The Greek presence in the ISM food and beverages exhibition in Cologne, Germany was vivid with 30 companies represented there. Companies like ‘Tsakiris’ snacks with original ideas such as the vintage packaging making them stick out from the competition, show us that regardless of the crisis the Greek business world is good in finding the way out of any bad situation. Their extroversion and determination helps them find new markets for exports to healthy economies. ‘Tsakiris’ is exporting to France, Russia, Taiwan, China, Korea and the USA.

Other Greek companies like ‘Le Petit Dejeuner’, ‘Laurence’ or ‘Geodi’ show the way and they all have the same thing to say: the international demand for Greek gourmet products is increasing each year. This is an opportunity they are not going to let go but instead they will try to help it increase. It is a bet they are determined to win.

In that sense, they are opening new markets, some of them new even for the international competition, like Azerbaijan or Albania. With new products based on stevia and other super-foods they try to not just follow market trends, but to create some new.

Regardless of all the problems created by the crisis, things start to look promising again. In fact, it was the crisis itself that pushed the Greeks entrepreneurs to start thinking ‘outside the box’. Only time will tell what is going to happen. But one thing is certain: we haven’t heard the last of the Greeks…