IWSC Group, a world leading events company in the food and beverage sector, continues its successful business expansion with the latest addition of Cochon555 Tour to its portfolio of events.
Cochon555 US Tours, an epic porc feast featuring leading chefs preparing whole heritage breed pigs and will partner with IWSC Group to help drive forward its goal to educate consumers and restaurant industry influencers about a better, safer food system. The event series, which includes dinners, tasting events, a competition and barbecue feasts, unites consumers with local farmers, renowned chefs, prominent winemakers, restauranteurs, craft brewers and distillers.
Allen Gibbons, Group CEO of IWSC Group, commented, “The new partnership with Cochon555 is an important step in terms of our overall business strategy. It forms an integral part of our goal to become the most innovative and diverse events business in the food and drink sector, with a reputation for originality and quality.”
IWSC Group has been growing as a business over recent years, stimulated by strategic partnerships with complementary events to enhance the business’s portfolio and offering to both trade and consumers. In 2015, IWSC Group formed partnerships with The Whisky Lounge, the biggest producer of whisky events in the UK, and the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, which puts an international spotlight on the rich food and beverage traditions of the Southern U.S. The company also opened its North American office in the U.S. city with a full team to support the expansion.
IWSC Group’s business strategy has been built on developing and operating industry-leading events in collaboration with some of the longest-standing brands in the food and drink industry. The group plans to bring their global expertise and international outreach to Cochon555’s US Tour, which was created in 2008 in response to the lack of information around heritage breed pigs.
Allen continues, “Cochon555 is a unique event with an incredibly strong mission behind it. We are really excited the business picked IWSC Group to collaborate with and we plan to ensure more people can have the unique Cochon555 experience.”
“Since 2008, Cochon555 Tour has forged meaningful relationships with the biggest names in the hospitality industry in 20 cities per year, including working with more than 10,000 chefs, 450 family farms and 30 culinary schools. We believe that our knowledge and expertise within the premium food and beverage sector will continue to educate the global economy on the benefits of safer, healthier porc products produced by family farmers.’
Brady Lowe, the CEO and Creative Director at Cochon555, explains further, “Our US Tour is a one- of a kind travelling culinary competition and tasting event that celebrates heritage species with a global audience watching. Working in partnership with IWSC Group means that we can extend our reach beyond North America, and continue to benefit the good food movement. .”
Cochon555 kicked off its 8th Annual Tour in New York on 24th January, 2016. Upping its commitment to the good food movement, this year’s tour will benefit Piggy Bank, a genetic sanctuary for heritage breed pigs that will provide free genetics and business plans to emerging family farms.
About IWSC Group
- IWSC Group originated in 1969 to and is one of the world’s leading events companies focussed around the food and beverage sector.
- The group specializes in three key areas:
- Promotion: International festivals, competitions and tasting experiences
- Communication: Consumer / trade education and communication support
- Consultancy: Helping businesses to make better decisions
- IWSC Group prides itself on its level of immersion into the food and drink industries it has achieved, and is passionate about supporting all sectors by sharing knowledge, unlocking routes to market, and breaking down the barriers between the producer and the consumer.
- Each year, the Group supports over 1,500 businesses in their marketing efforts, and last year alone supported producers in gaining a minimum of 20,000 new interactions with consumers, via tasting events around the globe.
- IWSC Group runs a number of wine and spirit competitions around the world giving producers the chance to have their products tasted against their competitors by over 300 international judges.
- The International Wine and Spirit Competition (owned by IWSC Group) is one of the industry’s most respected and eagerly anticipated annual events, attracting the biggest wine and spirit brands through to the start-ups launching into the market.
- In 2014, over 10 million products around the world proudly displaying the IWSC accolade on their bottles, helping consumers to make the right decision when spending their hard-earned money.
About Cochon555 US Tour
The Cochon555 US Tour, executes a variety of unique, local food events that are focused on raising enthusiasm for supporting family farms. Created in response to a need for consumer education around heritage breed pigs, this epic pork feast visits major cities in North America annually. The tour also features a multitude of live-event expressions including Heritage BBQ (global cultures), Heritage Fire (live-fire event), EPIC Cochon, and Cochon Island (agri-tourism. All Cochon events cultivate a long-term impact for heritage species raised by family farms, reaching leading culinary markets in North America while promoting our sponsor’s message to 16,000 guests drawing from the biggest names in the hospitality industry, including 10,000+ chefs, 450 family farms and 30 culinary schools. Since 2009, 50,000+ consumers have experienced heritage porc at Cochon events and more than $500,000 has been donated to charities and over $750,000 has been paid directly to our farmers. Together with winemakers, brewers, distillers and craft food makers, Cochon events create authentic culinary events celebrating champions in the good food movement. For more details about the events, visit www.cochon555.com or follow @cochon555 on Twitter and Instagram.
About Piggy Bank
Launched in 2015 by Brady Lowe, founder of the Cochon555 US Tour / Taste Network LLC, Piggy Bank is focused on building a sanctuary for heritage breed pigs enabling responsible solutions for emerging farmers and social communities. Piggy Bank is made up of 275 founding members who collectively believe in a movement, a vision and a set of values rooted in the socially-responsible farming. The sanctuary will change the future of food by uniting a community working together for safer, responsible farming practices and sharing of genetics. Join the Piggy Bank conversation by following @PiggyBankOrg and @Cochon555 on Twitter. Piggy Bank is dedicated to providing Open Source agriculture platform for responsible family farmers preserving heritage species. Piggy Bank is a project of The Giving Back Fund, Inc., a Massachusetts non-profit corporation with federal tax exempt status as a public charity under Section 501(c)(3).
