Key brands commit to new Casual Dining trade show
Momentum continues to build for Casual Dining – the first dedicated trade exhibition for the UK’s £6.6 billion casual dining market – as a host of leading industry suppliers add their names to the show’s inaugural exhibitor list. A major new event from Diversified Business Communications, the organisers behind the award-winning lunch! brand, Casual Dining will launch next year at London’s Business Design Centre on the 26-27 February 2014.
Casual Dining’s group event manager Chris Brazier believes the strong exhibitor uptake – which already includes confirmed bookings by big names like Kimbo UK, Unox UK, Cheese Cellar, Disotto Foods, Magrini, Catering Design Group, JDM Foodgroup, Halton Foodservice, and True Food International – reflects how seriously companies serving the casual dining sector are taking the new show.
“We’ve been working very closely with key leading industry operators and suppliers and have been delighted with the wide scale support the show is receiving,” says Brazier. “With new exhibitors coming on board each week, our visitors will enjoy an unrivalled showcase of innovative products – including food, drink, table top, equipment, furniture, interior design and technology – from 120 hand-picked companies.”
“And it’s not just the exhibitors that are getting behind this concept,” he adds, “many leading casual dining outlets – including popular high-street names like Ask, PizzaExpress, Zizzi, Prezzo, Chimichanga, Pizza Hut and Carluccio’s – intend to send their buyers and specifiers to the launch next February.”
The Handmade Cake Company; Robot Coupe (UK); Alan Nuttall; Invest Northern Ireland; Karimix; Nelson Catering Equipment; Redemption Food; Metro Drinks; Soulful Food; and Spikomat – Skewers, are just a few more recent additions to Casual Dining’s diverse menu of founding exhibitors.
Although far from immune to the effects of the global recession of latter years, the casual dining market (which encompasses everything from full-service branded chains like wagamama and Cotê, fast-casual outlets like Nando’s, and managed pub restaurants like JD Wetherspoon and Mitchells & Butlers, to thousands of independent gastro-pubs and in-house restaurants), has enjoyed strong growth compared to other areas of the hospitality sector. Managed pub restaurants, for example, now hold a 22% share of the UK’s eating out market (up from 18% in 2008); a figure foodservice analyst Horizons forecast to rise to 26% by 2016.
Flexible, convenient and affordable, casual dining outlets provide their patrons an effective way to stretch their budgets without it impacting on their social lives. Given that many diners would rather cut the cost, than the frequency, of eating out – it’s a trend that certainly looks set to continue. Making Diversified UK’s new Casual Dining show a timely opportunity to showcase the best that this important market has to offer.
Suzanne Jackson, executive director of the Hospitality Guild, welcomes the launch, saying: “The casual dining sector is a significant contributor to the hospitality industry offering career opportunities, professional development and indeed growth for the British economy. A dedicated and relevant show inspiring further innovation for our restaurants and pubs is to be highly commended.”
“Casual dining brands have revolutionised the UK eating out market over the last 15 years. We may have learnt the business from our American cousins, but now the best British operators are setting the standards both here and abroad. The time has come for a dedicated trade show that meets the needs of this dynamic sector,” agrees Peach Factory’s CEO, Peter Martin.
Casual Dining will take place at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London, on 26-27 February 2014. For further information, please contact Chris Brazier or visit www.casualdiningshow.co.uk.
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Media enquiries to:
Emma-Louise Jones, PR Manager
t: 44 (0)1273 645134 e: ejones@divcom.co.uk
http://www.twitter.com/DiversifiedUK
http://www.divcom.co.uk
Exhibitor enquiries to:
Chris Brazier, Group Event Manager
t: 44 (0)1273 645123 e: cbrazier@divcom.co.uk
http://www.twitter.com/CasDiningShow
http://www.casualdiningshow.co.uk
Diversified Business Communications UK Ltd (Diversified UK) is a fast growing trade event organiser and publisher based in Brighton and Nailsworth (Glos). Diversified UK’s portfolio includes Casual Dining; lunch! (winner of Best Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Association of Event Organisers Excellence Awards in 2012, and Best UK Trade Show Exhibition (under 2,000sqm) in 2010 & 2011); The Natural Food Show (part of Natural & Organic Products Europe); Nordic Organic Food Fair in Malmö, Sweden (new for 2013, co-located with Natural Products Scandinavia); Ocean Business (including Offshore Survey Conference & Ocean Careers); MARELEC Marine Electromagnetics conference in Hamburg, Germany; camexpo; office*; SITS – The Service Desk & IT Support Show; SITS Europe in Berlin, Germany (new for 2014); Natural Products 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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