exhibition. It was so expressive and showcased so much, with lots of information and interested visitors.”
The Fine Food Show is the premier annual industry event for the hospitality and food-importing industries of New Zealand.
This was a pivotal part of PTI NZ’s strategy to continually promote a wide variety of high-quality products acclaimed by New Zealand chefs – as happened at the highly successful KAI PASIFIKA celebration at Peter Gordon’s Homeland Food Embassy Restaurant on Auckland’s waterfront last year.
In this way, PTI NZ assists New Zealand importers in the retail-, hospitality- or manufacturing industries to source products and ingredients from the Pacific, and thus contributes to their economic development through employment and exports.
