Speaking at sister event The New York Produce Show & Conference last week, Tommy Leighton, LPS event director, said: “It’s all going really well; obviously we’ve had a full year to prepare for the second show, while last year, we didn’t really start until December. Since June, we’ve been travelling, meeting people who were and weren’t at the show, with a brochure and videos illustrating what took place. Nine out of 10 of the people who came last year said they’d come again in 2015 - the idea of course, is to also attract people who haven’t seen it yet.”
Tommy Leighton with 2014 show ambassador, chef Valentine Warner and the Perishable Pundit Jim Prevor
Tommy added: “we had great feedback from everything we did.” The Show attracted its capacity of 128 exhibitors from 41 countries, and visitors from 46. “The number of nationalities that attended surprised even us,” he admitted, “but obviously the idea is to put as many buyers of fresh produce as possible in front of sellers. We already know that even more buyers will come next year.”
Exhibitor-wise, the London Produce Show offers great variety, with numerous categories and many participating countries, so prospects are definitely good. “We are not trying to be Fruit Logistica; we wanted to provide an attractive event for the UK market, but one which also brings people into the UK to learn about what’s happening there and share their experiences,” affirmed Tommy. “It’s about creating business opportunities, which we definitely achieved, and not only in the UK.”
As well as UK buyers, the first edition of the show received buyers from as far afield as Australia and many from North America. It also welcomed South African and Russian buyers, plenty from across Europe, as well as several from the Middle East.
“Everyone who came expecting a British show found themselves meeting and doing business with people from all over the world in an exclusive environment, and our aim is that everyone who comes has a chance to easily see the whole show,” said Tommy. “I’m sure we’ll grow, but we don’t have specific plans for the future; we’ll just keep on building the platform and see how it evolves.”
For more information:
Tommy Leighton
London Produce Show
tommy.leighton@londonproduceshow.co.uk
www.londonproduceshow.co.uk