Consumers expect both: authenticity and competitiveness. It has never been enough to copy successful recipes, products or packages from the world market. It is not only the case that Balkan consumers have specific expectations re tradition, presentation or flavour. Even the wider European and world market seeks genuine origin, design and innovation. Systemic partnerships of basic and premium, ethnic and conventional etc. are fashionable in these years.

One example is the Taste Centre project carried out through technical seminars scheduled for November and December 2007, a matchmaking conference and a study tour in 2008. The seminars will be guided and coordinated by representatives of German food processing companies who will be presenting their companies including technologies, organization, sales, international cooperation and future strategy planning. The seminar program will combine interaction by local companies and independent experts with the overall aim to eventually establish initial quality contact and information exchange between the German and local companies and to further aim possible cooperation.

Spelleken Assoc. have started to promote food and beverage industry in several assignments in Moldova (1997 and 1998) and Romania (2002). The first institutional project was Global Food Network, a EU-finances model project for systemic partnerships using the instrument of country ratios for trade and investment (Zielmarktnavigation). Partner are the Duisburg-based company Innowise and the Bielefeld-based Food Processing Initiative e.V. Countries focussed are first of all Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.

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