The people who are serving the food (and how they serve it) can make all the difference!

Foodies Who Care

Mamma Chia herself (Janie Hoffman) “adopted us” as if we were her own little chia kids and served us shots of chia-infused beverages while sharing her health and business philosophies.

Another woman who is giving back while growing her brand is Barb (“bobbysue”) Kobren of Bobbysue’s Nuts. The nuts may be small, but her heart is big, as evidenced by her wonderful welcome to her booth.

It’s a miracle! It tastes like pasta, but it’s not. Miracle Noodle is a family affair. We met founder Jonathan Karp’s mom and sister in the booth, and they truly cared about whether we liked their product. (We did!)

So many other folks gave us warm welcomes — Mary Molina of Lola Granola, Stephen Murphy of The Murph’s Famous Bloody Mary Mix, David Israel of Pop Gourmet, Brad of Brad’s Raw Foods, and Sarah Endline of Sweet Riot Chocolate. They chatted with us, posed for pix, and generously gave us samples. (See “Freak Show” for the flip side.)

A Spoonful of Service

How food is served can be almost as important as how it tastes. It’s all part of the experience of the brand. Rather than letting visitors just “grab and go,” some smart companies insisted on personally doling out — and talking about — their products. Kathy Pelliccio, founder of SuperSeedz offered generous handfuls of her different flavors from a logo-ed shaker and Ayara spooned individual portions of their Thai sauces into cups. Despite the throngs of tasters around us, we couldn’t help but feel like the company owners cared about each and every prospect.