Three things I learned about the nutraceuticals industry at VitaFoods Europe

Back in May, Spinaca Farms debuted our vegetable powders on an international scale at a tradeshow called Vitafoods Europe, whose tagline is “The World’s Nutraceuticals Event.” Along with 25,000 other attendees from 130 countries, I traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, hoping to spread the word about our clean, fresh, pure vegetable powders. It was a moment three years in the making, and I’m pleased to report that our product was not only well-received, but ravenously-received. 

Here are a few of my takeaways:

1. Debuting vegetable powders is a long-game with a big payoff

Spinaca had attended Vitafoods Europe as non-exhibitors in 2019 to scope out the event. Three years and one pandemic later, we were ready to return and debut our product as an exhibitor. We assumed we’d need at least a full day to set up at the convention center. Thanks to Swiss precision — which is famous for a reason — everything was accessible, prepared, and coordinated when we arrived. All told, it only took us 45 minutes to set up. I felt like we won the lottery.

Indeed, we really were lucky. Prior to our trip, we’d found a trade organization through the USDA that does cost-share on events like this with companies looking to increase their exports to other countries. They gave us matching funds to be able to pull this all off.

2. Globalization is a lot of fun — and a lot of work

Blessings and/or luck aside, we hustled hard. We spent three straight ten-hour days on the floor talking with distributors and potential new customers. Because Vitafoods Europe is an international affair, we had interpreters with us to make sure the minutiae was translated correctly. At one point, I found myself talking with a Korean distributor who had never seen or heard of golden beets. He couldn’t believe his eyes, so I told him to Google it, and he was amazed. We communicated all of this through a translator, which made it even more fun. It just goes to show how far we’ve come with globalization, and how much further we have to go.

At the booth, we were bombarded with customers looking for something as pure as what we offer. When they sampled the powders, they couldn’t believe that just ten days prior, the veggies had been in the ground, then made into powder without any processing aids. By Day 3 of the conference, we were completely out of samples and business cards. We even had to take down our display case because we had nothing left to display.

Zack Andrade and Allen Levine, ready to welcome visitors to the Spinaca booth in Geneva

3. Everyone is grateful to be out and working

This was the first time I’d traveled long distance since COVID broke out in 2020, and I was so grateful to be back to this kind of work. I sensed that between COVID and what’s going on in Ukraine, everyone else was grateful to be there, too. Attendees and visitors had been longing to get back to work, looking at global solutions and global abilities to source good ingredients. They’re happy to be working on an international scale again, and so am I, because the world wants what we’re making. I’m thankful for the experience, for safe travels, and for the opportunity to introduce our powders to the international community.

Eat your veggies,

Zack