Last updated on March 25th, 2021 at 07:19 pm
The 2017 KeHE Summer Selling Show, held earlier this month in New Orleans, hosted more than 3,700 industry professionals—a nearly 35 percent increase from the year prior. Retailers, vendors and brokers were able to get a look at the latest natural and organic, specialty and fresh products for the summer season.
“This increased attendance is a testament to the value of KeHE’s Summer Selling Show in the industry,” said KeHE President and CEO Brandon Barnholt. “Our growing community of retailers and suppliers know they can find the hottest deals, best new and established brands and exciting innovations at our Summer Selling Show.”
New for 2017, the OnTrend Pavilion in the New Products Showcase included more than 100 new products and educational presentations; the New Orleans Pavilion featured local flavors and live jazz; and the Fresh Pavilion, a centerpiece of the show, proved to be a hot destination with wide-ranging offerings for bulk/foodservice and retail deli, bakery, cheese and perimeter departments, according to Illinois-based KeHE.
Retailers also cast their votes for the “Best of” items out of more than 30 new featured products. The 2017 winners include:
• Best New Product: Center Store Grocery—Simple Mills;
• Best New Product: Fresh/Frozen—Three Twins Ice Cream;
• Best New Product: HBC/VMS—Wedderspoon Manuka Face Cream; and
• Most Innovative “Best of”—Sugar 2.0
In addition to these awards, KeHE was honored as Distributor of the Year by Michael’s of Brooklyn and Gaea USA.
KeHE and its supplier partners donated more than 37,000 pounds of food products to Second Harvest Food Bank following the show, providing hundreds of struggling households with needed grocery items.
