The Cayman Culinary Society had a busy week recently.
The Society hosted its annual Chef and Bartender of the Year competition at the Marriott hotel.
Members of the food and beverage and hospitality industries crowded the hotel’s Orchid ballroom for the Society’s trade show.
Exhibitors included hotel and restaurant suppliers, including local companies such as Progressive Distributors, Jacques Scott and Caybrew and international companies like Lantmännen Unibake and U.S. Food Services.
Sanjay Sahoo, sales representative from Progressive Distributors, explained that the trade show was an ideal opportunity to talk to current and potential customers about the company’s goals for the next year.
He was assisted in delivering his message by the beautifully-designed booth that Progressive Distributors had set up, overflowing with colourful and fresh produce.
‘We laid our booth out this way to show that in the next six months to one year our goal is to bring more variety to the island’s cuisine. We bring a wide variety of fresh produce to Cayman,’ he said.
Mr. Sahoo added that the show was beneficial to educate the general public about the freshness of the products Progressive Distributors imports to the island as well.
‘It shows our customers and the public what we can do,’ he said.
Companies from overseas were also given the chance to demonstrate their products.
Bruce Shankle, southeast regional manager for Lantmännen Unibake, a Sweden-based distributor, explained the company’s ethos.
‘Lantmännen means land of food,’ Mr. Shankle said. ‘We are headquartered in Sweden and we’re owned by 41,000 farmers. That’s where we get our name from!’
The company has three product lines, importing Eurobake breads, Schulstad Danish pastries and Pastridor croissants.
‘We have 165 products and Progressive Distributors carries 40 of them,’ Mr. Shankle explained.
Brands Manager for U.S. Food Services, Joe Spak, was cooking up a storm at his company’s booth. Partnering with Progressive Distributors, U.S. Food Services provides the local company with finished products such as cakes, canapés and seafood to distribute to its local retailers.
Meanwhile, Gary Feldman of Royal Cup Coffee was sampling smoothies, coffee and tea products which his company supplies to local and international restaurants and hotels, such as Outback Steakhouse in the United States and Marriott hotel in Cayman.
‘We have ready-to-use shelf-stable smoothies, Rainforest Alliance coffees and Novus tea bags, which are loose leaf teas in a nylon mesh pyramid-shaped bag.’
He added that the benefit of Novus tea bags is the fact that there is no paper involved and no staples, so tea purists will not have to be concerned about metal in their tea.
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