Olive oil producer Njoi Olive Oils says the value it receives from the high-profile Australian trade show in Los Angeles, G’day Australia, is “unquestionable”.
Olive oil producer Njoi Olive Oils says the value it receives from the high-profile Australian trade show in Los Angeles, G’day Australia, is “unquestionable”.
Andrew Konowalous, managing director of the listed Piquant Blue, which markets its oil under the Njoi label, was speaking from Phoenix, Arizona, after a week-long profile-building tour of the US during which he visited LA for G’Day Australia and San Francisco for the acclaimed Fancy Food Fair.
“If you want to get out there in front of people it’s a really good event and for a pretty modest cost,” Mr Konowalous said.
And while he was not at liberty to discuss potential deals arising from the events because of public disclosure rules, he acknowledged the company was in discussions with several US retailers as a result of the events.
Njoi was one of the pioneers of last year’s inaugural event in LA along with operators such as olive oil producer Dandaragan Estate.
Mr Konowalous said the return trip this year for Njoi was more about profile building and targeting specific retailers than developing distribution channels.
Both the LA and San Francisco events had very high profiles in the US and WA producers could get great exposure to a huge market, he said.
“There are some really good attendees at the event,” Mr Konowalous said. “The US market is unimaginably complex compared to the Australian market.
“In Australia there are the two big retailers, Woolworths and Coles. In the US there many different retailers on many different levels.”
Some of the biggest retailers in the US were at the events, including the world’s largest organic retailer, Whole Foods Market, which has annual revenue of $3 billion.
Subiaco-based Consuming Passions organised WA’s food and wine component at the LA event, and Mr Konowalous said the costs associated with exhibiting were minimal.
“All you really have to worry about is travel and accommodation costs,” he said.
G’day LA is a co-production of the Federal Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austrade, Qantas, and Tourism Australia, and is supported by the Western Australian, NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australian Governments.
