Holland Pavillion on 20th Specialty & Fine Food Fair London

LONDON - From 1-3 September the Specialty & Fine Food Fair will take place in the heart of London. It is UK’s leading showcase of fine food and drink. Most of the visitors are owners and founders of specialty food shops, independent retailers, buyers or caterers. The most innovative snacks, delicious bites, exotic teas and special beer, it will all be there. Over 60% of these visitors still rely on trade fairs to seek out new artisan food and drink produce, as an investigation among them indicates. And a lot of those – more or less - novelty products will be present at the fair. 

Located in Kensington, the Olympia exhibition center is the place where many national and international gourmet food lovers will gather beginning of September. In the Discovery Zone on the top floor you will meet brands that are new to the UK market. Last year we were inspired by the beautiful tea flowers from Flora tea, the dairy free hand-crafted cheesecakes from Portobello Attic and the artisan cheeses made with milk from their Cow-with-Calf herd from The Ethical Dairy. The Drinks Cabinet was set up in partnership with Fentimans to find on-trend drinks. Definitely hot were the botanically brewed soft drinks, often mixed with spirits. And still gin was here top favorite, although not new to the market, gin sales doubled in value in the total UK market in just five years’ time.   

Like in other countries, also in the UK bigger retailers are more and more interested in smaller food brands. Last year Sainsbury’s and Ocado participated in Pitch! - a stage where preselected start-ups could pitch their concepts and got instant feedback from the buyers. In the Savour the Flavour section, people could watch Chef Steve Walpole making some new recipes during workshops like ‘Mysteries of Chocolate and their Perfect Pairings’ and in the Food for Thought sections fresh perspectives on the industry were given and exchanged. A growing, successful exhibition which was the reason for the Dutch Embassy in London to organize a Holland Pavillion – even bigger than last year. Are you interested in participating, please contact us for more details. Should London be a bridge too far, you can also visit the Dutch ‘Vakbeurs Foodspecialiteiten’ in Houten that will take place on September 30 and October 1^st this year. 

TEN the export network advises and supports food & beverage companies that are aiming to broaden their horizons. They co-ordinate food export activities, encourage business development projects, and create new international links. TEN also helps improving the standard of existing export activities, and operates as SIB advisor (Starters International Business, an initiative of the Dutch government) for SMEs. For more information have a look at http://www.theexportnetwork.nl or contact TEN for a first meeting: http://www.theexportnetwork.nl/contact/

Source: TEN - partner FoodPro Network