Mountain River Venison Showcases in Northern Italy – Bolzano Hotel Fair - October 2025 - Italian Market Activities

Mountain River Venison’s Gustaf Kugelberg, Mikael Granberg, and Chef Graham Brown joined forces with GranChef Premium Food at the Bolzano Hotel Fair, held in the heart of the Italian Alps from 13–16 October 2025.

The Bolzano Fair is one of northern Italy’s leading hospitality and food events, bringing together chefs, distributors, and restaurant buyers from across the Alpine region. It draws attendees from Italy, Austria, and Switzerland, all looking for high-quality ingredients for the busy Alpine tourism and hotel trade.

This year’s show was the busiest event Graham Brown has worked in his career. “I worked my butt off” he said. GranChef Premium Food, Mountain River Venison’s local distribution partner, organised an impressive stand and coordinated time slots for their 60-strong sales team to host customers throughout the four-day event. Around 400 invited guests visited each day, making it one of the most productive trade shows yet.

Photos: (1) Chef Graham Brown (2) Mikael Granburg (Mountain River), Herrn Helmuth Woerndle (Founder of GranChef) & Graham Brown (3) Mountain River’s new venison meatball innovation

Chef Graham Brown prepared five dishes to highlight the versatility of Mountain River’s venison range – from Venison Tartare (Korean style) to Picanha with BBQ sauce and avocado cream, Grilled Venison with Yakiniku glaze, Medallions with Creosa sauce, and a Creamy Mushroom Sauce that made the most of the meat’s natural flavour.

Working non-stop in the kitchen, Graham served between 1,000–1,500 tasting portions and more than 3,000 venison meatballs. The response was overwhelmingly positive – Italian chefs and buyers were quick to see how New Zealand venison fits their style of cooking: lean, tender, and naturally full of flavour. With olive oil and simple seasoning, it sat perfectly alongside local veal and beef as a premium menu option.

The GranChef sales team brought their customers to sample the dishes, and everyone loved the meat. The owner of GranChef personally thanked Graham for attending and for the creativity shown in his dishes – a strong endorsement from one of Italy’s leading fine food distributors.

For Mountain River Venison, the fair highlighted how well our product aligns with the tastes and expectations of the Alpine food scene – where quality, authenticity, and provenance matter most. With GranChef’s strong network and Italy’s 20–25 million annual Alpine tourists, the opportunities ahead look bright.

As Gustaf summed it up:

“After this fair, our business will definitely grow - hopefully at a pace we can keep up with!”

Mountain River Venison is proud to see our story and product gaining ground in one of Europe’s most discerning food regions – a great example of how collaboration across the community, from farm gate to chef’s plate, continues to open new doors.

Gustaf Kugelberg & Mikael Granberg