Last Word
Fresh Montgomery
Lori (left) and Soraya (right)
Creating at annual celebration of food, drink
and hospitality – MD Lori Hoinkes and portfolio
director Soraya Gadelrab on bringing alternating
biennial shows HRC and IFE together
Why are you making the shows
annual and co-located?
Lori: They have always been
run as biennial shows, alternating
years. When HRC (Hotel,
Restaurant, Catering, previously
Hotelympia) started in 1935 and
IFE (International Food & Drink
Event) in 1979, buying cycles were
very different. The pace of change
and amount of new product
development and innovation
matched a lot of these biennial
trade shows. It’s not that way
anymore; people are constantly
looking for new inspiration and
new sources.
Soraya: The pace of innovation
has changed drastically. Twenty
years ago, most of the innovation
was coming from big brands
like Unilever. These days the
innovation is coming from the
smaller end of the industry – SMEs
and start-ups – and they move
much more quickly. A trend can
come and go in a two-year cycle.
Do the shows attract similar
audiences?
Soraya: There’s a crossover; IFE
has traditionally served anyone
in the food and drink industry,
HRC was more for your chefs and
food service operators. That said,
a number of them would come to
IFE and likewise some of the IFE
visitors would come to HRC. It
makes sense if they’re attending
both events to put them both
under one roof, with all of their
sourcing opportunities in one
place.
Lori: We wanted to let people
66 — September
know well in advance so they
could get it into their planning
cycle, letting everyone at HRC
know that there will be a 2021
edition of the show to factor in.
Will there be one umbrella
brand?
Lori: We don’t think that makes
sense. They are completely
different shows and although
there’s common interest between
the two they still have disparate
communities and need separate
marketing and content.
Soraya: They each carry so much
heritage, we wouldn’t want to lose
that.
Did you reach out to key
stakeholders?
Lori: Yes, if it’s not driven and
led by the community then it’s
not going to be the right decision.
We have trusted advisors and
stakeholders that we felt would be
the right people to reach out to.
Soraya: We’ve gone out to key
stakeholders and tested the waters
and almost everyone we’ve spoken
to said it’s a no brainer.
Lori: It works well for the
international crowd, around 50
per cent of the exhibitors at IFE
are international and 25 per cent
at HRC. What happens with those
types of budget cycles is that you
get in one year and don’t get in the
next because you’re not needed.
Getting back into someone’s
budget all the time is something
that the agents find difficult,
so they’ve been pushing for an
annual proposition.
Soraya: If they’re investing in
coming to the UK, have been
seen for the first time and don’t
have a touchpoint for two years
it doesn’t give them as much
visibility and longevity so they’re
less likely to continue on those
routes into the UK market. One
of the things we’ve always done
at Fresh is that we’ve invested in
high end content, networking,
opportunities to meet the buyers
and added value. We’re responsible
for bringing communities together
and creating that one-stop-shop
for inspiration and learning.
How does Pro2Pac fit in?
Soraya: Pro2Pac sits alongside
IFE and services the food and
drink packaging and sustainable
solutions and that’s an area with
huge growth potential.
Lori: It brings the entire value
chain together, from ingredients
to new product development to
packaging to finished products.
Soraya: It’s everything you need
in the world of food and drink.
We will be working with many
different industry partners to
host multiple events concurrently
to create an all-encompassing
celebration of food, drink and
hospitality.