The Central American Foodservice Initiative is a multi-year, multi-faceted program.
The initiative will focus on developing buyer-seller
relationships and implementing a comprehensive southern U.S. brand awareness program
to promote exports from the SUSTA region to Central American countries.
Product Focus
Best prospects include: frozen fruits and vegetables, high quality beef cuts,
bakery products and ingredients, dressings and sauces, seafood,
spices, fruit juices, and canned food, among others.
Country/Region Focus
The initiative focuses initially on the top 2 markets in Central America: Costa Rica and El Salvador.
Timeline
The initiative is a multi-year program that began in early 2004.
The first phase of the initiative was to identify and evaluate market opportunities
in the region through a feasibility study that built on past research from USDA's
Emerging Market Office. The research phase of the initiative is now complete.
Since January 2005, SUSTA has worked to develop and implement a marketing campaign
that targets the best prospects identified in the feasibility study. Activities
will focus on the foodservice sector, expanding to the retail sector.
Trade Goals
The initiative goal for the trade is to educate buyers about southern U.S. products
with the goal of matching buyers with suppliers from the SUSTA region.
Trade Promotions/Activities
The main steps of this initiative include:
- Feasibility studies that fill in the gaps of available market research
- Dialogue with key buyers to determine opportunities and match buyers with suppliers
- Development & implementation of a comprehensive marketing plan to increase exports and
develop buyer-seller relationships
Consumer Goals
Research indicates that Central Americans consider U.S. products as being
of higher quality than products of other origins. They are interested in trying new products,
though price is a factor when buying imported goods. The foodservice industry emerged
as an important channel for reaching consumers, as Central Americans are dining out
more than in the past. However, research also indicates that there is a lack of awareness
among chefs as to the possible uses of some southern U.S. products. Therefore, one of the goals
of the Central America Foodservice initiative is to educate foodservice personnel and consumers
on how to incorporate southern U.S. products into their cooking.
Consumer Promotions/Activities
Some of the promotional and marketing activities that will take place as a result of this initiative
include the following:
- Reverse media mission
- Reverse trade missions to introduce foreign buyers and U.S. suppliers
- Advertising
- Trade show participation
- POS materials (banners, fliers, tablecloths, folders, etc.)
- One-on-one visits with key retailers/wholesalers/importers
- Product education, logo development etc.
These activities will occur throughout the year; each year will build on to the efforts of the previous years.
How a U.S. supplier can participate
For more information, contact Victoria Mejia (vmejia@neo.rr.com).
To participate in a SUSTA promotion in Central America, contact Bernadette Wiltz (bernadette@susta.org).
