Viva Fresh 2024: Triumphs and Takeovers in Houston
Apr 29, 2024Season 3Episode 2
Craig Slate & Ed Bertaud
Join us for an engaging episode of The Fresh CrEd Podcast, recorded live at the 2024 Viva Fresh Expo in Houston, Texas! Hosts Craig Slate and Ed Bertaud unite with special guests Dante Galeazzi and Melinda Goodman for an in-depth discussion on this year's spectacular expo achievements and the vibrant future of the produce industry.
🌟 What's Inside This Episode:
A vibrant introduction to the 2024 Viva Fresh Expo
Dante Galeazzi shares hilarious anecdotes and his dual role as an announcer
Melinda Goodman talks about the overwhelming success and attendee feedback
Insights into the growing significance and impact of the Texas Mexico corridor in the produce industry
We extend our gratitude to our partners Born Farms, Art MX, Much Farms, Sev-rend, Santos International, 4Earth Farms, Sunfed, Zubelle Industries, IFCO, and our beverage sponsor, Tehuacán, for their invaluable support in making this event possible.
🎧 Tune in to discover how these leaders and our community drive the produce industry forward. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment with your thoughts or questions!
Join us for an engaging episode of The Fresh CrEd Podcast, recorded live at the 2024 Viva Fresh Expo in Houston, Texas! Hosts Craig Slate and Ed Bertaud unite with special guests Dante Galeazzi and Melinda Goodman for an in-depth discussion on this year's spectacular expo achievements and the vibrant future of the produce industry.
🌟 What's Inside This Episode:
A vibrant introduction to the 2024 Viva Fresh Expo
Dante Galeazzi shares hilarious anecdotes and his dual role as an announcer
Melinda Goodman talks about the overwhelming success and attendee feedback
Insights into the growing significance and impact of the Texas Mexico corridor in the produce industry
We extend our gratitude to our partners Born Farms, Art MX, Much Farms, Sev-rend, Santos International, 4Earth Farms, Sunfed, Zubelle Industries, IFCO, and our beverage sponsor, Tehuacán, for their invaluable support in making this event possible.
🎧 Tune in to discover how these leaders and our community drive the produce industry forward. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment with your thoughts or questions!
Fresh Cred. This is Houston. You've been cleared for takeoff for Fred Expo 2024. Nice and fresh miles now.
Speaker 2:
Hola y bienvenidos al Fresh Craig. I am excited to bring to you from the 2024, Viva Fred at Houston, Texas, in the beautiful Marriott Marquis brought to you by Mr Craig Slate, CEO and President of SunFed, and joining him is his ever-faithful partner in crime, Mr Ed Burtado.
Speaker 1:
Hey yo, yo, yo, wow. Well, that was pretty damn good, that was excellent, but uno mas melinda oh yes, that's right.
Speaker 2:
I'm sorry. I was like which way am I going so invisible in my life? And joining us as well is a special guest, the director, the lead, the head genius from Full Tilt Marketing, miss Melinda Goodman. Hello. I am excited to be here, even if you forgot me, ladies and gentlemen, you can't see it through the microphone, but there are literal tears coming down my eyes, sadness.
Speaker 1:
Were you basically a boxing announcer or something prior to this? I didn't realize that was partly what you did in your free time.
Speaker 2:
How did you not know that?
Speaker 1:
You never shared that. That was an excellent. We need you like the whole show now.
Speaker 2:
I'm the weekend announcer at the Dog Olympics in McAllen. This is a whole second career, isn't it?
Speaker 1:
Well, you know, Price is right. They had the guy that stood off in the moment, David Letterman. He had the guy that was off. We got a job for you on the Fresh Crab.
Speaker 2:
I like it.
Speaker 1:
Just let us know if this thing doesn't work out with Tiffa.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely.
Speaker 1:
I'll get my resume. We may have to get into that, but what we do want to get into. And thank you guys for joining us here to kind of wrap up our day. Here at Viva Fresh, we heard you had too many people. Is that a thing?
Speaker 3:
Can that be right?
Speaker 1:
I mean, we had too many people.
Speaker 3:
I guess it depends on how you think about too many. I'm going to guess that wasn't Too much ice cream.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to guess that wasn't one of our exhibitors or sponsors ice cream, though which one did you have the mammy ice cream though I don't know.
Speaker 3:
I had ice cream, but I don't know what it was, it was delicious so, besides mammoth ice cream, how did we do?
Speaker 2:
how did we do that's you know what? In my opinion, if people are complaining, there was too many people on the show floor. I think that's a pretty dang good indicator that we did all right. Yeah, if not fantastic. I mean, yesterday we took up an entire pool deck of a hotel for a reception. Not a little bit, not a part of it, not a quarter of it. The literal entire pool deck was covered by people participating in the reception.
Speaker 3:
Let's be clear we took over a whole Houston hotel. That's also true, we're here at the Marriott Marquis in Houston for the very first time. We have a sold out show, we have a sold out hotel. We are here.
Speaker 1:
That's true. We pretty much took over the hotel.
