The main objective of their trip was sales-focused – to better understand North American market trends to support their growth in the USA. It was naturally about leads generation and expanding their own brands’ awareness.
For Vaughan the Expo came out strong from an educational perspective. There were new learnings on the potential demand for Butler broths and extracts in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets.
“For us the face-to-face contact at an Expo is priceless – you’re educating on your product and why it can solve or support a company’s business needs, and they’re educating you on what those business needs are. This is important intel we can use to help shape our Butler range for future,” says Vaughan Dew, Senior Sales Executive
The Expo had 1400 exhibitors which was up 27% on 2022 – Vaughan and Kane both found it really insightful with respect to a range of markets – specifically pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and distribution agencies who were very prominent. Globally nutraceuticals are becoming more popular as they form a part of people’s everyday diet. Powdered formulations are favoured with everything from capsules to powdered drinks and supplements across shelves in health and wellness shops, and aisles in supermarkets. Companies are investing significantly to expand their product lines to capture this market segment.
“There were obvious trends for broths and extracts in the spray-drying sector which was strong at the Expo,” says Kane Thomas, Plant Manager
Spray drying is a method of creating a dry powder from a liquid or semi-liquid material by rapidly drying with a hot gas. This is a popular method of drying for foods and pharmaceuticals or materials which may require extremely consistent, fine particle size.
“The experience of these companies, their capacity, and the various products being manufactured was a real learning curve. For example, one company boasted 19 spray driers which indicates the level of scale they operate at. With this scale evident, the likelihood for increased demand for powdered nutraceuticals looks set,” says Kane.
Vaughan also wanted to better understand US trends in relation to Taranaki Bio Extract’s own value proposition. Their time at the Expo was spent in research to confirm what TBE values is similarly valued by potential customers.
“Pharmaceutical, nutritional and dietary supplement manufacturers consider ‘all natural’ to be very important. Expo attendees were really big on grass-fed, sustainability, traceability and animal welfare – all aspects that are strong to both Taranaki Bio Extracts and Butler, our premium food ingredients brand.
“Our main raw materials are New Zealand grass-fed beef bones – these are fully traceable. Electronic animal tracking systems (NAIT) and the electronic certificate system means movements of cattle in New Zealand are recorded, so our products can be traced back to origin. Alongside recent market research we’ve undertaken, it confirmed our offering matches the market,” says Vaughan.
Networking with fellow New Zealand companies was also a highlight. There was a New Zealand networking event organised by one of the exhibitors.
“Alongside investigating and sourcing leads for further discussion regarding our own products we were able to network and knowledge-share with some other New Zealand manufacturers which was valuable,” says Vaughan.
And a spare day in Las Vegas didn’t go wasted – the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon were tops for some site seeing before heading home.
Ends.