Speciality & Fine Food Fair celebrates biggest show ever
Despite the unsteady economy, the fine food industry is showing no signs of slowing down. And nowhere was this more visible than at this year’s biggest ever Speciality & Fine Food Fair (SFFF). The Fair attracted 8,307* visitors, the highest number in its 12 year history and a huge 12% increase on the 2011 event.
The success of this year’s Fair was fuelled by the increase in new exhibitors – with 42% showcasing their brands for the very first time – as well as a host of fresh and informative features that left both exhibitors and visitors feeling inspired.
A new report created jointly by Speciality & Fine Food Fair and the Guild of Fine Foods, which was released at SFFF, supports the sector’s success and further highlights the buoyancy of the market. The report identified that 48% of fine food outlets have shown an increase in customer spend over the past year, while 55% anticipate a growth in turnover in the next 12 months.
Soraya Gadelrab, Event Manager of SFFF11, said: “We have been overwhelmed with the response to this year’s Fair and are thrilled to see that the fine food industry is bucking the trend during such turbulent economic times. We have worked hard to ensure the Fair provided its audience with the tools they needed to further this growth while supporting smaller businesses in their quest to become part of the sector’s success.”
“The fact that this year’s Speciality & Fine Food Fair had the highest number of both exhibitors and visitors in its 12 year history leaves us confident that the sector will continue to remain strong and those within the industry will continue to do well.”
With the sector’s promising future ahead, SFFF11 provided a variety of content to support businesses and provide the tools needed for further growth. As always the Fine Food Forum offered a varied and innovative programme, with industry figures such as James Nathan, Francesco Mazzei, James Golding and Lucas Hollweg taking to the stage. The Small Business Forum was also a huge success, with highlights including Jane Milton from The Food Network discussing how to grow your business and Keren Lerner from Top Left Design guiding visitors through all things digital.
Exhibitors and visitors alike also took advantage of the one-to-one mentoring sessions that were held throughout the Fair at the Business Mentoring Centre. The 30 minute private sessions, which were oversubscribed due to their popularity, allowed experts to pass on their knowledge on everything from marketing to finance and social media.
Speciality Chocolate Fair proved as popular as ever, with a record number of artisan chocolate producers taking to the floor to present their creations in the UK’s only event of its kind. This year also saw the launch of Speciality Chocolate Live in partnership with Valrhona, a brand new demonstration theatre designed to showcase flavour and production ideas from the industry’s leading pastry chefs and chocolatiers. Every session was standing-room only, demonstrating the strength of interest in the premium chocolate market.
Inspiring sessions were conducted by the likes of Damian Allsop, who demonstrated how to create chocolates with water, the renowned Willie Harcourt-Cooze, who took visitors on a journey through the chocolate making process, Paul A Young, who discussed seasonal flavours, and Thierry Castel from Valrhona, who led an in depth discussion on the cocoa industry.
Once wrapped up, exhibitors were keen to share their successes from the Fair. Miss Hope, the owner of Hope & Greenwood, commented, “Our experience of the Fair this year has been phenomenal as every store buyer that we wanted to speak to has been at our stand. It’s overwhelming to see so many visitors who are enthusiastic about our products. ”