Speaker 2:
Not pretty much, we did. Did you see that lobby last night? Yeah, crazy.
Speaker 1:
It was insanely packed.
Speaker 2:
Insanely. It was awesome. Everyone's having a great time. Oh goodness, Just because you don't drink no more.
Speaker 3:
Come on.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I had a little imbibement.
Speaker 1:
He did, couldn't help yourself.
Speaker 3:
I mean, the energy was there, you know, I was really actually very happy, just happy to see everything going off so well.
Speaker 2:
When you talk about celebrating, yeah, yeah, it's kind of hard not to, I gotta tell you. So many things lined up and we're just absolutely perfect for this viva fresh. The weather was fantastic. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't humid, we didn't have the storm that was happening on monday and tuesday. I mean that. Reception, the weather was great, golf weather was great. Today is sun is shining, it looks beautiful. It's going to be great for an astros game. We're here in a beautiful new site for Viva Fresh.
Speaker 1:
Are you going to the game? Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. I'm going to be the ball boy.
Speaker 3:
You get to throw out the opening pitch, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so, yeah, no. So we mentioned so Dante, I mean you know, I know you've been out seeing some of the stuff going on. I've had a chance to get out, ed and we've both been in and we've talked a lot about it earlier on some of the different pods we've been doing about. Just it's the obvious success. Every guest that we've had has commented on how thrilled they are to be here. Some were first-time visitors, that type of thing. You know what else? I mean what out there. I mean, are we seeing some stuff? I what else? I mean what out there. I mean, are we seeing some stuff? I mean I know there's some some CEA guys here. I mean we've seen some technology stuff. I mean you've seen, what kind of changes have you seen from nine years ago to here? Anything different?
Speaker 1:
besides the size besides the size in the venue Right, what else have you seen? That's kind of changed in what you're seeing out there.
Speaker 2:
Man, I think there's a lot of things that have changed, not just in the size and the scope, but the diversity of folks. I mean, you even mentioned it just now CEA, or greenhouses for those that aren't up to date with the new acronyms. The diversity for the Texas-Mexico region is huge and it keeps growing every day. We have more processors. We've got guacamole fresh-cut fruit. We've got guacamole fresh cut fruit. We've got juice guys. We have greenhouses. We have a variety of greenhouses. Right, we've got guys doing strawberries and greenhouses.
Speaker 2:
Robotic harvesting. We've got Mexican greenhouse, US greenhouse. We've got Mexican open field, US open field. We've got in between that we've got guys bringing fresh fruits and vegetables from Peru, from Uruguay, from Guatemala, through the port of Houston. I mean, that's not something we had at the very beginning, you know, nine years ago, at our first Viva Fresh. So we really have brought the diversity of the fresh produce supply chain together of Texas, Mexico, to the buyers, to the walkers, to all 2,600. Oh, no, to more than 2,705 attendees. Did you?
Speaker 3:
pull some people up from off the street. I mean, then they got to learn about fresh fruits and vegetables. Well, they bought a badge so we welcomed them in.
Speaker 1:
They have seat fillers, like at those big awards you know, so the seats don't look empty. Is that what we did? I?
Speaker 3:
mean. It's amazing. Very first day we were here, I happened to be eavesdropping in a conversation where somebody said this is the only show I go to anymore. I've been to other shows and this is the one I want to be at. That was before the show even started, yesterday. Today, walking around the show floor, it has just been repeated over and over and over again. I love Houston. I don't want to miss this show. This is the best it's been. I can't believe how many people are here. I talked to a couple of people who were here for the very first time, who then commented you know, you told me to like raise my expectations because I had none. And he's like I don't even know what I could have said as expectations. I'm having such an amazing time.
Speaker 3:
Wow, those are all great quotable comments I know, let me turn my phone on and try that again. Right, can you say that again?
Speaker 1:
Mason better cut that. That's an Instagram post right there Go to the tattoo parlor and have that tattoo.
Speaker 3:
I'm not tattooing anything.
Speaker 1:
This old body ain't. Nobody wants to see it anyway, but all right, so you got into some of the numbers. What are some of the other things, melinda, on the numbers side of it?
Speaker 3:
It is literally sold out hotel. It is over 400, some buyers, record sponsorship, 190 vendors. You know the show was sold out. We have a long waiting list to be sponsors, be exhibitors for future shows and I think that leaving here with record attendance is only going to prove that this is the show to attend in the future.
Speaker 2:
You know, I think, something else on top of it too If you walk the show floor right now, it is still packed. You talked about the comment that Pauly made earlier about someone said there was too many people. Guys, there is still a lot of people on that floor out there, and that is a clear indication that folks came here to get business done and they're still doing business up until the last minute. That is absolutely incredible, because it means that we're putting the right folks on the show floor, we've got the right people walking oh, yep, we've got the right people walking the floor, and that combination has really made for a great synergy in everything we're doing here at Viva Fresh.
