lunch! 2011 reports a record-breaking show!
British Smoothie Championships and lunch! Innovation Challenge Live! winners announced
Organiser Diversified Business Communications UK has reported a record 40% increase in attendance for the fourth edition of its lunch! food-to-go trade show; which took place last week on 29-30 September. Over 4310 industry professionals from the UK’s £11.3bn out of home food and drinks sector packed the aisles at London’s Old Billingsgate to do business with 200 of the industry’s most innovative manufacturers and suppliers.
The record-breaking attendance was complemented by a 76% rise in international visitors, plus a 40% rise in exhibitor numbers compared to 2010. Whilst the show’s on-site exhibitor rebookings were equally impressive, with around 70% of exhibitors demonstrating their continued support for the growth of the show by reserving stand space for lunch! 2012, which is set be held at the new venue of the Business Design Centre, Islington.
Chris Brazier, event manager of lunch!, is delighted by the “phenomenal” feedback received from visitors and exhibitors: “We have just had our best lunch! ever. Within the first two hours of opening on Thursday, we had over 1000 visitors through the doors! The aisles were packed with a who's who of the food industry doing genuine business with delighted exhibitors, who were showcasing the best in quality and innovation that this industry has to offer.”
“With a record 40% increase in visitor attendance and a record 70% of exhibitors already rebooked for our 2012 show, lunch! couldn't be in a better position as we move to our new home of the Business Design Centre,” continued Brazier. “I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our visitors, exhibitors, associations, media partners and the team at lunch! for their continuing support.”
Exhibitor Mark Stack, chief executive of Yum Yum Food Bros Company, was equally upbeat in hailing the show a huge success: “We have done over 15 shows in the last year and lunch! has been by far the most successful for quality of leads and results.”
Renowned for its exceptional show content, it wasn’t just the show floor that was buzzing at lunch!. The show’s highly anticipated Keynotes and lively, topic-focused, panel discussions were all well attended, with many enjoying standing room only crowds. Indeed, audience participation was key to two of the show’s biggest draws – the prestigious British Smoothie Championships and the new-format Innovation Challenge Live!.
Now in its third year, the live British Smoothie Championships 2011, sponsored by Magrini, was won by Silvie Parcot from Crussh, with her delicious smoothie ‘Pomegranate Passion Pleasure’; which was made by combining pomegranate, banana, mango, pineapple, pineapple juice, passion fruit and yogurt. After knocking out defending champion (and pre-event favourite) Vimal DePala from Shaketastic in the first heat, Parcot went on to beat Oliver Wilson-Fish, co-owner of Lancaster-based Juicafe, and Daniel Gentely, owner of Elephant Juice Bar in EC1, to win the title of nation’s best. Aside from winning a wealth of industry kudos, Parcot took away the prize of a Vitamix Quiet One Blender worth over £1000.
“I feel really proud to have won the British Smoothie Championship for Crussh and to be part of such a fantastic company. It is a real achievement for Crussh and a true reflection of our success in the industry!” says Silvie Parcot, the new British Smoothie Champion. “We’ve always been told that we do the best smoothies by our customers and it’s really nice to be publicly recognised now as well!”
lunch!’s Innovation Challenge Live! took advantage of its slight change of format this year to ensure visiting buyers got more of a taste of the action. Designed to promote and celebrate genuinely new ideas in the market place, including brand new innovations and new twists on established concepts, the Innovation Challenge attracting over 60 entrants. The 15 short-listed finalists were invited to pitch their innovative ideas to a panel of industry judges (which included Franklyn Boltman, founder of independent sandwich bar Thanks for Franks, Neville Moon, head of food and beverage at Caffe Nero, and David Kitchener, managing director of Essential Café magazine) and the attending audience.
