Excitement At GTCO Food And Drink Festival

It was a celebration of culinary excellence and beverage innovation, from local snacks, street foods to five star hotel culinary dishes, varieties of food and drinks from various parts of the country and the world were all tantalizingly displayed by the over 208 food vendors at the GTCO Food and Drink festival recently.

Assortments of local snacks like spiced kulikuli, sisipelebe, dankwa, kokoro, baba dudu, abacha mili/coconut, roasted ukwa/aki, guguru and apa, coconut candy etcetera were on display.

Street foods  such as roasted boli/peanuts, roasted/fried yams, potatoe, plantain, cocoyams, potatoe chips/chicken, fish meals, bush meat, nkwobi, isi egu, different barbecued meats down to three course dishes made up the  foods that were on display at the three days food festival.

It was a celebration of culinary excellence and beverage innovation which was also hallmarked by 12 master classes from world class chefs and showcased the very best in food and beverage offerings from around the world to suit all taste.

For the three days the 6th edition of the festival lasted, all roads leading to the venue, Plot 1, Water Corporation Drive Oniru, Victoria Island, were very busy as people from different walks of life trooped to the venue in order not to miss out from the fun.

The long Ligali Ayorinde road, Adeniyi Coker street, Okesanya street were jam packed with cars and visibly excited and gaily dressed people of all ages who were all eager to be part of the GTCO 6th edition of the food fair.

Fortunately, enough traffic officers were strategically stationed to avoid human and traffic congestion.

In a challenging business environment like Nigeria, a free platform to promote enterprises such as GTCO food and drink festival is an opportunity and edge every local business or SMEs will not want to miss.

The stalls were made available to the participants free of charge.

Despite the over 208 food vendors, movement was not restricted.

This year’s festival was expanded from 142 vendor stalls to 208, giving more innovative and assiduous business owners the chance to showcase their business to the over 250,000 foodies in attendance.

According to Oyinade Adegite, Group head, GTB, Corporate and External Affairs, it’s a family event where provisions were made for the adult shoppers, as well as a well-fitted play area also designed to add another layer of excitement for children to keep them meaningfully engaged.

Adegite said, “It’s an open event for all, including street children. For some of them, it is going to be the fun of a lifetime, while for others, it will be something they will be enjoying regularly.”

Romy Gill, a world class Indian chef from the UK in her session of the master classes, prepared Indian street food all in a bid to show participants that Indian cuisine is very easy to make at home, but added that it’s not quick because of the process of ensuring to get the best taste.

Speaking with journalists, Gill, however, said the food industry is growing globally with social media, unlike before when only the rich had the opportunity to enjoy world-class cuisine.

“Now everybody is connected together and can see what is happening around the world and also partake of it.”

August DeWindt, a young entrepreneur and founder of John’s Juice and Co-Owner of Fluffy’s NYC, in her session demonstrated how she helps make cooking fun at home in a live video on Tiktok, saying her consistency and quality content was the secret behind her growth of over three million followers in six months.

Most of the food vendors interviewed were extolling GTB for the opportunity to increase business visibility and record high sales.

A young entrepreneur,  Funmi Alero Alegbejo of Zing Foods  who is barely two months in the business said it was her first time of coming to the festival and was all thanks to the organisers, “I am so happy to have been selected to participate. There has been so many people coming to buy my products. I have made a lot of business contacts. So many people have shown interest in being our distributors and marketers.”

Faith Idehen, of Tahila Foods who came all the way from Port Harcourt, Rivers State said what her company has gained from the festival is beyond sales, “We have been exposed to thousands of people, we have made more connections, gotten more marketers and distributors.”

Describing the festival she said it has, “top notch global standard and its more than worth our coming all the way from Port Harcourt.”

Vendors frying and selling akara balls of average size, sold them for N100 each. Two kg of plantain flour sold for N3,500. Sizeable portions of potato chips sold for N1,000. 900 grams of coconut flavored Ijebu garri which many consumers were buying sold for N3,000.

Commenting on the 2023 GTCO festival, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Segun Agbaje said, “Food and drink are intrinsically social things, and best enjoyed when shared. We understand the value of bringing together businesses and consumers who are passionate about food and have continued to inspire new ways to experience life through food and drink.

“The continuing success of our free-business platforms reflect our unchanging commitment to promoting enterprise and echoes our brand promise of creating great experiences.”

 

May 08, 2023