Nothing is certain but death and taxes, but most of us would agree that there are two sweet certainties in life ”“ chocolate and wine.
Marvin Baum”™s latest enterprise, the regional Chocolate World Expo drawing vendors from throughout New York state and beyond, is set to debut on Nov. 7 at the Westchester County Center in White Plains.
“It”™s one of the larger retail consumer chocolate shows in the country and we already have about 60 vendors,” said the creator of Baum Image Group in Valley Cottage. “The County Center is excellent from a facility standpoint (it is more than 26,000 square feet) and this year we will have more vendors and more interesting stuff.”
Like homemade organic maple syrup.
And the notoriously decadent brownie baked by Greyston Bakery Inc. in Yonkers.
“We”™re working with Ben & Jerry”™s on a surprise ice cream deal and we”™ll be featuring ice cream and brownies at the event,” said Joseph DeCarle Jr., who works in brownie sales and marketing at Greyston Bakery. “It”™s a great opportunity to participate in the event in the local community.”
Baum said that it”™s likely more than 95 percent of his vendors are based in New York state.
“In terms of awareness and in terms of getting our name out there beyond Westchester County, it”™s great,” DeCarle said. “People come from all over as I understand it and it”™s a great way to get our product out there.”
Baum said diversity is a key expo strategy to balance competition.
“I go to events myself from farmers markets to big festivals,” he said. “I look at quality and certain product categories. I want people to come to the event and have it be quality, and not just a street fair. But, there are some product categories where I will have multiple product vendors.”
For instance, when it comes to wine, Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery will share face time with Prospero Winery from Pleasantville.
Prospero Winery”™s business, which began as a fruit stand in 1972, slowly became the California wine grape “go-to” for home winemakers and a supplier of commercial wine bottling equipment.
“It gets our name out there because we are a local winery and being that we”™re small, it”™s great publicity for us because the chocolate festival brings in so many people from all over Westchester County,” said Melissa Prospero, who heads the winery operations at her family owned business. “And for a small company like mine ”“ our company as a whole is very large, but as a winery, we”™re a very small company. So I try to do as many local events as possible. We like local.”
Prospero said her business was introduced to Baum through area Italian festivals, but that the timing of the chocolate expo better fit their harvesting schedule.
Baum expects a greater number of expo attendees this year.
Last year, the event drew 3,000 people; he estimates this year it will be about 5,000.
Hailing from the Hudson Valley, Baum never expected to be an event planner.
Prior to planning his first, large-scale event creation, Baum worked with high-tech digital imaging systems.
When introduced to Elliott Landy, photographer of the Woodstock Festival, Baum discovered that there were no plans in place to honor Woodstock”™s 35th anniversary.
One thing led to another and Baum found himself reaching out to specialty food producers to participate in planning an anniversary celebration in 2004.
In 2006, Baum created a chocolate show for New York state”™s official holiday celebration in Albany.
