By Sonja Methoxha
Countless colorful product pictures are hung on a long white corridor which leads to a large backyard. A black van which serves coffee, cold beverages and fast foods appears. The music in the background puts the cooks on the a dancing mood. Less than 10 meters away is the entrance to a building with a small ice cream stand in front to cool the heat, and on the right to this building there is an improvised outdoors restaurant covered by a white canopy thronged by people enjoying warm food.
The 25 year-old company in raw materials importing and processing, Neranxi, organized the 11th edition of its annual Professional Culinary Fair during Apr. 13 and 14 at the grounds of its headquarters, under the slogan “to promote tasteful culinary and longevity.” The fair aims to promote the company’s new products, new culinary trends, and to also promote healthy eating in leading a healthy life by preventing diseases through food.
The Neranxi Culinary Institute is also situated in those grounds. 25 chefs of various nationalities with international experiencing are training students at the Institute that want to have a career in the art of culinary. Each of the chefs were at a specific section within the building, and assisted by their students they would cook their countries’ traditional foods. Visitors had a chance to taste Asian, Russian, Italian, Greek, Albanian, Spanish, and even Israeli traditional foods among others. This also serves as a way to learn a new way of cooking.
“God acted very generously when he created the world, and there is nothing missing there that the human needs. We only need to learn how to use them,” said president Nikolaq Neranxi during the fair inauguration.
Meats, fish, herbs, canned foods, fragrant aromas that arouse one’s appetite enter the vision of a visitor’s once getting inside the building. This is the cooking stand. Large tables with food samples, chefs talking to consumers, visitors serving themselves while tasting a cup of wine, cooks rushing to finish orders and serve them to anticipating taste hungry persons. Walking along there is a cocktail center named “Mixiology,” where bartenders would prepare colorful drinks for the thirsty visitors. Pastry stands with 100 percent gluten free flour and dough for intolerant consumers, pizzas, ramen, salads, cakes and sweets. The most attractive section was obviously the chocolate one which was appropriately named the “Chocolate Laboratory.”
A new product introduced this year was the “Magic Unicorn” ice cream, which general Manager Efi Neranxi, who is also the oldest daughter in the Neranxi family, called it “beautiful and childish product, which has the power to bring childhood back also in adults, because every person is first and foremost a child within their-self.” I tried a sample of the ice cream and I can personally say that it did taste like childhood memories.
Efi Neranxi told me that the spring fair seeks to bring a celebration to all clients, collaborators and consumers, a day of gathering to share all new products, tastes, and technological innovations in food processing that bring the final consumer products. During the years this event has vastly increase by the number of visitors, companies that join Neranxi’s board for further collaboration, and participating culinary professors and especially students that find this fair as a good opportunity to practice their skills.
More than 4000 people visited the event on Saturday, and even more showed on Sunday, regardless of the rainy weather. This event has proved attractive for consumers not only to learn about new products that enter the market, but also because the chefs and cooks in the stands can explain to clients what a certain product is, its nutrients and health benefits, how to use it, and also offer various ways of cooking it. Thus this way the fair aims to get more in touch with consumers and educate them about products.
Representatives of collaborative companies to Neranxi, as in product furnishing but also equipment provisions, come annually to the fair, and some usually use this event to market their products to final consumers and especially business owners that deal with foods, such as restaurant, bars, or bakery owners. Considering how large the company is and its ongoing expansion, other consumer goods products are constantly approaching it for potential collaboration. Yet, Neranxi philosophy considers a responsibility towards customers and guaranteeing them high-quality products with European standards that hold international patents. As Neranxi president mentioned it in his speech, these guaranteed products also guarantee a healthy life.
“It is in our selection of flavor and especially quality of products, because food is the main medicine for people today. We have taken the responsibility to please people with savory foods, but also to increase awareness for a healthier eating which prevent diseases, but that are also curative,” said president Nikollaq Neranxi.
Data have shown that Albanians are suffering more from cancer, cardiovascular and mental health diseases, and obesity is on the rise. These prevalence of these diseases is increasing year after year because of the wrong food regimes, lack of physical activity and the country’s quick urbanization. A study on population health evidenced that Albanians are not regular consumers of fruits and vegetables and thus lack nutrients to treat diseases. But as doctors are leaving their jobs and country, the medical-pills industry is booming, which has arose some other concerns among patients and relevant parties for either fake or expired medication.
Concerning was the fact that the company is not approached much by local farmers. They have business partnerships with domestic farmers for local Albanian herbs and such as oregano, bay leaves, lindens, “mountain tea,” or blueberries, and other products present in our territories. However, they would like to have a higher approach from the farmers and their products, so they wouldn’t have to supplement the market through importing the missing products it needs.
On another note, restaurant owners have been using this fair as a human resources opportunity. Efi Neranxi said that by May when the classes and training in the Institute finish, all the trained cooks are hired and they are usually left only with the teaching staff. It is not only due to the nine-year long teaching experience that the Institute provides and its qualified staff with contemporary methods, but also due to the prestigious teaching settings and high-quality laboratories which replicate real-life restaurants.
An interesting object the company has which was praised by Efi Neranxi is the black van, or “the bus.” The bus is used to serve street food, sandwiches, toasts, chips, coffee, juices, or simply fast foods using organic materials from the company. This bus was used as part of a program initiated by Neranxi on 2018, and in 2019 will be permanently used in a new social platform that the company is initiating.
“The company has always taken care of those who haven’t had many opportunities or luck in life, and the company will of course sponsor incoming students at the Culinary Institute by providing free classes to them, so they can have a safe future in this field,” shared Efi Neranxi.
This fair is organized 100 percent by the private company, as it is also sponsored by it, and takes place within the grounds of the company headquarters. This trio creates a combination of factors and elements which makes it unique and also familiar for the consumers as it makes one feel at home, even though inside a big company. All family members work for the company and its expansion is both due to the family oriented business model, as well as providing healthy food choices for everyone.
Efi Neranxi shared that her father would always say “if I feed my children with the products I trade, then the rest of you are safe.”
