Five big things to know from Fresno’s revamped food show. What product won most delicious?

Locally-made salsa. Gin made from citrus fruit. A robot that delivers food.

Dozens of local food and drink makers and service providers pitched their products this week at a trade show in downtown Fresno.

The MADE Central California show ran Wednesday and Thursday at the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center with all kinds of food and service providers hoping to connect with buyers. One night was open to the members of the public, who got to sample all kinds of locally-made food.

Everything from fruits, vegetables and nuts to caramel sauce, cookies and beer were available to taste. The companies making or growing them were hoping to land contacts and deals with buyers attending, including Walmart, Costco, several school districts, Stanford University and various wholesalers from around the state.

At its heart, MADE is a business-to-business trade show. But the show also gives locals a glimpse into the food being made in their own backyard.

Here’s a few main takeaways from the show and why it matters to the public.

1. New name?

If this show sounds familiar, there’s a reason for that. For years, the City of Fresno hosted the Fresno Food Expo.

It died in 2020, its organizers citing “financial and organizational constraints.”

But now it’s back. It has got a new host, the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, and a new name.

The concept is the same, with the goal of promoting local food companies and connecting them to buyers, said Rebecca Sustaita-Toledo, manager of MADE and special events manager for the Fresno Chamber of Commerce.

But there are a few changes, like speed dating between sellers and buyers. A new products showcase was revamped into a “Shark Tank” style competition where companies pitched their most innovative new products.

Keep reading to see who won that, plus which food won the Foodie Favorite Award.

2. We’re a ‘powerhouse’

“We are a powerhouse. The Central Valley is a powerhouse,” when it comes to food production, said Sustaita-Toledo. “We really need to highlight that and make sure everyone is aware that your food comes from Central California.”

About 60% of the country’s fruit and nuts and 30% of its vegetables are grown within a 100-mile radius of Fresno. It exports more than $14 billion in agricultural products each year, according to information handed out at the show.

With all those farms comes companies turning what they grow into products sold on store shelves. Lots of them process and package food that is sold under other big brand names, like Trader Joe’s or Newman’s Own.

Even big companies that sell worldwide like La Tapatia and Bussetto Foods also sell their tortillas and salami under other brand names.

Such “private label” production often operates under the radar, with some companies contractually prohibited from sharing what brands they make food for.

“We are a quiet producer in Fresno. We are a sleeper company,” said Bussetto Foods president Mike Grazier.

He used to joke that “we’re more known in Manhattan than we are in Fresno,” he said, though that is changing.

In addition to private label salami and other meats, the company was promoting its DIY charcuterie kit. It comes with all the meats, cheeses, nuts and olives needed to put together a charcuterie board.

3. Marketing to Fresnans

Many exhibitors at the show are trying to make deals with national stores or global exporters. But there’s marketing to Fresnans and the central San Joaquin Valley happening at the show too.

Valley Fig Growers, for example, makes a fig concentrate from figs grown and processed in Fresno.

It sells it to breweries in places like Milwaukee that make it into fig beer. But no local beer makers use it, said Stephanie Soto, marketing and sales coordinator.

“We work with a lot of breweries across the country, but ... we’re trying to get more local companies,” she said.

Kingsburg-based The Ugly Company has a huge presence in stores in Southern California.

It turns blemished peaches, nectarines, kiwis, apricots, and cherries that would otherwise be thrown away into dried fruit under the “Hello! I’m Ugly” brand.

It sells at nearly 700 stores, many of them small health food stores in the Los Angeles area. But in Fresno, they’re only at Kristina’s Natural Ranch Market, said Rylan Carter, vice president of sales west.

“There’s not a ton of health markets out here,” he said. “We want to be local as much as possible.”

The company is applying to sell at Whole Foods and hopes to be in Sprouts too.

Unlike other trade shows, MADE has a night that’s open to the public. Dubbed TASTE Central California this year, the Thursday night event allowed people to check out exhibitors, try their food and take home freebies.

It’s local marketing in action, noted organizer Sustaita-Toledo.

When those people try and like products, they will talk about them. They’re becoming brand ambassadors, in a way, she said.

“We would love everyone who comes to the show go to their local grocery store … and ask for these products,” she said.

4. Innovation and robots

The show is also a chance for companies to debut their newest products and had an increased emphasis on innovation this year.

That’s why Bear Robotics, with an office in Fresno, had its Servi robot rolling through the aisles with a plate of fake food.

The robot is already used at the Denny’s restaurant across from Fashion Fair on Shaw Avenue and Pho Le 777 in Clovis.

It can deliver food to a table, where customers either grab their dishes or a server puts them on the table. It can also act as a host, leading people to their tables. And workers can fill up its trays with dirty dishes and send it back to the kitchen with a press of a button.

“Really just anything to help out the staff. Our robot is just an extra hand,” said territory account manager Breyn Hillman. “We want people to know that we don’t want to take jobs, we’re just looking to help.”

And that “Shark Tank” style competition? It’s called the Caglia Environmental Pressure Cooker.

“You have to be new, but now you have to be innovative,” Sustaita-Toledo said. “It can be anything from a crazy new flavor of some type of food product ... It can be something with environmental sustainability.”

The winner? Dogs Dig ‘Em treats made by the Fresno-based St. Francis Homeless Project.

The dog biscuits are made by women who have gaps on their resume because of drug or alcohol addiction, mental health issues or human trafficking. They get paid for their work, earn their food handler’s card and attend classes on things like resume writing.

The program is growing. The dough is now made by Wawona Frozen foods and the women bake it in a commercial kitchen in Clovis.

Katherine McCoy shared her own story of drug addiction before becoming part of the program’s first graduating class. She’s now the general manager of the River Park Panera.

“It honestly saved my life,” she said. “It’s an awesome program. Every Panera in town now hires out of the program.”

The $10,000 prize will be reinvested into the nonprofit and used to hire more women and buy more equipment.

5. Who won ‘foodie favorite?’

At the public event, people could vote for their favorite food. The winner of the Foodie Favorite Award Winner: Ortega Meat Distribution and its chorizo.

The Fresno company has been selling beef, pork and chicken to restaurants, grocery stores and mom-and-pop shops for more than 25 years. Tubes of chorizo with a lower fat content are its newest product.

“We’re looking for somebody to take it on for retail - Costco, Save Mart, big stores,” said vice president Manuel Ortega Jr.