Lagos agog as GTCO holds food, drinks festival
Written By Dedeigbo Ayodeji Samson
Posted By Town Crier News Nigeria
Published By Fitness Network Communications
The GTCO Food and Drink Festival 2023 was held recently amid fanfare, as many families took time out with their children and wards to enjoy the wonderful and memorable event.
The year 2023 GTCO event, tagged: “Celebrations of everything food”, was aimed at promoting the future of foods and drinks in ways that intertwined African and continental menus for the benefit of all.
The GTCO Food & Drink Festival brings together the greatest minds on the global culinary stage and the most industrious Nigerian small-food business owners.
The annual event, which is hosted by the frontline commercial bank Guaranty Trust Holding Company, helps many small and medium enterprises.
What started simply as a Corporate Social Responsibility of the bank to give back to its many customers has metamorphosed into a gigantic opportunity for entrepreneurs to scale their businesses, penetrate new markets, and increase their customer base in their target niches.
Town Crier News news Nigeria and other pressmen reported that the crowd that participated in this year’s edition was awesome and evidently showed that the festival has become a real festival of love and business connections in the culinary sector globally, as international chefs and drinks brands were present to offer their services to the mammoth crowd that graced the festival.
The global and award-winning chefs invited to tutor the attendees at master class sessions did justice to it by taking everyone through the world’s variants of continental dishes with mouth-watering menus and condiments good enough for adoption into our African dishes.
GTCO, the leading financial service institution, has been running the colourful event consistently for six years. The programme enables the financial institution to bring in world-class chefs to provide attendees with a unique and memorable experience that would leave them inspired and excited about the future of delicious dishes.
Aside from bringing together different talented food vendors and food experts across the world to showcase African dishes, which without any doubt added to the country’s GDP has definitely reduced the high level of unemployment and boosted the country’s economic financial positions for the past years.
Fielding questions from some of the international chefs at the event, Jutamas Theantae, with a nick of ‘Som’, meaning ‘Orange’ from Thailand, despite her unique Thai- spices and culinary approaches to meals, confessed that she had great experiences, tasting Nigerian meals and promised to adopt dishes likes of Afang-soup, jollof-rice, and other locals to her menus back home.
Natasha Butler, the chef from New Orleans USA, cooked ‘Origin of Okra gumbo’ with salivating scents of diverse ingredients, with Okra, chicken, and crabs. The master class attendees almost lost count of the soup ingredients with which she prepared her Okra-Gumbo.
The event also featured three premier DJs in Africa, setting the scene for a weekend of celebration, food, drink, and togetherness.
GTCO Food & Drink is expanding its capacity by creating more opportunities for more businesses and increasing its highly coveted vendor stalls from 142 to 204, giving even more innovative and assiduous business owners the chance to not only showcase their businesses to the over 250,000 foodies in attendance but also engage with their customers and learn from a confluence of other great-minded food entrepreneurs.
The 2023 GTCO Annual Food and Drinks Festival was a huge success, with a massive turnout and plenty of international chefs and drinks brands in attendance, and achieved beyond projections.
Commenting on the event, the Group Chief Executive Officer of GTCO Plc., Segun Agbaje, said: “Food and drink are intrinsically social things, and best enjoyed when shared. We understand the value of bringing together businesses and consumers, who are passionate about food and have continued to inspire new ways to experience life through food and drink. ”
Testimonies from food vendors and menu makers showed a boost in the businesses of participants from past events hitherto.
The event programme witnessed untold experiences of African culinary on display, local dish menus, ranging from Akara, Ofada-rice, roasted plantain, roasted corn, etc., which satisfied both visitors’ domestic and international taste buds.
Overall, the GTCO food and drinks festival appears to have achieved its goal of promoting the future of foods and drinks in such a way that celebrated food and brought people together.
Once again, Nigeria’s famous jollof rice has scored another high, as popular American celebrity chef, Natasha Butler, declares it was her best Nigerian food.
The Food and Drinks Festival 2023 showcased the very best in food and beverage offerings from around the world, with a wide range of cuisines and beverages to suit all tastes. At the GTCentre, food festival venue, Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos, 12 international chefs hosted the master classes for the three days the food festival lasted.
Aside from being able to sample delicious dishes, guests and attendees learned from world-class chefs, such as Jutamas Theantae, Natasha Butler, Isaacs Toups, and Ire Hassan-Odukale.
The GTCO Food and Drinks Festival 2023 featured 208 food entrepreneurs, providing varieties of whole meals, finger foods, grills, confectionery, traditional Naija foods, and drinks to the enjoyment of millions, who thronged the 3-days event.
For the 2023 food festival, over 200 food vendors set up their food stalls to give customers an experience of both high-end food and local delicacies, making it a celebration of culinary excellence and beverage innovation.
Speaking to the press at the media meeting, Corporate Communications, GTCO, Mrs. Tolulope Onipede, said that once a food vendor is selected after a rigorous screening, the first thing they are given access to is a free stall to display their food. Second, is access to millions of customers that would never have had the opportunity to visit outside the GTCO Food and Drinks festival, and thirdly, the free advert on the company’s social media. With one more day to go, the food festival is a full celebration with good music by top African DJs.
Chef Natasha Butler, a popular American celebrity chef, has declared jollof rice as her best Nigerian food. Chef Natasha is one of the accomplished culinary experts that hosted the master classes of mouthwatering dishes at the GTCO Food and Drinks Festival 2023.
GTCO Plc. is a leading financial services company providing banking and non-banking services including payments, wealth management, and pension fund management, with a presence across eleven countries spanning West and East Africa as well as the United Kingdom, the sponsor of the festival, operates a diversified, proudly African franchise and is renowned for its innovative approach to customer service and stakeholder engagement.
Over the years, many customers have benefited from its unique loan products, including the Food Industry Credit and Fashion Industry Credit designed specifically for businesses in the food and fashion industry.
According to Oyinade Adegite, Group Head, Corporate and External Affairs, GTCO, the Food and Drinks Festival was a family event where provisions were made for the adult shoppers, as well as a well-fitted play area also designed to add another layer of excitement for children to keep them meaningfully engaged.
The GTCO Food and Drink Festival had hosted millions of people in the past six years and featured enlightening and engaging master classes by world-renowned chefs and food business experts.
The bank is renowned for its innovative approach to customer service and stakeholder engagement. Many customers have benefited from its unique loan products, including the Food Industry Credit and Fashion Industry Credit designed specifically for businesses in the food and fashion industry.
