If the vehicle nicknamed "The Secret Service Van" breaks down on the road before the end of this week's trade mission to New England, one thing its Team Atlantic trade mission passengers won't have to worry about is going hungry.
The Secret Service Van, so named because of its black colour, tinted windows and passengers wearing dark business suits, is shuttling business leaders representing various Atlantic Canadian food companies to a series of meetings with prospective partners to market their various food products. The companies are all delegates on the Team Atlantic trade mission, and they are travelling across four New England states looking for business opportunities for their companies.
When the representatives of 40 Atlantic Canadian businesses arrived in Boston on Sunday night, several delegates representing the food industries noticed immediately they were travelling to meet the same potential business partners. In the spirit of cooperation that has dominated the planning for the trade mission, this group of entrepreneurs agreed to load up their samples in the "Secret Service Van" and travel together.
Despite the delicious baked goods, pizzas, vegetables and beverages stored at their fingertips, the van's passengers swear they have not been sampling the merchandise.
"As a matter of fact, we were all very good," said Gilles Boucher, Vice-President of Finance for the New Brunswick-based Grand Falls Central Bakery.
Mr. Boucher said that despite all of the people travelling together in close quarters, everyone is still friends and expects to remain so after the mission wraps up this evening.
"Everyone is getting along very well. We're all getting to know one another, and it is a very good atmosphere in the van," he said.
Joy Hanley, President of Fine Food Investments Ltd., agreed. She said everyone in the delegation of food companies has shared interests and goals, which has made travelling to prospective partners easier.
"There are some valuable business discussions and networking going on in the van," emphasized Hanley. She already does business with Money's Mushrooms, one of the other food companies on the mission, and is in the process of striking up a business relationship with one of the others, ACA Co-operative.
Andrew Lavoie, ACA Co-operative National Sales Manager, said that travelling together to shared destinations gives the passengers a chance to share their expertise and business savvy. "There's a lot of good sharing of business ideas and opportunities," he said.
Lavoie stated that the mission has been very successful, with a great deal of contracts being made and information being shared, and he realizes there are tremendous new opportunities in the New England market for companies like his.
"It's a market we want to be in. Our products basically go around the world, but we've never taken care of our own backyard. We've never looked south of the border."
The other passengers in the van include representatives of Sparkling Springs Water Limited, Island Quality Vegetables Limited, Fancy Pokket Corporation, True North Springs, Purity Factories Ltd. and Seaman's Beverages Limited.
Team Atlantic is a four-day trade delegation representing the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. The purpose of the mission is to establish new business partnerships, increase trade and investment, and build strategic alliances between businesses in Atlantic Canada and companies located in the New England region.
Team Atlantic is an initiative of the Conference of Atlantic Premiers and is being funded by the Canada/Atlantic Provinces COOPERATION Agreement on International Business Development, a pan-Atlantic trade agreement between the federal government, represented by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Industry Canada, and the four provincial governments.
Delegates for the ACOA-sponsored mission arrived in Boston Sunday night, moved to Burlington, Vermont on Tuesday and spent yesterday drumming up business in Manchester, New Hampshire. The mission wraps up today in Portland, Maine.