Yesterday, June 14, the United Fresh trade show opened at McCormick Place in Chicago. This year, the show is being held in the West Hall of the building, a smaller setup with the number of exhibitors being close to 300.
Although it wasn’t too crowded on the floor, exhibitors seemed to be pleased with the turnout. “It is an opportunity to meet (potential) customers that we wouldn’t see otherwise,” says Benjamin Singh with Food Freshly.
“United Fresh does a great job with the focus on innovation,” said Kimberly St George, with Mann Packing. “In addition, separating FreshMKT and FreshTEC helps people navigate the show. We get more targeted traffic by our booth,” she added.
This year’s expo floors include FreshMKT, FreshTEC, International Floriculture and Global Cold Chain. The FreshMKT section shows advances in fresh produce including new varieties, packaging and merchandising solutions. It includes the new products showcase that includes the finalists for the United Fresh Innovation Awards. The new Organic Showcase features new products of organic providers. The United FreshTEC Expo is designed to highlight the most cutting-edge technologies for the fresh produce industry. The FreshTEC University Showcase features faculty and students from major universities showcasing new technologies and solutions for the fresh produce industry.
The show will continue today, June 15. A full photo report from the show will be available in Monday’s newsletter.