Boston Local Food – a program of SBNMass | Leading the Local Food Movement in the Boston Area

SBN Local Food Trade Show

Registration is now open for the 2014 Local Food Trade Show!

Tuesday, March 4th, 2014

8:30 AM to 1:30 PM

Northeastern University

Local Food Buyers and Producers are Invited to Meet and Begin Doing Business.

The Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts (SBN) is offering its third Local Food Trade Show. The 2014 Local Food Trade Show is designed to facilitate connections and stimulate business relationships between producers and wholesale buyers of local food, with a focus on specialty crop food products in Massachusetts.

This event is ideal for restaurants and institutional buyers interested in trading with local food suppliers and who desire to buy more locally produced products from growers, fishermen, and value added producers from Massachusetts and New England.

The event is sponsored by Northeastern University, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MassGrown), Boston Organics, Prism Energy Services and Edible Boston Magazine. Our partners for this event are Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) and Health Care Without Harm.

Exhibitor Tables have sold out but registration for attendees is still open

Click HERE for a list of 2014 Trade Show Exhibitors and Attendees!

Event Itinerary:

7:30am – 9:45am Set-up for Exhibitors
7:30am – 8:30am Registration
8:30am – 9:45am Buyer Seminar
10:00am – 12:00pm Trade Show (Open Floor Trading)
12:15pm – 1:30pm Producer Seminar
The deadline to pre-order lunch for the Trade Show has passed. There is a campus dining facility conveniently located on the first floor of the Curry Student Center if you are interested in purchasing lunch while at the event.

The Seminar Series will offer topics addressing best practices around some of the most pressing barriers to local food sales in Massachusetts as identified at our previous Trade Shows. While both seminars are open to everyone, the first seminar will mainly be targeted to wholesale buyers, whereas the second seminar will mainly be geared towards producers.

The Buyer Seminar will be facilitated by Holly Fowler of Northbound Ventures, LLC. Holly is the Co-founder & CEO of Northbound Ventures, LLC a Somerville, MA-based advisory firm specializing in building sustainable communities and food systems with institutions, organizations, entrepreneurs, and investors.

Buyer Panel:
Gary Weiss, Executive Chef at Cooley Dickinson Hospital
Tom Barton, Executive Chef at Northeastern University
Jim Turner, Co-Founder of Turner’s Seafood
Jeff Barry, Founder and President of Boston Organics

The Producer Seminar will be facilitated by Kate Petcosky and Eva Agudelo of New Entry Sustainable Farming. New Entry works locally, regionally and across the country to strengthen local food systems by supporting new farmers.

Producer Panel:
Jennifer Hashley, Director of New Entry Sustainable Farming
Ethan Grundberg, Farm Manager at Allandale Farm
JD Kemp, Co-Founder of FoodEx and CropCircle Kitchen
Bill Creelman, Spindrift

The Trade Show portion of the event will allow producers to highlight their products to potential buyers, with a focus on wholesale relationships.

Who should attend?
Any wholesale buyers, who are interested in purchasing Massachusetts or New England-produced food items. These buyers can be supermarkets, co-ops, restaurants, hotels, institutions, schools, food processors in search of ingredients, distributors, or anyone else interested in local purchasing options.
*This event is intended for commercial buyers, not individual consumers.*

Getting There:

The SBN Local Food Trade Show will take place in the Indoor Quad and Ballroom in the Curry Student Center of Northeastern University. The building is located on the Main Campus here.
Map for Exhibitors
Map for Attendees

Parking:

There are two visitor parking garages on the Northeastern University campus. If you have purchased a discounted parking pass through us, it will ONLY be valid for the Renaissance Garage, 835 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02120

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