Our work here is done.

[Rob] We're finished with the show for this year. Yesterday was our presentation. About thirty people attended, which is good according to the show organizers. Neither of us had ever gone to a presentation at the show because we've always been so focused on buying products and finding customer requests. We think it went really well, and only one person left during the presentation, so that was a good sign. What was really touching was the woman who approached Tyler afterwards, who was in the process of opening a store like ours, and said she had been to all the presentations so far, and they seemed all geared toward the big stores so she was feeling discouraged, and our presentation gave her hope that she could make her store work. Bringing joy!

I did my prowl of the show floor and here's what I've found:

1. Fage: After a year and a half of requests I found the stuff! I approached someone at the booth and joking said, "You guys do a great job at marketing. I've had tons of requests for your product. Unfortunately, your distribution network hasn't gotten it to me and so now I have tons of disappointed or upset customers." He told me (in what I read to be a sincere way) that I should give him a call after the show and he would personally guarantee that he would get some to me...it turned out to be the President and COO of the company. For those of you who don't know, Fage is a sour cream consistency yogurt that has been touted as healthier than yogurt, and it tastes far superior. Keep your fingers crossed.

2. Rose Essence: This is totally being bought with Betty St. John in mind. A drink mixer, the essence is a faint rose taste that is not sharp like a rose water, but gently takes your drink to the English country-side. Betty - this one's for you!

3. Peanut Butter: This has failed for us before, but we want to try again. A company we found has 10 different flavors - all are natural and really wonderful. I liked the Double Chocolate. Tyler liked the Thai Curry.

4. Apple Butter: Possibly our current longest-standing customer request, apple butter from Indiana. I was shocked when I saw this at the show, but now I can bring it in and bring joy to one more customer. What that customer doesn't know (and he's a huge salsa fan - Carl) is that they now have a spicy line...

Many more great things out there and on there way...but now we're off to pastry quest!