Fabulous Food Show - Part 2 - Food and People

The Food Show was a great time to observe mass human behavior around food.

Clearly, many go there to graze, and we're all for that! The whole idea is to get some of our samples in their mouths so they're tempted to buy -- whether now or later. The grazers tend to line up at one end of an aisle and just slowly work their way through as the line moves. It's kind of a grab-and-go thing, but Brian and I have gotten pretty good at trying to engage them in conversation and find out what they think about the samples they've tried while they wait for the line to move.

Then you have the browsers. They're interested, want to talk about it, but aren't ready to buy until the end. There were fewer of those this year, and I think that was partly due to the Shop and Drop service offered free to show attendees. This was sort of a coat-check for purchases that allowed people to freely buy and not have to carry their bags during the entire show. Maybe a lot of browsers did come back later to buy, but the show is so big, it is hard to tell for sure. The great thing about browsers is that they are picking and choosing what they want to try, and they love it that someone wants to actually talk to them. Many are surprised that we are the owners and manning our own booth the whole time. This is where the personal touch becomes really important.

Finally, you have the true aficianados. They are there to get to know you (if they don't already know you) and have a deep interest in what you do and the flavors, quality, assortment, etc. that you have to offer. This group is a pure pleasure, though since many are already customers, they're actually not our primary target demographic for getting a booth at the show. While many vendors like us would like to make some money (or at least break even on the costs of doing the show and giving away a lot of free food), the real point is marketing -- getting our name in the minds and our heat and flavor on the tongues of large numbers of people who might not otherwise find out about us.

For us at the booth, it is kind of a juggling act. You have to quickly figure out which type of person is in front of you and react accordingly. It is kind of a game for us, and is actually a lot of fun. I don't think Brian or I sat down the entire time -- we were exhausted -- but it was great getting to know so many people and talk about the things we love. The biggest frustration is that there are so many people to talk to, you feel like you can't always give your full attention to friends and family who stop by to say, "Hello."

The Fabulous Food Show is a wonderful microcosm of the many different types of food and people in Cleveland, and we're proud that the show has been so successful. I like to think that we really surprise folks at the Food Network, who are tempted to treat anything between New York and Chicago as fly-over land and not worth notice. Of course, even more than the show, we're tremendously proud of Michael Symon and the national attention he's brought to the incredibly wonderful and diverse food scene in Cleveland.