This woman-owned company was referred to Food Export-Midwest by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture in 2021 for assistance in expanding its products internationally. BNutty started participating in Food Export’s Branded Program to defer costs associated with marketing their products internationally. The program helped the small company double its marketing budget with 50% reimbursement on expenses incurred with social media advertising in foreign markets, attending international trade shows, shipping product samples to potential buyers, and producing promotional marketing materials.   

In 2022, BNutty Gourmet Peanut Butter participated in Food Export-Midwest’s Branded Program, intending to expand its product market share in Saudi Arabia, Japan, France, Germany, Singapore, and the Philippines. This past February, the Portage, Indiana supplier reported that with participation in the Market Access Program (MAP) funded Branded Program, they completed impactful sales to Saudi Arabia last year and project to complete double that over the next twelve months. Most notably, this sale marks a first-time export sale to the market for BNutty.  

BNutty Co-Founder Carol Podolak shared, “Food Export has been a critical partner for BNutty – they make it possible for us to succeed overseas and grow our business back home. Their ability to provide technical expertise, sales opportunities, and marketing dollars on a cost-effective basis helps a company of our size stay competitive in challenging markets abroad. Groups like Food Export are important public investments allowing our businesses to exceed our goals.” 

BNutty is a gourmet peanut butter company, minority/woman-owned and operated. The company was founded by two self-professed soccer moms in Northwest Indiana who wanted to raise funds for youth soccer programs. Since 2014, they have added 74 jobs, expanded from a home kitchen to a 48,000-square-foot facility, and are happy to share that Food Export has helped them grow into 13 countries. They utilize Food Export’s educational services, matchmaking platforms, and leverage the marketing dollars in our cost-share program. BNutty Gourmet Peanut Butter has been part of the Branded Program for two years and has already applied for 2023 funding. 

Food Export uses funding from the Market Access Program (MAP) to help America’s small businesses increase their exports of food and agricultural products. As these exports increase, these small businesses are creating jobs and improving the strength and stability of our agricultural economy. Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast are non-profit organizations that work in collaboration with their member state departments of agriculture and the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. They offer a wide range of programs and services that help boost America’s agricultural exports.

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In 2021 RIBUS participated in the program to expand exports of their food ingredient and supplement products to Switzerland and Germany. They used their allocated funds to exhibit at foreign trade shows, ship product samples to potential buyers, make label/package modifications, and create international websites. These efforts helped the company earn over $558,000 in sales to Switzerland and over $179,000 in sales to Germany. They also gained 55 new foreign buyer contacts in these markets and project to complete another $300,000 in sales to the markets over the next twelve months. Sales would typically exceed $1M in Europe as a whole, but unfortunately the Missouri supplier was navigating regulatory changes and new requirements from EFSA, which has put much of Europe’s sales on hold.

The next year Ribus was able to see growth for the exports to Europe. They used funding from the Branded Program to regain their market share by attending foreign, ingredient-based trade shows. These efforts helped the company gain over $1.1M to France, Switzerland, and Germany. They also gained 195 new foreign buyer contacts and establish 2 new agent relationships.

Founded in 1992 as a functional ingredient manufacturing company, RIBUS supplies natural and organic rice ingredients to food, beverage, dietary supplement, and pet companies around the world. The foundation of their business is to provide clean label alternatives that can help solve production issues and bring innovation to client’s products. By utilizing the “by-products” from rice manufacturing, RIBUS, through patented processes, is able to create natural or certified organic, gluten-free, hypo-allergenic ingredients that give producers the necessary functionality similar to mono- and diglycerides, silicon dioxide, magnesium stearate, and other synthetic ingredients.

The Missouri supplier has participated in the Market Access Program funded Branded Program since 1998 and participates in Food Export webinars, Market Builder services, and the Online Product Catalog.

Food Export uses funding from the Market Access Program (MAP) to help America’s small businesses increase their exports of food and agricultural products. As these exports increase, these small businesses are creating jobs and improving the strength and stability of our agricultural economy. Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast are non-profit organizations that work in collaboration with their member state departments of agriculture and the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. They offer a wide range of programs and services that help boost America’s agricultural exports.

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In 2019 Lillie’s Q participated in six of Food Export’s Buyers Mission events where sponsored international buyers to come to the U.S. and meet one-on-one with U.S. suppliers including: the Northeast Buyers Mission, Natural Products Buyers Mission at Natural Products Expo West, Food Service Buyers Missions at the National Restaurant Association, Sweets and Snacks Buyers Mission at the Sweets and Snacks Expo, the Specialty Food Buyers Mission at the Summer Fancy Food Show, and the Midwest Buyers Mission. As a result of their efforts at these missions they met with over 50 new international buyers and gained over $145,000 in new export sales with $180,000 in projected sales to come. They also participated in a Focused Trade Mission to Dubai, the Food Export Helpline, the Online Product Catalog, and a new service partnering with Alibaba.com

In just a few short years Lillie’s Q has done a great job of navigating the variety of programs and services that Food Export offers to take advantage of the ones that are a best fit for them and their products.

Named after the founder’s Grandmother Lillie, Lillie’s Q Sauces and Rubs LLC is a producer of a wide variety of barbecue rubs and sauces as well as having a retail store location in the heart of Chicago. Their goal has always been to create a Southern-inspired BBQ experience that’s true to regional traditions and reimagined into unique, authentic and delicious flavors.

Food Export uses funding from the Market Access Program (MAP) to help America’s small businesses increase their exports of food and agricultural products. As these exports increase, these small businesses are creating jobs and improving the strength and stability of our agricultural economy. Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast are non-profit organizations that work in collaboration with their member state departments of agriculture and the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. They offer a wide range of programs and services that help boost America’s agricultural exports.

The post Chicago-Based BBQ Supplier Finds International Success appeared first on Food Export Association of the Midwest USA.

As Lafeber states, “Trust in a company is a huge factor in the EU and it sometimes takes years to build this trust. By continuing to attend these shows veterinarians will gain trust and start using our products more”. Every year since 2013, the company has used Market Access Program (MAP) Branded Program funds to attend the EVECC Congress, held in a different European market each year. Through their continued attendance at the show, they have been able to establish a presence in new markets such as Ireland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Denmark.

After attending the 2018 show in Venice, Italy, Lafeber reported sales of $7,000 to Italy, $60,000 to France, and $235,000 to Germany, more than doubling their previous year sales to Italy, and increasing sales to France by 30%. In 2019 they plan to use Branded Program funds to travel to the EVECC Congress in Estonia.

Lafeber is a producer of pet food & care products who focuses on the well-being of pet birds and small mammals. They have been a participant in the Food Export Branded program since 2010 and are part of Food Export’s Online Product Catalog.

Food Export uses funding from the Market Access Program (MAP) to help America’s small businesses increase their exports of food and agricultural products. As these exports increase, these small businesses are creating jobs and improving the strength and stability of our agricultural economy. Food Export-Midwest and Food Export-Northeast are non-profit organizations that work in collaboration with their member state departments of agriculture and the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. They offer a wide range of programs and services that help boost America’s agricultural exports.

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