The highly-anticipated Food Biz Expo and Junior Chefs Congress successfully convened their activities at the World Trade Center last February 8, 9 and 10 organized by Premier Events Plus Group, Inc. It was a 3-day event of trade exhibit and competition offered to the country's future players of culinary and hospitality industry.

Do not be deceived by the upscale and intimidating venue. Everybody, regardless of age, gender, profession and socio-economic status were allowed to enter the vicinity. The event inspired and encouraged more people from all walks of life to engage in food industry.

Participants were various food suppliers, catering services, food processing and food packaging industry, silver wares, herbal tea and medicines, food publishing materials, culinary and training schools, restaurants/bakery/hotels/bars and the whole thing that has to do with food and beverage.

The best things in life are for free, so they say. Admission and food samples were on the house for three consecutive days inside Food Biz Expo. Take more than a few bite-size tasters from different stalls and viola, you're already full. Aside from these, they also held free seminars from selected topics. Yes, you read it right...free seminars. What can be more astonishing than that? "Your Road Map to a Successful Business", "Learn How to Decorate Cakes & Make Profit From It", Baking Science and Putting Your Own Business", "Learn the Varieties of Rice Toppings & Barbeque Grills", and "Business that Fits your Budget" are some of the seminars offered for everyone at no cost. Pardon my ignorance but I must admit that I never expected this event to be this generous. Imagine, I entered this expo only with my camera and I left the venue having with me the awareness and interest to start my own food business.

Not all activities inside the Food Biz Expo were free of charge. Paid seminars ranged from Php500-2,500 but prior reservation was required to guarantee seat availability.

Junior Chefs Congress also had a registration fee of Php350, inclusive to Congress Seminar Series and Culinary Competition. Competitions were: Catering Olympics, Kitchen Dash, Salad Dressing Flairtending, Culinary Talent Fair: The Search for Future Celebrity Chefs, Go Cart: Market Basket Competition, Intimate Table Setting for 2, and Valentines Cake (Freestyle-display).

By the time I arrived at the Congress Stage, Speaker Dexter Antiporda of Center for Hospitality Arts and Management of the Philippines (CHAMP) was already discussing his topic on Banquet Event Order In the Perspective of Banquet Operations. I was listening to the speaker's idea while taking shots on Intimate Table Setting and Valentine's Cake display parked outside the Congress Stage. My attention was drawn to T01-H and T01-A for table setting category. T01-H was the one with a vintage ambiance as if you traveled from the past just to experience a no-ordinary dinner date. Couples must put on their best Filipino 17^th century look to compliment and accentuate its classic mood. T01-A on the other hand carrying a title of "The Perfect Moment" completed its romantic air with the impressive use of lighting effects and thematic design. Nevertheless, my judgment was based purely on creativity. And its just 25% of the total possible score coming from the culinary experts. Criteria for judging on this category were: time management, organized set-up/teamwork, menu presentation/execution, creativity & practicality in theme execution, correctness of basic table setting principles and judge's discretion. Decisive factors for the Valentine's Cake were consistency with theme, creativity, workmanship, overall impact, degree of difficulty and judge's discretion. "Sonata de Amore" and "Bee-Loved" were the appealing pieces of creatively coated sweets.

This event undeniably paved the way for aspiring entrepreneurs who opted to commit themselves in food industry whether as sideline or as fulltime. Food business with the right location, best quality food and appropriate marketing technique is more likely to make it big because it basically deals on an important human necessity. And with all the country's economic complexity and increasing rate of unemployment, being an entrepreneur is the best way to escape from today's financial difficulties. 

More Pictures Available at the Photo Gallery.