Exclusive: Dacsa establishes its UK presence in the plant-based sector with a successful Food Matters Live partnership experience
Food Matters Live sat down with Dacsa Group, our official plant-based lead partner of June 2021 Food Matters Live, and discovered the success they have had at the event. Such as, how it’s led to high-quality leads and potential customers, through connecting with the Food Matters Live community via meetings, and how their very own Ingredient Discovery Spotlight session at the event showcased the very best in their latest ingredient innovations.
Dacsa Group is of the most expert companies in the milling industry and hold over 40 years’ of experience in three key business areas: Rice Milling, Corn Milling and Food Solutions. The company hold ten production plants in seven different locations across Europe and are the leading dry corn milling company all its sectors.
Sunil Mahtani, Dacsa’s International Business Development Manager, shared with us the experience Dacsa had at Food Matters Live June 2021 and delve into details about the benefits it has since brought to the business.
How did you find/enjoy Food Matters Live?
“It was the first time Dacsa attended an online event and for us, the reason we wanted to attend Food Matters Live was because we understood that it is a great platform, with a great format and amazing concepts. It was also a great avenue for us to be able to start effectively positioning ourselves within the market and conveying the message of what Dacsa are currently up to.
We were also very interested in the fact that Food Matters Live was quite focused on the plant-based sector, with one of the event’s verticals being exclusively on plant-based topics. We then really enjoyed the fact that we had the opportunity to showcase Dacsa’s messaging over our allocated one-hour time slot with the whole Food Matters Live ‘ecosystem’ – it was a fantastic experience.”
How did your meetings go with other attendees at Food Matters Live?
“Where I feel Food Matters Live adds more value than other trade shows I’m used to is with the quality of attendees. I found the attendees to be exactly within our target audience and the quality of the meetings I had was really great. We have, I’d say around 50% of the meetings with potential customers and we were able to schedule 9 meetings at the event, with 2 or 3 more after that.
At the event, Dacsa spoke about the company’s value proposition which encompasses the fact that we are one of the few European players who near enough control the majority of the supply chain, end-to-end. Not only can we create plant-based ingredients, but we are also able to transform these into end products. So, this is extremely interesting for any kind of company, whether it be a start-up, a multinational or an SME who are looking to tackle the potential plant-based market.
So, that’s one of the things we discussed at Food Matters Live which led us to speak to a few consulting companies, potential suppliers of ingredients we use to then develop our own ingredients, to an association and much more. Essentially, we ended up speaking to both pant-based customers and, as specialists in extrusion technology, Dacsa also ended up speaking to players in, for example, the bakery space, pasta space and more.”
Have any potential or closed deals come from your meetings at Food Matters Live?
“At the moment, we are in the process of advancing certain deals. Although they are not confirmed orders as of yet, given how the life cycles of our sales cycles are a little longer, they are in the process of being advanced and negotiated, yes!”
What did you think of the Ingredients Discovery sessions?
“I think the Ingredient Discovery sessions were extremely interesting because they provide you with an extremely clear idea and understanding of new market trends, what is actually happening and what other companies are focusing on. Sometimes you just need to give yourself those extra few days to understand what is truly relevant right now, which is exactly what Food Matters Live allows you to do. It’s a beautiful showcase where you’re able to understand precisely what is happening in the industry and gather more information than you previously had or see what you could be missing out on. I was also able to see what other companies are doing with the same ingredients we ourselves are working with right now, so I found them extremely interesting and conducted by a wide range of fantastic speakers.”
What were the main advantages you obtained from being Food Matters Live’s official lead plant-based sponsor? And why did you choose to do so?
“Here at Dacsa, we are currently expanding our business internationally. According to the numbers, the UK shows great promise as a market and holds great opportunity in regards to the maturity level of the plant-based market too. By becoming Food Matters Live’s official lead plant-based market we wanted to have the opportunity to convey our message out there and let everyone in the space know who we are and what we’re about. We also wanted to create an impact in the plant-based sector, and we knew that Food Matters Live was the perfect platform in order to do so.
So, I think it was, it was a fantastic decision to join Food Matters Live as the lead plant-based partner because, as I said, I think there is much more to the event than a classic trade show. Everything you do from a marketing perspective to keep your attendees engaged, by delivering high-quality content from the companies who already collaborate with you, is fantastic. It allows you not only to be able to deliver that message in a short period of time, but also enables you to simply keep reminding your audience of the importance of your community. I mean, you can go ahead and sponsor an event, but two weeks later with all that is happening out there, people don’t really remember you, and the fact that Food Matters Live use, for example, valuable email marketing campaigns to constantly remind your audience about what is happening out there is extremely interesting and I think will pay off a lot more to everyone, as well as positioning Food Matters Live way ahead of the game, and the value you’re offering your community is just fantastic.”
Would you like an Ingredient Discovery session of your own? If you are an Ingredient Innovator, contact David, our Head of Client Relations to discuss whether or not your company could be a fit for Food Matters Live here.
