International Dairy Show in Chicago McCormick Place | 2013 Photos & Recap

I made a smart decision to attend the International Dairy Show on Sunday, which was opening day. Attendance was light, which enabled me to cover the show, meet vendors without distraction and partake in samples that were fresh and plentiful.

I’d like to explain why attending a show like this can be very useful to both the beginner and seasoned business person.

When I receive a call from a client asking how they can take their product to the next level and to market, one response I often give is that production facilities can deliver a minimum order requirement of 300-500 gallons or 5-10 pallets of finished product and the caller is surprised.

A show like this offers beginners the opportunity to see first hand the equipment that is available to manufacturers and better understand the challenges they have in making small batches for start-up companies. In order to run the plant efficiently, the manufacturer must keep the filler/packer running as long as possible — somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-8 hours. When the plant schedules a small batch run there is a fair amount of start and stop due to change over, clean-up etc. This results in higher plant costs and for you a higher cost of goods.

Exhibitors at the International Dairy Show, Chicago McCormick Place staged multi-million dollar pieces of equipment designed to sanitize, form packaging, blend, freeze, fill, seal and case everything from fluid beverage to frozen desserts while allowing for the most efficient run times possible.

For people in the industry, this is like the museum of science, where vendors have the opportunity to demonstrate the latest in manufacturing equipment and ingredients. You ask, “What could be so cutting-edge in an ingredient?”

As an example, take a chocolate chip. At inception of the concept, the chip was small, very hard and because it was frozen with the ice cream, had little taste profile. Today the chips are larger, more flavorful and most important – soft. Why, because of customer demand for larger pieces in the ice cream, companies invested thousands of dollars in R&D to offer you an improved product.

In case you can’t attend, here are a few photos from The International Dairy Show in Chicago:

Darryl will attend a upcoming show with you, he will walk the aisle with you to point out opportunities or help be behind the counter to promote your product.