On December 2020, California Raisins held the first edition of the contest “Christmas Bread” with Colectivo Mexicano de Panaderos, A.C. (COMEPAN A.C.).- Mexican Bakers’ Guild The contest was open for every bakery lover with or without experience, but with the same passion: baking.
The objective of the contest was to create a Christmas bread recipe with a unique condition: the bread must include California raisins. The participants sent at least 3 photos in high definition along with a short story about what inspired them to make that recipe. All recipes were presented and submitted for qualification to the jury, with Paulina Herrera, Miren Karmele, Carlos Ramírez, Pietro Lembo and Kenny Kuri; Mexican chefs and bakers that support the Bakery Sector in Mexico.
For the first edition, COMEPAN receive a total of 27 participant recipes, and selected 5 winners who surprised the jury with their Christmas bread recipe and receive $100USD as a prize. Among them was Daniel Sánchez who obtained 1st place in the contest with his product “Christmas Basket”.
After the contest, Pasitas de California developed a digital recipe book with all the creations of the 27 participants who showed their creativity, talent and Christmas spirit into a baked product that captivated the jury at first glance. (link a Receta)
About COMEPAN A.C.
The Colectivo Mexicano de Panaderos (Mexican Bakers’ Guild) is a meeting point for all bakery enthusiasts, professionals, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts in general who share the philosophy of good bread and good baking practices to obtain it, as well as the interest in professionalization and social valuation of the baker’s trade in Mexico.
IPC had the initiative to promote Idaho Potatoes as a healthy carbohydrate since one of the biggest challenges of potatoes is the belief that carbohydrates provide negative effects in diets. Through athletes such as Paola Longoria, Charlie Sarmiento and Oso Negro a “good carbohydrates” campaign was launched.
The biggest challenge was to find the athletes and spokesperson for the campaign, since they had to show a good image and be an example for consumers. We managed to contact Paola Longoria, one of the best racquetball players in the world, with 334mil followers on Instagram, Paola has been talking about the IPC for 3 months and has made recipes, routines, and publications with more than 1700 likes about the benefits of potatoes. Charlie Sarmiento has carried publicity on his networks and has given talks on health and sports with more than 480 reproductions. While IPC became an official sponsor of the Ultra Marathon “Black Bear” with whom we will have advertising throughout 2021 and until the race in January 2022 with banners of the account in training and advertising on social networks of the race.
Costco and the California Milk Advisory Board created alliances to promote two pizzas in Service Deli area, cheese and pepperoni, where he origin of the cheese was promoted accompanied with retail publications in Facebook and Contacto magazine, as well as in the Real California Milk social media.
The promotion was executed in a month, from October 28th to November 22nd, where California Milk supported for the first time Costco Service Deli during their annual special promotion with pizzas. During this month Costco sold around 64,493 units nationwide. This is 135% of sales increase vs the same promotion in 2019. With Costco’s Facebook post 135,606 people was reached, and a total of 350,000 magazines printed.
The Potato Lover’s Month promotion was an exhibition contest that was held from October 17th to November 17th in stores of the retail chain CALIMAX, with the objective of increasing visibility and sales of Idaho potatoes in 89 stores in the region of Baja California as well as guide the consumer in the selection and purchase of Idaho potatoes.
The biggest challenge throughout this activity was to be able to have visibility due to the contingency of COVID-19
Potato Lover’s Month was achieved through retail marketing activities, such as:
The winning Potato Lovers Month stores were Cortes, Chapultepec and Xochimilco with sales increases ranging from 44 to 54.98%
On behalf of the Western United States Agricultural Trade Association (WUSATA) and coordinated by Beto Lanz 15 companies participated in the first recipe program in Mexico with the main objective of promoting value-added food and beverage products in the Mexican gastronomic industry.
The chefs who participated were Chef Pablo Salas, from Amaranta Restaurant; Josefina Santa Cruz, from Sesame; Chuy Elizondo, from Benell; Oscar Herrera, from Flor de Nogal; and Bianca Castro, from Biscottis Bakery. The companies that participated in this first recipe program were Agropur, Northwest Hazelnuts, Farmer’s Rice, Fresh Nature Foods, Barber’s food, Limoneira, Smile Foods, Royal Ridge, Shining Ocean, Pure palms, Jacey Cakes, Colorado Potatoes, Traina Foods, Bow & Arrow and Sadaf Foods.
Each company selected one chef to received the ingredients . Among those products were surimi, dried apricots, hazelnuts, fresh green garbanzo beans, potatoes, and gouda cheese. Each product with a different flavor and origin.
The recipes developed were published on the Chefs’ social networks and reposted on the official WUSATA social media pages, resulting in + 2, 218, 290 people reached and 1, 028, 900 views.
As part of the “Taste of the West” campaign, and with the challenge to communicate where to buy the products to consumers Wusata had communication through Walmart and HEB channels.
The campaign was achieved through digital advertising in both chains, a Landing page was created with all the products from the promotion, also banners on website and offsite communication (materials through social media). There was a total of 1103% growth in visits compared to the season without promotion and more than 9,600 interactions with consumers on the banners.
