UK Food & Drink Shows: Who is Going to Attend the UK's Largest Food and Drink Exhibition
For the 30th year, the UK’s largest professional food and drink industry event, the UK Food & Drink Shows, opens under the auspices of the British group William Reed, publisher of notable titles such as The Grocer, Food Navigator, Food Manufacture, Convenience Store, and BigHospitality. This major event, held in Birmingham, annually hosts over 1,500 exhibitors and welcomes more than 30,000 professional visitors.
The UK Food & Drink Shows 2023, from April 24-26, 2023, feature six exhibitions that represent the main pillars of the UK market: Food & Drink Expo, Farm Shop & Deli, Healthy & Natural, Plant-Based Village & Low2No Bev, National Convenience, FoodEx Manufacturing Solutions, and Ingredients. A key highlight is the specially designed Grocer Live area, where over 100 presentations by 250 different speakers will cover a wide range of topics. These include market trends in the UK, challenges for existing and new brands, sustainability, packaging, ways to penetrate different market channels, and building brand recognition.
Who are the Visitors and Exhibitors at the UK Food & Drink Shows?
With an average of 30,000 professional visitors each year, the UK Food & Drink Shows is the premier networking event for all sectors of the UK food and drink industry. It attracts industry professionals from across the country, including distributors and wholesalers from distant Scotland, and the HORECA distribution network of Wales and Southern England. William Reed’s strong relationship with major UK retailers through The Grocer and other trade publications ensures that buyers from all major supermarket chains such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Coop, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Lidl, and Londis attend the exhibition. Significant presence is also noted from leading distributors like Booker, BidFood, Brakes, and Costco.
Annually, representatives from Amazon, Asda, Ask Italian, Best Western, Bestway, Bidfood, Blue Diamond Garden Centres, Booker, Booths, Boots, Brakes, Budgens, Burger King, Center Parcs, Cineworld, Coca Cola, Compass Group, Co-op, Costa Coffee, Costco, Costcutter, Cote Brasserie, Danone, Deliciously Ella, Diageo, Dobbies Garden Centres, Drayton Manor Resort, Fullers Smith and Turner, Greene King, Groupon, Harvester, Hello Fresh, Holland & Barrett, Houses of Parliament, Londis, Marks & Spencer, Mars Wrigley, Mindful Chef, Mondelez, Morrisons, NHS, National Trust, Network Rail, Next, Nisa, One Stop, PepsiCo, Pilgrim Foodservice, Premier Foods, Roadchef, Sainsbury’s, Sodexo, Spar, Starbucks Coffee Company, Stonegate Group, Tesco, The Belfry, The Inns Co Group, The Ivy, TK Maxx, Virgin, Waitrose, Welcome Break, Wetherspoons, Whitbread, and many others visit the show.
Significant Annual Presence of National Pavilions
With an average of 77% of exhibitors making significant contacts during the three-day event, key exhibitors at the UK Food & Drink Shows are British food and drink production companies seeking to expand their distribution network. Additionally, companies from across Europe seek to start new collaborations and penetrate the market. The annual presence of national pavilions from countries such as Italy, Spain, and France is noteworthy, as they consistently enhance their national brand and relationship with their country’s product distributors at major exhibitions.
It is noted that RECO Exports is the official representative of the exhibition, and with the support of Enterprise Greece, organizes the national pavilion.
Source: Food Reporter | February 2023