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GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2014 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 4 Awards Continued from PAGE 1 the Leadership Awards, Neil Grimmer, co- founder and President of natural baby food company Plum Organics, delivered an informal keynote address, extolling the power of positive leadership in guiding successful specialty food businesses, as well as in driving growth within the indus- try more generally. Asked to name the most important les- sons he has to offer someone who is in- terested in starting her or his own business, Grimmer referred to the lessons he tries to instill in his own daughter. "One of the things I always talk to my daughter about is be really passionate about wanting something. Find some- thing you really care about," said Grim- mer. "Once you've done that, develop a point of view. Get an idea, and start to say what does this mean, and how am I going to change things in the world." "The last is bring all of your creativity to bear to bringing that to life," Grimmer added. "If you do that, at the end of the day, you may actually change the world for good." According to Grimmer, successful brands are those that are brave enough to stand out as vanguards within the industry. "When I think about the 1,200 brands that are on the show floor today and the 14,000 people that are there promoting those ideas … that's nothing more than revolution—it's game changing," he said. "What is happening on the floor today is defining the future of food. That's hap- pening at a booth that has two people. That's happening at a booth that has 50 people. [That's happening with] brands that have been radically successful or brands that are about to be successful. To me, that courage that allows people to get to that point where they're bringing an idea to the world, [where] they're devel- oping something with all their creativity and talents—[these] are the things that are going to change our world for good, and that's really exciting." The Leadership Awards are divided into three categories. Gage won in the Citizen- ship category, which honors those who work to improve the lives of people and communities by advancing environmen- tally and socially conscious practices. His company, Runa Tea, works closely with in- digenous farmers in Ecuador to increase in- comes, develop infrastructure and support communities. Levine was honored in the Vision cate- gory for her pioneering approach, inno- vative products and creative business model. Her company, Lotus Foods, has worked with rice farmers in Southeast Asia to develop new methods for flooding and farming rice paddies that is more productive, more environmentally sus- tainable and more profitable for the farm- ers than the methods that were previously employed. Finally, Rubin won the Leadership Award for Business Leadership. The Business Leadership Award honors a person who ad- vances best practices in the food industry benefitting a broad spectrum of industry personnel. Rubin instituted the Healthy Minister Program at his company, Republic of Tea, providing employees with a number of benefits and earning the company a place on Outside Magazine's Best Places to Work List. In addition to the three winners, the Spe- cialty Food Association also named three Leadership Award runners up. The three runners up included Sam Mogannam, owner of Bi-Rite Market (Citizenship), Greg Steltenpohl, CEO of Califia Farms (Business Leadership) and Justin Gold, founder and CEO of Justin's (Vision). This is the second year in which the Spe- cialty Food Association has honored indi- viduals with these Leadership Awards. Last year's winners included Nasser Abufarha, founder of Canaan Fair Trade (Citizenship) and Karlene Hunter, co-founder of Native American Natural Foods (Vision). For more information on the Leadership Awards, including detailed profiles of this year's winners, visit www.specialty- food.com/news-trends/featured-articles/ar- ticle/2014-leadership-awards. GN Trade Show Buzz BY LORRIE BAUMANN Natural Products Expo West, to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, in Ana- heim, Calif. March 7-9, is continuing the growth it has been experiencing over the past several years, reflecting both the growth of the natural products industry and its convergence with the mainstream market. Driving the mainstreaming are a millennial generation of consumers who grew up with organic and natural products as their first option and the baby boomer generation that is now focused on main- taining health and quality of life through lifestyle choices. As a result of the larger growth of the natural products industry, this year's Expo West will occupy more floor space than ever before, expanding booth space into both the Anaheim Arena, adjacent to the convention center and into the convention center lobby itself. One hundred new com- panies are joining the returning vendors exhibiting products at the show. "Growth in the natural products arena now requires it," Adam Andersen, Expo West Show Director said, explaining the growing popularity of the show. "We are seeing new businesses developing, contin- uing to grow the industry as well as the show." "In 2013, we had 600 new companies exhibiting at the show, and we expect to see similar numbers next year," Andersen added. In addition to the products featured in the exhibit hall, Expo West will once again feature a program of events designed to stimulate, entertain and educate attendees. "We always have a plethora of great events," Andersen said. "This year, Ana- heim Convention Center opened the Grand Plaza, so that will be in use again, with food trucks, morning yoga, music in the evenings." The Grand Plaza is a park-like outdoor entertainment venue that stretches from the Anaheim Convention Center along the facades of the Anaheim Hilton and Anaheim Marriott Hotels. It was part of a year-long improvement project for the convention center that was completed in January 2013. Conference work- shops will be held in the Anaheim Mar- riott Hotel and will include the specialty diets workshop with culinary educator Chad Sorno. Sorno will be helping re- tailers work with consumers who are pursuing gluten-free, vegan and allergy-free lifestyles. In addi- tion, for the fourth year in a row, Expo West will be offering a Marketing to Moms workshop with keynote speaker Sara Snow. On the day before the show, Expo West is also offering an entrepreneur boot camp with an online forum for entrepreneurs. In keeping with the show's larger theme of social and environmental consciousness, Expo West will be decorated with signage made from recy- cled materials, in- cluding banners and other decor elements used at last year's show. Even so, most at- tendees would never notice or guess that the decorations have been repurposed. Natural Prod- ucts Expo West will be held March 7-9 at the Anaheim Convention Center, with ed- ucation and events running March 6-9. For more information or to register to attend or to exhibit, visit www.expowest.com. Gourmet News will once again be among the exhibitors on the show floor and will be posting live to our website, www. gourmet news.com, throughout the show. GN Natural Products Expo West Grows Along with its Industry International Olive Shortage Offers Potential Boon for California Olive Growers and Olive Oil Producers The current olive shortage caused by poor climatic conditions in Spain, Greece, and Southern Europe means a potential uptick in business for Califor- nia olive growers and processors. Ex- perts argue that many American companies produce high quality olives and olive oils, which are on par with or better than the highly sought after olives from the Mediterranean region. The on- going international olive shortage is shedding new light on this niche market. European farmers have stated that their 2013 olive crop yields fell more than 70 percent. The drought has especially af- fected queen size olives. Experts predict that prices for European olives could rise more than 50 percent in 2014. This means that there will almost certainly be an in- crease in demand for American olives, such as the popular California-grown Sevillano, one of the largest green specialty varieties sometimes called the "Spanish Queen." Sevillanos are abundant in California this season and available to both domestic and foreign markets. Further driving demand for American olives, more and more buyers are awaken- ing to the differences between naturally cured California olives and the imports. "Buyers are calling and telling us they never knew imported green olives were cured with lye," said Dan Vecere, General Man- ager of West Coast Products, producer of specialty olives and olive oils under the Olinda Brand. According to Mark DeCamilla, Sales Manager for the Olinda Brand, until the in- ternational shortage occurred, olive im- porters were solely responsible for setting both product price and grade. "That's changing," said DeCamilla. "End users, such as chefs and bartenders, are taking no- tice that our California olives have a firmer texture and a fresher taste than the indus- trially cured imported olives." In addition to the growing concerns over the high price and falling quality of European-produced olives and olive products and the increasing embrace of California-grown products by U.S. chefs and bartenders, the growing issue of olive oil fraud is also causing many Americans to grow increasingly wary of European products. With prices for European-pro- duced olive oils at all time highs, some companies have been accused of adulter- ating their products with chemicals and other non-olive oils in order to increase yields and profits. As long as the drought continues, this concern among U.S. con- sumers is unlikely to dissipate, further driving interest in California-produced olive products. GN

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