LOS ANGELES -- Expo Comida Latina will add a New York show in October to complement its first-ever L.A. Expo held last November, organizers announced.
ob K. Javits Center, preceding the West Coast expo, Nov. 16 to 18 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
All categories of food will be covered at the show, according to organizers, from salsa and yuca to churrasco and black beans and rice. The show will also reflect the way in which Latin flavors are increasingly crossing over into conventional American supermarkets, specialty grocers and restaurants across the country.
The New York show will have more tastes from the Caribbean and Central American countries, while attendees in Los Angeles will notice greater Mexican flavors, reflecting immigration patterns in the two different regions.
Andy Unanue, the chief operating officer for Goya Foods, Secaucus, N.J., will be delivering the keynote address at both shows. The expos will also feature cooking demonstrations with well-known chefs as well as conferences on a variety of industry topics.
Representatives of Diversified Business Communications, Portland, Maine, producer of the shows, said food and beverage buyers from food-service, retail and distribution companies, can register online at www.expo-comida-latina.com.
The shows will feature producers, processors, distributors, wholesalers and importers of Hispanic food, beverages and ingredients, specialty food-service equipment and computer software for food service and retail. Organizers said they expect to build on the success of last year's fair, which hosted more than 5,000 food professionals from retail, commercial and non-commercial institutions.
According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, at the University of Georgia, Athens, U.S. Hispanics spent $54 billion on food and beverages in 2000 and are expected to spend $120 billion by 2005. Hispanics tend to spend 19% to 58% more than non-Hispanics on dairy products, fats and oils, beef, poultry and fresh produce. They also make more than twice the number of trips for grocery shopping than the average U.S. shopper and spend 34% more on groceries.