Speaker 1:
Well, and you know in the access. So you know for me coming and leaving. You know a nice thing about Houston I lived here a couple of different times so I'm fairly familiar with Houston. But you've got the option of George Bush, you've got the option of Hobby down south, so I flew into Hobby, I'll fly out of Bush, but you know, having that diversity and distance-wise they're more or less about the same, getting in was much easier than I expected, even with the rain. So yeah, I think that it offers some things, even though it's a big city I mean it's super large and that can have its own drawbacks. I think the size actually plays into some advantages as well. And you know you mentioned the baseball game and we're fairly close to that right.
Speaker 2:
We are a whole two and a half blocks away. So yeah, I'd say we're pretty close.
Speaker 1:
Well, and I guess we can say that the opening reception or 19th hole that we had over there.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, yeah. So our Thursday night reception, we had a little shindig over there at the Astros Stadium. They weren't in town so we were able to utilize that facility and it was absolutely beautiful. A lot of people had the chance to go on tours, that's what it is oh yeah, you did?
Speaker 1:
I went down on the tour. What was?
Speaker 2:
your opinion.
Speaker 1:
I was amazed at the history, to be honest with you yeah. You know, I mean so much. I mean I'm not a huge baseball fan.
Speaker 2:
The history of their wins, right, their World Series wins, not that oh, oh.
Speaker 1:
Don't get me started on any of that. So you know, but hey, we'll take one in Dallas. I that we'll take one and be happy with that for now. But anyway, the just the history of the team, the history of the stadium. You know how hard it was to get a team. You know because, like I said, I lived here a couple of times and I can imagine back in the the 50s and early 60s. You know where air conditioning wasn't very prevalent, if at all. And not only that, you having outdoor games in July in Houston, that's a big sale to the MLB, you know.
Speaker 1:
And then Huffine I believe it's Huffine was really the guy that brought the. He's really the main man behind the whole Astros as well as the Astrodome, and they also are famous. It's called AstroTurf. Why? Because when they put the dome at, the Astrodome couldn't grow grass and they had to develop a solution. And the negotiation was they didn't buy that grass. They negotiated like you guys, put it down for free and we'll advertise it. And that's how it became AstroTurf. So, yes, I enjoyed the hell out of the tour. I thought it was great. So you've got to come, go get the tour, get on the field. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3:
And then come to Viva Fresh. For sure We'll be back next year.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, we are coming back next year.
Speaker 3:
Anything on the show, anything we need to live, I think for everybody. It's just thank you for continuing to trust the Texas International Produce Association and the Steering and the board of directors to make selections for different locations throughout Texas, to try new things, to show up and participate when we ask you to and believe that this is a program that offers value to not only their businesses, but to continue to promote the popularity and importance of the Tex-Mex corridor.
Speaker 1:
You good with that, or you got something for us in a closing.
Speaker 2:
Listen, you guys know I could talk forever. I also know we've got to be limited on time.
Speaker 1:
You've got to wrap up a show.
Speaker 2:
Okay, then I'll wrap it up, but he wasn't referring to this one.
Speaker 1:
He's referring to the one out there.
Speaker 3:
You know, I think he fancies your spot here.
Speaker 2:
He's referring to the one out there.
Speaker 3:
I think he fancies your spot here. He's going to wrap up the expo but, he's also going to wrap us up, I think the soccer announcer is coming.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, you've got to take us out with the outro. That's awesome A little thin in here for Dante. Oh geez, All right.
Speaker 2:
Well, listen, before I jump into that, I do want to say this Our region continues to grow. The Texas you know, our region continues to grow. The texas mexico corridor is easily the fastest growing fresh produce corridor in all of north america. Right, I mean truck wise. From texas you can hit any point in the united states in four and a half days. Any point in canada in seven days.
Speaker 2:
That's not a stat that any other state in the us can achieve, not to mention the breadth, diversity with the growing seasons, the, the length of seasons. All of that just lends naturally to our region and I think more and more VivaFresh is able to show that, to talk to people, to tell that story to everybody, and we love that. People are coming here more and more every year to hear that and to see it and feel it and they are believing it and so, just like Melinda said, we thank them all for their faith. We thank them for that belief, we thank them for that belief, we thank them for coming and, guys, we thank folks like you at FreshCred for telling that story and making it interesting.
Speaker 1:
Thank you. Well, we thank you guys for you know, ed and I, really the opportunity that you guys gave us has really helped. You know, blow our show up and blow things up, so we really appreciate that, for sure. And this beautiful booth my gosh, this is a commitment on your part, so certainly for us. We're very grateful for it and glad to be part of the whole Viva journey and it's been great. So, all right, mr Announcer it's time to take us out of here, give us the best outro ever.
Speaker 2:
Ladies and gentlemen, as you find yourselves exiting the Viva Fresh or your car, we hope that you will tune in next time to the Fresh Cred and hear more and exciting wonderful fresh produce tales. As we conclude the 2024 Viva Fresh in Houston, texas, please be on the lookout for more information for the 2025. Don't miss your spot, don't miss your hotel room and, more importantly, don't miss what we do here in Texas. Love you all and eat your fruits and veggies.