The Innovation Challenge Live! Award recipients were as follows:
GOLD AWARD:
• Kokoa Collection Hot Chocolate – Kokoa Collection
• Flat Table Bases – FLAT
• CRC – Heat Recovery System – Dawson Foodservice Equipment
• Gourmet & Hot Wraps Using “More” Seasonings – Discovery Foods
• New Toasty Auto Grill - Toasty Products
• PortaTray™ – Tri-Star Packaging
• Toblerone Pastry – Delice de France
• Meringue Crumble – Pidy UK Limited
• Peppersmith Fresh Mints – Peppersmith
COMMENDED AWARD:
• Wholesome Pots – The Food Doctor
"lunch! continues to be our number one platform for launching innovative new products to the grab-and-go sector. Tri-Star had a great show – lots of genuine interest and serious leads. Winning Gold in the Innovation Challenge for PortaTray™ was the icing on the cake! We're already looking forward to exhibiting at the new venue next year," says Kevin Curran, managing director of Tri-Star Packaging.
The show’s many first-time exhibitors also expressed their satisfaction. “lunch! was a great arena for Pidy to launch its second major wave of 14 lines into the market,” says the company’s UK general manager, Robert Whittle. “Coupled with our Innovation Challenge Gold Award for our recently launched flagship product Meringue Crumble, we were even more pleased with the interest it generated.”
“We had so much interest on the stand in all of our products that if we had packed up and gone home after the first day, I’d have still been delighted, such were the quality of the leads,” says Richard Jansen, Managing Director, La Pizza Company.
Hundreds of surveyed visitors also sang the show’s praises. “lunch! is great. A friendly and exciting show to gain new ideas and concepts, it allows buyers to meet real people who are passionate about their products,” says Jenny Luyten, ops manager at Bite Catering.
“I came to lunch! to look for ideas and I have now finalised my entire menu and equipment requirements. For me, the show has been a complete success,” says Mike Haggerton, owner of Edinburgh-based Haggies Café.
Other announcements from lunch! 2011 included the unveiling of the show’s first industry confidence survey. Conducted by the show’s organiser, Diversified Business Communications UK, respondents included nearly 100 individuals from a representative sample of retail businesses in the eating out of home sector. The survey’s respondents were asked questions on how they expected their business to perform over the next twelve months, how optimistic they felt about the outlook for their business compared to the previous year, and how they think future consumer spending habits on food-to-go will change. The full results – which point towards a positive future for food-to-go over the coming twelve months – are now available to view on the lunch! website (http://www.lunchshow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/lunch-survey-2011.pdf).
lunch! will take place in the new venue of the Business Design Centre, Islington, London, on 20-21 September 2012. For further information, please visit www.lunchshow.co.uk.
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Media enquiries to:
Emma-Louise Jones, PR Executive
t: 44 (0)1273 645134 e: ejones@divcom.co.uk @DiversifiedUK
lunch! exhibitor enquiries to:
Chris Brazier, Event Manager
t: 44 (0)1273 645123 e: cbrazier@divcom.co.uk @lunchexhibition
NOTES:
In July 2011, lunch! won Best UK Trade Show Exhibition (Under 2,000m2) at the Association of Event Organisers (AEO) Excellence Awards for the second year running.
lunch! is the UK’s only dedicated trade show for the £5billion quality lunchtime food-to-go market. Developed in consultation with leading industry suppliers and retailers, lunch! provides owners and managers of quality sandwich bars, juice bars, cafes, coffee bars and contract caterers, to source new products, find out about all the latest food-to-go market trends and network with 1000's of industry professionals all in one dedicated arena.
Website http://www.lunchshow.co.uk
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3143327&mostPopular=&trk=tyah
Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/lunchexhibition
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/lunch/106355532742317
VISITOR INFORMATION:
Admission: Free to pre-registered trade visitors, £20 on-the-door
Location: Old Billingsgate, London EC3R 6DX
Opening days: Thursday 29 & Friday 30 September 2011
Members of the media can reserve press passes to lunch! by contacting Emma-Louise Jones at ejones@divcom.co.uk.
Diversified Business Communications (UK) Ltd (Diversified UK) is a fast growing event organising and publishing company based in Brighton. In addition to lunch!, Diversified UK also organises Natural & Organic Products Europe, camexpo, the Independent Health Store Conference, office*, and the Service Desk & IT Support Show. It publishes Natural Products – the industry’s leading trade magazine, and the Natural Beauty Yearbook.
Diversified UK is part of Diversified Business Communications, a leading international media company with a successful portfolio of sector leading exhibition, conferences, publications and websites.
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