Cocina Sabrosa Reaches its Goals in its First Trade Expo

Organizers and exhibitors expressed their satisfaction with the business atmosphere at the Cocina Sabrosa Trade Expo, which took place on October 4th and 5th at the Long Beach Convention Center, California.

With more than 120 exhibitors and some 2,000 people attending the event, according to Eric Jurado, founder of Cocina Sabrosa, the trade show was held in a festive atmosphere.

Live Latin music throughout the event added flavor to the display of hundreds of Hispanic food and beverage products presented by small, medium, and large companies participating in the trade show.

For Jurado, pulling off Cocina Sabrosa was the fulfillment of a dream he had been working on for several years. 

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In a dialogue with Abasto, before the end of the show’s second day, Jurado was pleased with the results and is already working to hold the second Cocina Sabrosa trade show in 2022.

“I am thrilled with the results of the expo because I have received positive feedback from exhibitors, and that gives me confidence that the show has been a success. Visitors have come from many places, from Chicago, Texas, New York, Idaho, even someone from Puerto Rico who wants to open a Mexican restaurant and came to the expo to see what products he can take to the island” said Jurado.

This interview with Eric Jurado was conducted in Spanish.

About the experiences acquired in this first trade show to apply them in next year’s event, Jurado said it would continue to be an expo aimed at the two channels of the food industry, food service, and retail.

“This way, it will continue to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for any company, because there are many restaurants that also have their market next door, this is something new that is happening,” explained the founder of Comida Sabrosa.

Precisely that dual function caught the attention of Aída Arechiga of Nutriagaves USA, who was presenting her company’s products. “It has been a great opportunity to make ourselves known, to extend ourselves because it has been an opportunity to share with businesses in the restaurant area, looking for the distribution of the products.”

Arechiga added that “it was important to meet among Hispanics, something that has helped us a lot to make our product more widely known, which in this case is agave syrup.” 

The realization of this first trade fair aimed at the Hispanic food and beverage industry caught the attention of the Consul General of El Salvador in Los Angeles, Alejandro Letona. He visited the expo and, in particular, the Bravo Foods USA booth, a company founded more than three decades ago that imports food and beverages from El Salvador and produces its brand of packaged foods.

Consul Letona considered it “a great idea” to have carried out this expo aimed at the Hispanic food trade, highlighting the significant presence of the Salvadoran community in California and the business opportunities in the area of importing food products from the Central American country.

This interview with the Consul General of El Salvador in Los Angeles, Alejandro Letona (right) and the CEO of Bravo Foods USA, David Dubón, was conducted in Spanish.

Likewise, the CEO of Bravo Foods USA, David Dubón, told Abasto that participating in Cocina Sabrosa “is a great opportunity to see all the attention we have from all nationalities of all the people who have visited us at the industrial and commercial level because it is the purpose we seek to expand our portfolio of customers, services and increase our exports as well as our sales.”

For her part, Yvonne del Real, marketing specialist for Cremi Mex, said her company’s participation in the trade show was successful. “We met many companies, they came to visit our stand, plus everything was very well organized at the show. After COVID, this is the first show we attended; it was a great experience and has motivated us to participate in other events.”

According to the point of view of Marco Casillas, from CMC Sales & Marketing, who has a long experience attending trade shows nationwide promoting several Hispanic products such as La Morena, La Botanera, and El Yucateco sauces, the Cocina Sabrosa event was very positive for being the first one they are holding. He hopes that next year they will grow so that there will be even more business opportunities.

“I think the opportunity to have a show that gears more towards the food service is a good idea. We don’t see many of them on that side of the industry, but I think because it’s the first time, many people were more curious, trying to see what it’s all about. I think they got a good turnout in terms of vendors, something exciting to see that, and I think is something they could build on,” Casillas noted.