LIMA — What started more than a decade ago as a small event with a handful of customers has now grown to hundreds of attendees interacting with 75 vendors representing both the food-service and janitorial industries.
On Tuesday, Powell Co. and Rightway Food Service hosted the “Be a Winner” 2016 Trade Show at Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center, giving attendees from a variety of backgrounds the chance to sample various food-service cuisine while also learning about the latest janitorial technology and techniques.
“We had preregistered 600 people coming,” Powell Vice-President of Sales Dirk Rummel said. “I think we’ve exceeded that. Usually later in the day it dies down, but today it was still going strong.”
Visitors from such areas as Toledo, Dayton and Michigan visited the trade show, being treated to everything from luncheon meats and salad dressings to bratwurst and Asian cuisine, while also learning about new floor scrubbers and environmentally friendly cleaning products. Representatives from such places as nursing homes, schools and restaurants were in attendance.
“For many of us, this is our biggest day of the year,” Rummel said. “Anything you need to feed K-12 schools, restaurants, concessions [is here], and it’s a good crossover because if you cook, you’re going to have to clean, and a lot of people who clean also want to cook.”
For Max Dudevszky and Steven Gilardi of Mount Vernon-based Dickerson Meats, the trade show is not only a way to market their products, but also form personal connections with their customers.
“For me, I’m not in front of the customers every day, so it helps me put faces to names,” Gilardi said.
“And it gets the samples out there,” Dudevszky added.
Elida-based Griff’s Homemade Brats, now in business for a little over a year, was a first-time vendor at the trade show, and for owner Chris Griffiths, the experience not only helped him expand knowledge of his bratwurst, but it also informed him on how customers are using his product.
“We can finally see how they’re cooking them and using them,” he said. “Some are deep frying them, others have them in a breakfast special. It’s really cool to see how people are using them. We now know we can go from breakfast to supper and everywhere in between.”
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