Speciality and Fine Food Fair 2009 - How was it for you?

I am writing this week’s entry still feeling exhausted after a very busy Speciality and Fine Food Show at Olympia last week. I must be getting old; shows didn’t use to take it out on me this much. Having said that, we were phenomenally busy – I didn’t manage to have lunch until after 4 pm on any of the three days! Trade shows generally in the UK have been significantly down on 2008 in this year of recession. The official visitor figures are not published yet for this show, but it seems, as I have said before, that we are in a privileged position in the speciality food world of being in a recession-proof industry.

At the show, I polled several other exhibitors, who all reported an increased sense of optimism and far less time-wasters than previous years. You know the type of people that say they are thinking of opening a deli next April if their star signs are positive and they manage to actually get out of bed on a Monday morning. It seems that recession has weeded out many of this type of enquiry. Thank God!

Now the hard work begins following up (in our case) 190 enquiries from potential new customers. Last year we had around 140 – so 36% up on last year. It never ceases to amaze me how some exhibitors seem to think their work is done once the show finishes. This is just the start. On average it takes around 3-4 months for sales leads to turn into customers – some, of course, order immediately but others in a year’s time. With my buyer’s hat on, many times I have expressed an interest in a new product only to hear nothing at all from the supplier after the show. I then have to get on the phone and try and get them to follow me up – astonishing! If you haven’t got the resources to follow up sales leads, then stop wasting your money by exhibiting!

In the middle of the show, we had the Great Taste Awards ceremony, My team and I took some customers to the event as usual, which this year was in the fantastic venue of the Fortnum and Mason’s food hall. Fantastic for tasting several of the Gold Award Winners and experiencing the ambience of Fortnum’s by evening. Not so great for actually knowing who the winners were – I was at the back of the room and could hear very little, and there were some there who had enjoyed enough wine not to be interested! Finally it seems I have been misquoted regarding the Great Taste Awards. I am totally in favour of the awards – what I was saying was aimed at fine food suppliers who sit back on their laurels once they have won an award. Just like sales leads that is only the start – if you are an award winner this year, shout about it in the press and on the product and spend some money marketing the products. Having your products name on a certificate won’t help you sell more product unless you use this in your marketing.

Have a good week.