At the end of this project, a digital recipe book was developed now available in: https://issuu.com/home/published/taste_of_the_west_original
The U.S Southern Agricultural Trade Association with the help of imalinx coordinated the first virtual business mission in Mexico where 16 exporters signed up for digital business meetings with key contacts from the food and beverage industry with the objective of exploring new business opportunities for the Mexican market in the mid and long term.
Due to the COVID contingency, SUSTA and Imalinx had to migrate the in-person trade mission originally scheduled for Houston and Atlanta to a digital format that helped expand the number of registered buyers and exporters. Through the Zoom platform, Imalinx offered a virtual seminar to the 16 exporting companies talking about Mexico’s country overview, business situation, new labeling regulation and recommendations for the sessions. Followed by appointment coordination, sample logistics and follow-up after the event with exporters and buyers.
A total of 53 appointments were confirmed and divided in two blocks. The first was for categories of general snacks and groceries, the second for special categories such as plant proteins, cocktails, craft beer, among others. All contacts received pre-event samples to make products available during meetings, This facilitated the communication, immediate feedback and preparation of buyers for appointments.
Walter Brooks of Brooksmade Gourmet Foods
“I really looked forward to it and it was great. We will definitely come back and let you know if we could use your help in the future with these relationships”.
Jaime Fuentes de Brand Rep’s Cancun
“They were quite interested in our brokerage services. Likewise, their proposal has already been sent to each one so that, if accepted, they can start representing them in Mexico and be able to introduce their products to the markets they indicate us”.
WUSATA conducted a virtual trade mission between exporters between the states of Idaho, Oregon and Mexican Importers, with the aim of developing business relationships. Appointments were made between leading exporters and distributors and importers in Mexico in both, the retail and wholesale sectors.
This activity was an alternative to traditional trade missions that have been face-to-face. There were significant efficiencies in resources, budgets and time. Activities were programmed in anticipation so that the yellow onion season of Idaho and Eastern Oregon could begin strongly.
This new mode of trade mission proved to be very practical since from the comfort of the participant’s home of office. Strong and long lasting ties can be formed while staying safe at the same time.
The month of August began with two online seminars in collaboration with the Mexican Bakers Guild (COMEPAN), a project created by Chefs and Bakers: Irving Quiroz, Bernardo Flores, Kenny Kuri and Carlos Ramírez Roure. The event was sponsored by Real California Milk, California Raisins, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Monterrey Office.
The invitation was open to the general public with the aim of captivating enthusiasts for the bakery that could later be part of the guild itself. The Seminar was carried out on two dates; August 12 for Mexico City and August 13 for Monterrey, achieving a total record of 3,081 people who connected from Mexico, the United States, Spain and Colombia.
The first date was covered with the participation of Kenny Kuri and Carlos Ramírez Roure who produce Cocoa Bread with pasitas, Vienna Bread, Rye Bread and Peasant Bread. On the other hand, Bernardo Flores and Irving Quiroz showed the techniques For achieving a low fermentation Ciabatta, Marbling Box Bread, Sourdough with Oat Atole and Dark Chocolate Babka.
View stream:
Results.
The Mexican Bakers Guild is a meeting point for all bakery enthusiasts, professionals and entrepreneurs in general who share the philosophy of the goodness of bread. A survey was conducted to explore the opinion and segments of attendees:
| Type of Industry | % |
| Consumer | 22% |
| Distributor | 1% |
| Foodservice | 5% |
| Other | 32% |
| Bakery | 40% |
———————————————————————————————————-
| What type of content would you like for future seminars? | % |
| Interviews | 0% |
| Explanation of ingredients | 7% |
| Recipes | 18% |
| Baking techniques | 70% |
| Tips | 5% |
Paola Longoria, our Idaho Potatoes brand ambassador, competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics giving IPC visibility in the world’s most important events and with the challenge of spreading information about nutrition in Idaho Potatoes.
This effective campaign was an extension of the sponsorship that IPC has with the athlete, where she shares 3 stories and 1 post on Instagram and Facebook every month. This communication plan was used for the long-awaited world event, where Paola recorded with the Idaho Potatoes mascot, “Spuddy buddy”, tagging IPC’s official social networks. Her Instagram account currently has more than 355,000 followers and a circle of more than 1,587,147 followers on Facebook, a community that continues to grow thanks to the athlete’s popularity.
The campaign successfully included stories within the sporting events and photographs in emblematic places of the venue, which exceeded 3,928 likes on Instagram and 11,344 likes on Facebook.
On June 17, an online seminar was held for more than 1,000 registered participants taught by Chef Irving Quiroz where he spoke about the importance of butter as a key ingredient in baking.
During the 90-minute session, Chef Irving Quiroz shared his knowledge and experiences with butter, highlighting the importance of quality butter, the optimum temperature for different types of baking, and the process of sifting the flour and fermenting the dough. Also, he explained the differences between a margarine and butter, an important characteristic at the end of the baking.
Chef Irving Quiroz baked: Conchas Gourmet, Chocolate Chip Cookies and a little-known bread in Mexico called Kouign Amann, a typical bread from the French region of Bretagne that means “Butter tart” and which has a special cold-rolling process. The digital recipe book was available to download at www.lechedecalifornia.com
The event was moderated by Beto Lanz, author and journalist about travel and gastronomy in Mexico and the world. Beto emphasized the origin, the process and the flavor of California Butter in addition to answering the participants’ questions.
Webinar record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=358uKQGoLEw