TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Hawaii vendors
in the other NRA’s showHawaii businesses that jumped at -- and paid for -- the state's offer of booth space in Chicago are making preparations for a huge industry trade show. Spaces were reserved with a $500 deposit on a $1,500 participation fee and were sold out, but a scheduling conflict for one vendor has left an opportunity for one more.
The event is billed as the largest restaurant industry trade show in the world.
The National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago has so many exhibitors that the long lists are broken down alphabetically on the pages of its Web site.
The first apparent Hawaii exhibitor on the "A" list is Aloha Technologies, an application service provider and computer software company out of Bedford, Texas. Hmm.
The real Hawaii companies participating in the state of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism's "Hawaii Pavilion" include Hilo Fish Co. Inc., Honolulu Fish Co., Locals Only, Hawaiian Mamaki Tea Plantation and Kini Popo Creations Inc., Norpac Fisheries Export and the Papaya Administrative Committee.
Other professional organizations representing a single type of food will also be there, such as the Illinois -based American Egg Board.
They're the folks that brought us all that memorable radio jingle "The Incredible, Edible Egg."
"A trade show is a good venue," said DBEDT Economic Development Specialist Steven Lee. "The buyers are there, the barriers that vendors will have when you cold-call or go to see them are not there. They're at the show looking for new things and a lot of times are willing to deal, or at least seriously look and talk to people."
It's not just any old trade show, however. Some 80,000 "qualified buyers" are expected to attend, Lee said.
Such events "are very good venues for companies that are ready to expand beyond Hawaii's shores," he said. Buyers at the NRA show are from all 50 states and some foreign countries as well, he said.
It is scheduled for May 18-21 in Chicago's McCormick Place.
The companies already on board are currently filling out application forms and product descriptions for inclusion in the show's resource directories.
DBEDT's Business Development and Marketing Division, in which Lee works, also publishes a monthly newsletter, "Trade Invest Monthly -- Hawaii's International Business Network," in PDF format which can be e-mailed free to interested parties.
The e-mail address for the publication and to request more detailed versions of the summaries in the newsletter, is tradeinvest@dbedt.hawaii.gov.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com