From 25 to 27 March leading specialists will gather at Birmingham’s NEC for the UK’s largest food and drink focused exhibition in 2012, Food & Drink Expo featuring Farm Shop & Deli. This show promises to be the ultimate business event with exhibitors representing the grocery, wholesale, foodservice, specialty retail and manufacturing sectors.
Food & Drink Expo Key Exhibitors
An extensive number of gourmet products will be launching at Food and Drink Expo 2012 such as exciting new flavours from a new Bloody Mary ketchup from Stokes Sauces (stand E178), an innovative Drinking Fudge Gift set from Fudge Kitchen (stand F192), hand roasted, seasonally sourced coffees from Littles Ltd (stand F120d) and high quality tea cubes that can be used three times from Lu Lin Teas (stand D188).
Other key Food & Drink Expo exhibitors include: Farrington Oils (stand F154) who will be showcasing their speciality products and discussing new trends within the industry such as the growing use of British cold pressed rapeseed oil for its health benefits; Honeybuns (stand E191) will be promoting their latest gluten-free offerings, Wensleydale Creamery, (stand J149G) will be shouting about local provenance and CHI (stand K162) will be using the Expo as a launch pad for their 100% coconut water.
Farm Shop & Deli
Following its successful launch in 2011, Farm Shop & Deli will be running alongside Food & Drink Expo, offering visitors an area focused entirely on speciality retail.
Farm Shop & Deli Key Exhibitors
A whole host of exciting farm shop products will be available to try out including Ogilvys’ New Zealand Rainforest Honey (stand D168), a rich aromatic honey reflecting the abundance of wild herbs, flowers and trees from the rainforests of New Zealand’s South Island. For suppliers on the look out for really unusual products, Trotters Independent Condiments (stand B126) should be an absolute must-visit, where they will be showcasing their Mojito Jelly – with flavours complementing oily fish and oysters, lamb dishes and desserts perfectly. Another great find for suppliers permanently on the hunt for time saving products is Littlepod’s Natural Vanilla Paste (stand B140), a versatile paste with concentrated pod and seeds all in a handy tube.
Live Features
Live features are an important component of each of the shows – all sessions being geared towards improving visitors’ bottom line. The Brainfood Factory in Food & Drink Expo will host live culinary demonstrations, head-to-head interviews and hot-topic debates from respected industry figures, whilst Farm Shop & Deli Live will focus on product testing and tasting, key skills advice – merchandising, buyer/supplier negotiation, and emerging trends.
Key Experts
Expert advice will be available within The Brainfood Factory from guest speakers such as Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, owner of The Black Farmer gluten-free range, who will be appearing on a panel discussion on 25 March called, ‘Being Small, Thinking Big‘, which will cover the challenges affecting independent retailers, manufacturers and restaurateurs. The Brainfood Factory will also welcome hugely influential campaigner, Tristram Stuart, on 27 March, to talk about his crusade to end the scandal of food waste, and Arthur Potts-Dawson, chef, and founder of The People’s Supermarket will be part of a panel discussion focused on a ’2020 Vision: The Future of Food & Drink’.
Farm Shop & Deli Live will also be offering exciting live sessions such as The Dragons’ Pantry whereby four lucky producers will get the chance to pitch one of their products to a panel of ‘Dragons’. John Farrand, Director from the Guild of Fine Food, one of the food experts on the panel, says: “This will be an important exercise for suppliers as they will be able to get an invaluable critique of their product from some of the top food experts in the industry – from packaging and taste to the company’s margins. Not only will it be useful for the producers who are pitching but it will also give onlookers the chance to see how they should be buying and negotiating with suppliers.”
Food & Drink Expo will also be working in partnership with FareShare UK – the community food network.
For the latest information on any of the exhibitors or the live session speakers, visit the website http://www.foodanddrinkexpo.co.uk/ or follow Food & Drink Expo on Twitter https://twitter.com/fooddrinkexpo.
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