MDD Expo 2009 - A Bright Spot
in a Tough Economy

With almost ten percent more attendees at MDD Expo, many exhibitors made enough contacts that they decided to commit to next year’s event. Whether the increase in traffic is a result of the shift to private label due to the economic current or is simply the surge of Private Label worldwide remains to be determined. But there is no doubt that store brands are big business.

MDD Expo’s 2009 Hallal section had many more exhibitors, as hallal food is increasingly in demand and becoming more widely available. Muslims account for more than 6 million people in France and about 10 million in Germany. Hallal represents a huge percentage of the increasing interest of ethnic food, and is being followed by many buyers. Carrefour France just launched an Hallal range of private label foods.

The Pizza section was large and very crowded, and as one exhibitor said, “Pizza is simple, tasty and inexpensive.” Perhaps a great combination for consumers looking to economize but still provide a tasty and satisfying option for their family. Retailers also understand the opportunities in this high-volume business and suppliers are ready to meet the demand.

Napolitano Pizza at Roncadin

At Roncadin Pizza, Dario Roncadin, managing director, was showcasing its real Napolitano style pizza. What’s special about this pizza is that they can produce this lightly thick pizza with its specific crust named “Cornicione.” But the same system allows them the pizza “Schiaccaiata” with a crispy but low crust. To accomplish this unique technique they patented the process as well as the machine.

In addition, Roncadin announced that beginning June 2009, they will be able to provide the traditional wood-fired oven pizza. As a company that prides itself on innovation, Roncadin is always interested in improving its pizzas and advancing its production facilities in order to offer their clients the perfect pizza.
By installing a new, very modern oven of the latest state of the art combined with its patented pressing technology and a topping of carefully selected ingredients Roncadin will offer a new, supreme original Italian pizza. They developed a much in demand Bio Pizza line as well as a vegetarian Pizza and with pride they offer to retailers and customers real premium pizzas. Being very focused on quality and customers’ specifications, Roncadin is certified by BRC, IFS, Bio and NOP for USA.

For further information please call +39-0427-844 113 or visit www.roncadin.it.

New Products at Drogheria & Alimentaria

This Florence Italy-based Spices & Aromatic Herbs Company now offers a line of authentic Italian prepared dishes named “Delights.” This line of products is dedicated to “customers with less time” but who still want an authentic Italian taste. The idea is simply to separate the cooking of the penne pasta from the cooking of sauce, so the pasta and sauce mix are contained in separate bags within the box.

These convenient, ready-to-use pasta and sauce kits offer consumers authentic Italian taste with four famous recipes, Penne and: Tomato Sauce; Cheese Sauce; Porcini Mushroom Sauce; and Pesto Sauce.
These “pasta and sauce kits” from Delights are offered in a box for two (230g) and are approved by the “Italian Chef Federation.” Drogheria & Alimentaria sells Delights in packaging in English, Scandinavian, and Chinese, a French one is to come.

For more information, please contact: marketing@drogheria.com or visit www.drogheria.com.

The Bio Presence

Bio, which is the common subject of any retailer was very present in almost all booths. While there existed a specific area where all the Bio products were showcased, this marketing approach will be expanded next year to include specific signage and a special booklet/catalogue.

Ardo Frozen Vegetables Go “Bio-Organic”

Ardo, a fast developing company, is introducing alongside its original productions of vegetables, new lines of Bio-Organic vegetables and vegetable dishes. As quoted by the French daily newspaper, “92% of French are worried about our planet’s state of health,” so Bio-Organic is not a marketing fact but a primary concern quickly developing.

Ardo offers a wide range of Bio-Organic vegetables: diced carots, sliced carrots, sweetcorn, cauliflower florets, spinach, broccoli florets, green beans and garden peas. Ardo’s Bio-Organic extend also to dishes as Summer Mix, Wok mix, Soup vegetables, Creamed Leaf Spinach and Red Cabbage and Apple.

Production in the field as well as in the factories are surveyed by the different EU Bio certifying organizations with different logistics from the standard vegetable productions.

For more information, please visit: www.ardo.com.

Delight-Food’s Lactose Free Line

The lactose-intolerant customers are becoming increasingly important to retailers who seek to make up for the the fact they don’t buy nor consume any milk dairy products. So the process that allows extracting the lactose from milk has attention from all sides. Delight-Food, a company based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, has created the lactose-free line, Delight. The Delight line is an interesting alternative to soy products that have a different taste and are lacking in natural calcium and give little vitamins. With this milk the Delight line can offer premium ice creams that taste like it is made with real milk and yogurt-cake. Better than any supplement food, the Delight-line gives people access to basic food that many cosumers are forbidden to eat.

At MDD Expo 2009, there was a notable presence of retailers and buying club stands which were visited by many suppliers. The most visible was Casino represented by Alain Blond in charge of small and middle size suppliers who showed their new BIO Casino PLs. There was a stand by Daymon, a branch of Wal-Mart and buyer for Asda (N°3 in GB) and CRAI (a Southern Europe wholesaler: Italy, Spain, Portugal). So there is beginning to be a change at Marca by BolognaFiere where retailers are not only visitors but also exhibitors to sell their suppliers products, find new licenses, and of course and most important, find new suppliers. 2010 MDD Expo will be held March 30-31 and again be located at Porte de Versailles Paris. For more information visit, www.mdd-expo.com.