The Gustare team exhibited our range of raw honeys at the International Food and Drink Event (IFE) at ExCel London from 19 to 22 March. Our eye-catching stand was consistently busy, with hundreds of representatives from the food and beverage sector tasting our delicious honey over the four days of the exhibition. Everyone who tasted the honey immediately loved it.
Comments such as "this is the best honey I have ever tasted", "this is fantastic", "delicious", "so good", "amazing" were coming thick and fast. Numerous visitors came to our stand for a tasting on the recommendation of other stand holders and other visitors, which was very pleasing.
We were proud to promote our Australian provenance amongst a group of predominantly UK and Europe-based producers at IFE. Our twin koala mascots, nicknamed Matilda and Banjo, proved extremely popular with passers-by who posed for selfies with them before tasting our honey. We beamed in our co-founder, Paul Costa, from Armidale in northern New South Wales, Australia, via Facetime on an iPad propped up at the front of the stand to talk to our visitors about the art of beekeeping in Australia.
The flavours of the four products in our current range are very different, all influenced by the flora of the various Eucalypt trees – Yellow Box, Grey Iron Bark, String Bark and Apple Tree – from which they derive. Our two richer tasting honeys, Stringy Bark (Rich) and Apple Tree (Strong), proved to be the most popular with visitors to the stand.
While most people perceive honey purely as a breakfast spread, many visitors to our stand were quick to suggest other culinary uses for our delicious raw honeys. One visitor, a cheese producer, brought cheese from his own stand along to Gustare’s stand to pair it with our honeys. Another suggested it should be “poured on a pavlova”, a popular Antipodean dessert.
We took the opportunity to introduce our new Australian Manuka honey to visitors at IFE. Everyone who tried a spoonful was surprised at its sweet taste, compared to the more medicinal flavour common in most New Zealand Manuka honeys. Our Manuka honey is derived from the flora of Leptospermum polygalifolium, popularly known in Australia as Jelly Bush. We hope its sweeter taste – which is all down to the flower of the Jelly Bush plant and seasonal climatic conditions – will entice new customers to enjoy the health benefits of this very special honey.
Most importantly, with growing trade interest in high quality honeys like ours, we picked up some terrific sales leads and are looking forward to expanding our list of stockists.
Look out for us! The Gustare team will be back at ExCel in London on 2 and 3 April, for the Natural Food Show (http://www.naturalproducts.co.uk).