preview
speciality & fine food fair
The big barometer If you want to gauge the mood among speciality food producers, Olympia is never a bad place to start. And at this year’s Speciality & Fine Food Fair there will also be a chance to find out how retailers are faring, with the release of new research into the state of the deli & farm shop sector.
SFFF event manager Soraya Gadelrab
More exhibitors – but perhaps on smaller, less extravagant stands. A big regional food section – but run by show organiser Fresh RM rather than the regional food groups now that government subsidies have gone. The face of the fine food trade’s biggest show is certainly changing after two or three tough trading years. But with over 600 companies lining up in Olympia’s Grand Hall, 2011’s Speciality & Fine Food Fair will still be “the largest to date, with more exhibitors than ever before”, according to event manager Soraya Gadelrab. Gadelrab has been poring over the data from recent SFFFs and says that while exhibitor numbers in a few minor food categories have taken a dip, the story generally remains one of modest growth. “Last year we had small growth in a year of recession,” she told FFD, “and this year we’re about 3% up on floorspace. It’s fair to say average stand size has decreased slightly. But if exhibitors take less space, that just means we have to get more of them in.” As the year’s biggest trade bash, Olympia is always a good place to gauge confidence. But this year, Fresh RM has joined forced with the Guild of Fine Food, FFD’s publisher, to carry out a formal research project ahead of the event. Thousands of retailers and caterers have been completing an online survey exploring everything from average margins to recruitment prospects. The results will be announced at the SFFF, giving visiting buyers the chance of a real insight into how their fellow retailers are handling a tough market. Back on the supply side, key growth categories for the SFFF have been chocolate, confectionery, non-food services and international products. The number of confectionery exhibitors, for example, has doubled in the past five years, and the space taken by chocolate brands has risen from 5% to 13% since 2008, when a Speciality Chocolate Fair was created within the show. International stands have seen a 270% growth since 2008. “Traditionally, France has
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taken the most space,” says Gadelrab. “Italy has never backed the show as much, partly because Italy is on holiday in August, but we’ve got regional stands from the Valle d’Aosta and Terni chambers of commerce this year, and we’re getting more independent Italian exhibitors.” There will be another strong showing from the English regions too. But where, in the past, food groups bought blocks of space and sold them on to their membership, loss of public funding means Fresh RM has partially underwritten this section to ensure a continued focus on regional food. “We’ve always worked well with the regional food groups (RFGs),” says Gadelrab. “But while they want a continued presence, they made it very clear that they have no funding now. So we came up with a model whereby we would create areas for each region that we would sell and administer, and in return the RFGs would advertise that to their members.” Two of the “more commercial” groups – Taste of the West and HEFF – have continued to buy a block of space in the old manner, while others, despite the new low-risk model, have been “less responsive”. But a distinct regional presence has been be retained. “More and more, buyers – especially from overseas – want something quintessentially British,” says Gadelrab, “ and the SFFF is always a quintessentially British show.” www.specialityandfinefoodfairs.co.uk
Tell us your brands of the year: Visit us on the Guild of Fine Food stand (759) and you can nominate your brands of the year in key categories like tea, coffee and chocolate, ahead of a special edition of FFD to be published later this year. Vol.12 Issue 8 · September 2011
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