PURE Bar - Veronica’s Blog

What do you get when you mix one of the largest convention centers in the world with a bunch of entrepreneur tree huggers like me? Travel to Anaheim, CA in early March and you’ll find out. Natural Products Expo West , the largest natural and organic food show in the nation is unique and fun because of the remarkably cool mix of innovative products and some of the nicest people in the country. And the energy in that convention center made you quickly forget the economic woes we can’t seem to escape on the outside.

The PURE BAR Name in Lights!!

I had the privilege of showcasing Pure Bars at Expo West last week and getting to know some interesting individuals and their products in the natural foods world. Expo West is a trade show so it is largely attended by buyers from all the major retailers nationwide -Whole Foods, HEB, Meijer, Sprouts …really everyone I would want to talk to regarding selling Pure Bars in stores. It is very concentrated and productive marketing so it’s well worth the time and resources. It is also a great place to check out innovative products and ideas and see who else is in the same boat as me as a natural/organic product creator and marketer.

Pure Bar: It kinda does grow on trees!

One of my first stops was at Elite Naturel 100% organic juices. Clean unadulterated 100% juice and so good! My favorite was the watermelon juice-tasted like a summer picnic-and so original!

Elite Naturel 100% Organic Juices

I couldn’t resist the story behind Caffé Ibis Coffee They support an all-woman consortium of coffee producers in the rural coffee producing areas of Peru called Café Femenino. Grants are provided to bring in women and train them in environmentally responsible methods of producing coffee. Opportunity for women in an area like this is unheard of and helps to break the cycle of abuse as well as offer self esteem and income to better the lives of these women. Hats off to Café Ibis!!

Caffe Ibis

Loved Kopali Organics with their line of delicious super food fruit medleys and indulgent chocolate covered fruits, and coffee beans. A spoonful of these chocolate covered espresso beans gave me even more energy than normal (to the dismay of my partners)

Kopali Organics

And I have to mention my great friends at Frey Winery who have a Holland connection. The wife of one of the owners is a Holland MI native just like me…never hurts to know someone in the wine industry J AND let me tell you that organic wine does not give you headaches like non-organic wine. Trust me, I’ve done many case studies on myself.

Me with my good friends at Frey Winery (No I did not drink half that bottle, only wish I had)

I could go on and on about cool people, causes and products. But the bottom line for me this year was that the natural and organic segment is thriving, even in these uncertain times. There were more people, more buyers more products and an overall positive energy at the show. It was, to say the least, refreshing and genuinely fun.

Beautiful Teas

Meyers Booth was cool

Tags: Expo West, Organic

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Mompreneur, Organic, PURE Bar, Purposeful Eating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.