By Chelsea  Chilewa, VRG Intern

I was honored with the chance to attend the last East Coast Natural Products Expo. The West Coast event will continue.

For those who are unfamiliar, the Natural Products Expo (NPE) is a business exhibition for companies to showcase who they are, what their products are, and their business model. This is geared towards the trade and not consumers. The companies are looking for retailers and wholesalers to carry their products, as well as make other business deals. Investors gather under this roof looking for their next big thing; though everyone enjoys the free samples.

I could never prepare myself for the amount of walking I would be doing at the Natural Product Expo in Philadelphia. Others from the VRG office tried to prepare me, but seeing as this was my first ever expo my mind could imagine just so much. It’s hard to believe that Natural Products Expo West, which will still happen in future years, is many times larger.

Upon first entry attendees grabbed Natural Products Expo gallon bags and started in the rows. They were to be filled by the end with literature and samples; so thank you to NPE sponsors for providing reusable bags. When attending an event like this there needs to be a strategy to not get lost in the crowds. It is easy to get overwhelmed in a place like this, so choosing to proceed in one direction at a time lessens that feeling.

I kicked off the event by talking to Souzan, the creator of TeaVoila. Her company focuses on providing compostable tea cups. The cups are made from biodegradable and compostable paper, so you can add it to your compost pile and watch it dissolve. Its design is unique to anything I have seen before. Loose leaf tea sits at the bottom of the cup separated by an infuser that keeps the tea leaves inside the basket with no residue left in your cup. The great thing about this is that you can refill the cup up to three times and the flavor still holds. They offer four flavors: Jasmine green Tea, Tieh Kwan Yin OOlong Tea, Silver Needle White Tea, and Keemun Black Tea. Each package comes with 12 cups providing a total of 36 servings. I got a chance to speak with Souzan on why she created this product and she explained it simply. She hated the plastic in tea bags and the unnecessary waste that comes with such an enjoyable act in her day to day life.

Every person I got to speak to had great stories on why they started their business. It was inspiring getting a chance to speak with motivated people that wanted to provide solutions that were conscious of the state of the world and of our people. There were everyday individuals in attendance staffing some booths. One was a family of 3 sons, a daughter, and father supporting their fearless boss mother and her baby company Bollygood. The kids captivated the hearts of everyone that walked past. Who could say no to a 10-year-old boy asking you to try Indian-inspired sparkling lemonade and limeade?

I still remember meeting the person behind the delicious mushroom chips, Popadelics. And as I write this with an empty pantry my stomach growls and yearns for the rad rosemary salt Popadelic Chips.

My experience at Natural Products Expo was overall amazing, I stuffed my face with vegan cornbread from Cotton Creations and topped it off with coconut ice cream straight from Jamaica while I spoke to a representative of the nonprofit organization Sharing Excess. They work towards trying to end the food disparity gap by rescuing and redistributing over 250,000 pounds of food every week in partnership with grocers, retailers, wholesalers, and farmers.

There was truly everything for everyone at Natural Products Expo. After many decades connecting natural foods entrepreneurs small and large, the east coast trade show will now be in a totally new format in Atlanta. See https://solutions.newhope.com/newtopia-now/