Expo East Re-Cap!
Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 4:15PM 
The growing strength of the natural, organic and healthy lifestyle industry was much in evidence as booming business was done at the Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore from September 22nd to the 24th. Engaging over 20,000 industry members from 80 countries, the show floor comprised 1,450 exhibits... among them, Gnosis Chocolate!
We had headed to Baltimore on the 21st, our cars brimming with Gnosis treasures. Our goal was to share the wonders of our chocolate with each and every person at the Expo. Suited up in Gnosis Brown, we became immediately immersed in clouds of aromas of essential oils and flower remedies, and were welcomed by an international community passionately committed to the organic, natural, raw lifestyle.
There were booths that looked like mini-mansions - others like tree houses. Some had fireworks, others had servers dressed as pirates with spinning signs up above. The Gnosis bells and whistles had been blended into each and every raw, vegan, organic, gluten/dairy/soy-free bars, truffles, spreads, and other products.
From the very first moment of the show’s opening the next morning, people lined up at our booth as Vanessa Barg, Gnosis’s founder and President, and chocolatier, Lauren Gockley, spoke about Gnosis’s innovative, pace-setting product line, its research, sustainability, and advocacy projects, and the Company’s commitment to health, sustainability, and social responsibility.
We also connected with so many friends in the industry, among them, Jeff from Natural Zing, Zack from Navitas Naturals, Richard Katz and Pat Kaminsky of the Flower Essence Society, Jeremy and Richard Sambazon, and fellow IIN graduate, Elizabeth, of Purely Elizabeth! And we were excited to learn that Brad’s Raw Chips won the MOST Innovative Product at Expo East! We love that a raw company’s product won such a huge accolade!
By the end of the three days, we had secured a dozen new wholesale accounts, created dozens of new customers, and met - or so it seemed - almost every manufacturer, marketer, and buyer in the natural, organic and healthy-lifestyle industry! And it was enormously gratifying to meet the many devoted Gnosis fans who had searched high and low for our little slice of heaven through the hundreds of exhibitors and had finally found us!
And as far as our goal for the Expo, by the looks of our inventory at the end, I’m certain almost every single person at Expo East was the better for having experienced Gnosis Chocolate!
