It's bigger and better than before. The Second Annual Fresno Food Expo is now underway. More than 60 vendors have booths at the Fresno Convention Center. Thursday night they're sharing their locally produced food with the public.
It's a local foodie's Shangrila; aisles and aisles of Central Valley produced products. From healthy delectables to desserts, the Fresno Food Expo is growing in size and popularity.
"We have about 20 new additional exhibitors. We have double the amount of buyers that came though, and we've actually increased our footprint to include the entire San Joaquin Valley, said City of Fresno employee and organizer, Amy Huerta.
A Fresno-based company for 20 years, The Brownie Baker is a new vendor at the expo. Its snack foods are staples at many convenience stores.
"We did some research and people thought that Brownie Baker was in another state and we realized, hey this is an opportunity to show where we're from," said Jeff Marchant of The Brownie Baker.
It is launching a new product at the expo, Fast Bites Muffins. Over 30 companies are showcasing their new stuff, and it's all featured in the "New Products" display. HMC Farms is trying to shop its award winning grapes out to new buyers.
"They're already washed, they can just put them on kids' plates, and they're very popular in schools and hospitals right now," said Janessa Iden of HMC Farms.
Others here aren't necessarily looking for big accounts, only new customers.
"More to showcase our students than to get our products out there. I think that distributing though our Farm Market on campus is really great for us," said Elisa Valdez with Fresno State.
There are even deals being made between the vendors. Marchant has a meeting next Tuesday with a fruit filling company to see about doing business together.
Tickets are available for $45 at the door. The hours for the public are from 5-8pm Thursday.