Part 2 to our Christchurch Food Show adventure started with packing our borrowed van to the gunnels (seriously, we couldn’t have swung a cat if we wanted to!). The van may have been a little overloaded with all of our wonderful product, but we were sensible Southland drivers that made our way up country with no dramas. We left early Thursday morning and made it to registration with minutes to spare….that’s how we generally get by!
We also had a tentative appointment with a lady who was part of organising the live Breakfast Show cross the next day….we donated some of our Granola and Wild Mix – Cheeky Chilli & Mango, for the team to try if they wanted to. After setting up our stand in the Artisan Village (wearing our required super trendy, but necessary, hi-viz vests) we headed to a friend’s place to relax and regroup for the crazy three days ahead.
The Food Show started at 10am each day, we were there around 8.30am to ensure everything was set up, managed to sneak around some other stands and grab a coffee before the public rush. Day 1 started with a background cameo on Breakfast (panning around to get to a real chef and there we were!)
The crowds were different each day, a lot coming in to see the celebrity chefs that were scheduled to show off their skills and answer lots of questions. There were quite a range of stall holders, our little Artisan Village housed around 11 of us and had a great seating area. We were lucky enough to be near an ice cream stall that teamed up and gave out some ice cream with our Granola on it – supporting each other! We got to speak to a whole range of people, from those who did not know what Granola or Biltong was to those who made their own Granola and quite a few that had family Biltong recipes. We handed out Granola & Biltong testers to the Christchurch crowd – thankfully we only had positive feedback for our product!
We also met some really fun stall holders including a couple of lovely ladies who were selling HoneyWraps (FYI an alternative to glad wrap and darn useful too!) right next door to us. It is amazing the range of small New Zealand businesses who are doing what they love and backing themselves.
For the last day we were only allowed to pack down after the public had all left the arena. There were trolleys all lined up out the back awaiting the call of “stallholders you can now commence pack down”. With a pack-down challenge laid out by the Honey Wrap ladies next door, we set about dismantling our stall; we had a lot more to do but in true competitive style (because that’s how we roll) we managed to have it all loaded onto a trolley ready to go, just before our neighbours!
The trip home was made on the Sunday evening as one of us had to be at work the next morning. The other one was in charge of unloading, cleaning & returning van in one piece. What an epic trip; the long hours we put in leading up and the actual event itself took a lot out of us, of course we had to both return to families, work, school and everyday life. We met some great people, made a couple of business contacts and certainly had an experience and with everything taken into account, we are still on the fence regarding a repeat performance…….
Eat the way our ancestors did and feed your body the fuel it needs to get through the day!
