The much awaited Gaborone International Food and Drinks Market (GIFD) finally took place this weekend at the Bojanala Waterfront. Spotted all around were picnic blankets, camp chairs and colorful drinks from the different stalls. And as promised, the GIFD Market showcased an assortment of food and beverages including a variety of teas, coffee, cocktails, wine, spirits, non-alcoholic beverages and family entertainment.
Some of the exhibitors that were present were; global brands, Coca Cola, Appletiser, KWV, Glenfiddich, 4th Street, Global Holdings, and Grants. Coffee lovers were catered for by Kofi Botiq. Cocktail masters, Rhaposdys also had their mixologists offering all sorts of cocktails. On the food front, local brands such as the Number 1 Ladies Coffee House, Chilladidos, Botswana Agricultural marketing Board, Health Generation, Pop for Wings, Eastern Crescent Chinese Restaurant, Just Ginger could also be spotted serving their offerings.
“We are happy to be a part of this food and drinks market. We produce fresh chillies and add our own herbs to the chillies to make spread and relish. We grow our own chillies and process it. We are based in South Africa and our farms are in Lanseria. We just started distributing in Botswana so this market is helpful, people now have a chance to taste our relish, ask questions on how it is made and buy it if they wish and so far we have had a lot of people come to our stall to buy which is really cool,” quipped a representative of Chilladiddos.
However, not many people had come to market and the constant power cut proved a challenge for some of the exhibitors who used blenders to mix drinks. “We have had power issues since we set up in the morning, it keeps going on and off. It’s very disruptive because we have had to stop making some drinks,” complained one of the exhibitors.
Commenting on the market, invited guest and Elle Magazine Marketing Executive, Ayanda Molefe said, “It’s the first market I have attended and I am happy to have been invited. I had expected there would be a bigger turn out but I think the set up is amazing and the small crowd makes it more intimate. I love how the people at the stalls are helpful and ready to offer information, and the food on offer tastes really good. I wouldn’t mind coming back here next year.”
One of the market goers, Temogo Keabetswe told TimeOut that he had fun. “Today has been really nice, other than the heat things went well. I just hope that in the next one there is wider variety in cuisine offering,” he said.
Event organizer, Tshepo Ntshole expressed satisfaction with how things went. “I think besides a few glitches here and there, the event went well and we learnt a few things which we hope to improve on next year. Prior to the event we had challenges of obtaining sponsorship especially from the tourism industry because our vision is for this event to grow big enough to attract people from outside the country. I hope with time, sponsors will see our vision and partner with us. During the event we had power supply issues but I trust in the coming year if we are still at this venue, that’s something we will sort out in time. Other than that we are thankful to all those who came in to make this event a success,” said Ntshole.