The Grocery & Specialty Food Show takes place at the Vancouver Convention Centre East April 13, 14
From specific category learning sessions on the trade floor to dedicated morning workshops on trends, this year’s Grocery & Specialty Food West show in Vancouver is not to be missed.
The annual trade show, formerly called Grocery Showcase West, was rebranded last year to include more ethnic, healthy, organic, artisanal, and specialty foods. “At this year’s show, retailers will see unique products to get ahead of some of the trends,” said Tom Barlow, CEO and president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, the show’s organizers.
With the floor 95% sold out, along with more specialty food categories, for the first time there will be buying opportunities between trading partners and their suppliers. Trade show specials and offers will be optional as well, there will be dedicated meeting booths for partners to actually sit down and discuss opportunities for growth.
Food marketers won’t want to miss the dedicated workshops on industry and tech trends. On Monday,Tony Chapman will speak about the move in the marketplace from mass to my.
He will be followed by a retailer super panel featuring leaders in fresh, health & wellness: Joe Longo, Longo Bros.; Pete Luckett, Pete’s; Craig Hermanson, Pomme Natural Market.
Tuesday morning innovations and trends expert Max Valiquette will look at demographics, digital sharing, tech in real life and the internet impacting the retail landscape.
Following his keynote, there will be breakout workshop sessions on key retailer concerns such as the growth of home meal replacements (HMR) with Maple Leaf Foods’ Nola Martin; and health & wellness sales drivers with Choices Markets’ nutrition operations manager and registered dietitian, Nicole Fetterly .
Click here for the full schedule.
