MIAMI — The “A Taste of the States: Miami” pavilion, which is organized by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), is projected to have record growth at the 2025 Americas Food & Beverage Show. During the Sept. 10–12 event at the Miami Beach Convention Center, preliminary numbers show the pavilion drew about 13,000 attendees — an increase of more than 25% over last year. In addition, there were about 900 exhibitors representing food and beverage suppliers from around the country.
Location, Location, Location
According to Megan Weeks, NASDA’s Senior Director of International Trade Programs, part of what has contributed to the growth the pavilion has experienced in recent years is its convenient location, which the show’s buyer attendees, who come from all over the world, can easily travel to.
“Miami is the big trade hub in the Caribbean Basin, so this is the place where buyers come to do business with their current partners or meet more partners to start up new business. The fact that this show is in Miami is a huge help. It’s easy for buyers to travel here — particularly from the Caribbean, but even globally, it’s fairly easy for buyers to travel here,” Weeks said. “So first of all, the location of the show is the most important thing. It being in Miami really helps that growth and really sets us up for success.”
The amount of promotion that NASDA has done, as well as the buzz created among stakeholders, has further helped the pavilion.
“We have really done a very big blitz of promoting who’s going to be at the show and why you need to come and be here,” Weeks said. “It’s a word-of-mouth thing that’s really just taken off and helped the show grow.”
Making the Perfect Business Match
Another feature that has driven the “A Taste of the States: Miami” pavilion’s success is the matchmaking service, where NASDA puts buyers and suppliers together for mutually-beneficial conversations that are conducive to creating partnerships.
“We’re very deliberate about how we’re matching companies together. If somebody’s coming to buy beef, we’re not going to put them with a company that’s selling a dairy product,” Weeks explained. “We’re very careful about how we’re matching our suppliers with these buyers, so they’re having meaningful meetings and they can say they met with a great set of suppliers that have the products they want and need in their grocery store, hotel or whatever type of business they’re running.”
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Allowing attendees to see these products being used has also been beneficial for the pavilion. After the pandemic, NASDA introduced live demonstrations with chefs cooking the foods buyers are interested in learning more about.
“Buying the product is great, but if you don’t know how to prepare it, you’re kind of stuck because you’re not really getting the most out of that product,” Weeks said. “These chef demos are a way for us to teach buyers, and also chefs that are coming here from other countries, how to cook with American ingredients.”
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