July 10, 2020
As all of us—businesses and individuals alike—continue to learn to adapt to the “new normal” during this pandemic, I wanted to update you on some recent developments here at Food Export–Midwest and Food Export–Northeast.
While we continue to be unable to host and participate in events that involve travel and in-person attendance, we’re learning to adapt to the new situation and create viable alternatives as best we can. Things started out slowly in March and April, but we’ve seen activity pick up during the last 4-6 weeks.
On the international marketing front, I’m excited to share that our team has started to replace our standard in-person activities with virtual online events. Last month, we held our first virtual event as a replacement for the Buyers Missions that had been planned for the National Restaurant Association Show, the Sweets & Snacks Expo, and BAR 2020. The event featured over 90 meetings that stretched across 13+ timezones.
In mid-August—in place of our annual Midwest Buyers Mission—we are hosting a “
Virtual Connect” fair that will connect Midwest and Northeast companies with over 50 highly vetted buyers from around the world. Additionally, we’ve introduced two Virtual Focused Trade Missions to
Canada and
Colombia and are planning additional virtual events in the coming months.
Demand for these events have surpassed expectations, and two of the events (Virtual Connect and Virtual Trade Mission to Canada) have already sold out and have a waitlist! As we roll out these new approaches, rest assured that we will provide the dedicated support and customer service that you have come to expect from Food Export.
In export education, our webinar team has launched a series of
new COVID-19-related webinars to help companies reassess their strategies during this time. Visit our
webinar page to access all our webinar recordings and learn more about upcoming webinars.
You can learn more about our recent virtual activities—as well as our other existing virtual and online services—in our new blog post “
Finding Export Success During COVID-19.” You can also visit our
COVID-19 Resources page for the latest event and industry updates.
We thank you for your support during this challenging time and look forward to partnering with you as circumstances allow on some of our upcoming online/virtual activities. If you have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to let us know.