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.”