Fine Food Takes Off at Olympia

The Speciality & Fine Food Fair at Olympia’s National Hall on 4 – 6 September, 2005 was not only packed with the largest ever collection of exhibitors to date, but boasted an impressive 8% increase in visitors on 2004.

Event Director, Sue Woodward of organiser Fresh RM Ltd, believes that the continued success of the event is due to expanding gastronomic horizons in the UK; “Speciality fine food and drink is an increasingly popular area of the market, and the success of the show is due to people being much more open to new cultures, experiences and food.”

Many exhibitors were small, cottage industries from all over the UK such as Brewhaha Ltd, a new business venture that offers a stylish and alternative range of tea. Based in Glasgow, Brewhaha Ltd launched its exciting, quality teas at the 2004 Speciality & Fine Food Fair.

Joanne McLeod, Company Director of Brewhaha Ltd said: “This is simply the best show for us. We launched the company at the 2004 event and haven’t looked back. There’s always a great mix of visitors from right across the UK who are looking for something special and different. It’s the perfect place to showcase our company and to meet existing and potential customers. I’ve already booked a stand for next year’s show and am really looking forward to it.”

As the fair has become so popular, organiser Fresh RM has decided to expand the show for 2006. Sue Woodward explained why:
“In 2005, we had over 400 producers at the show and over 150 of them were first time exhibitors. Next year we’re expanding the show onto the National Hall gallery to accommodate additional exhibitors and visitors and allow us to have more feature areas in the show.”

Jeremy Rees, EC&O’s Exhibition Sales Director added; “It’s fantastic to watch this show go from strength to strength. Not only is it an amazing looking (and tasting) show, but it really demonstrates that our venues are flexible enough to facilitate the growth of a show.”

The Speciality & Fine Food Fair will take place on 3 – 5 September, 2006 in the Olympia National Hall.

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Notes for Editors: Earls Court and Olympia Ltd is the UK’s premier exhibition and conference venue and business Superbrand. Earls Court & Olympia Ltd is owned by property specialists St James Capital, having been acquired by Lyons, Conway and Coffer in May 2004 from Candover Investments.

St James Capital is the leading property and leisure based business, which has built a focused group of companies over the past seven years. The company is run by Anthony Lyons, Chief Executive Officer, Simon Conway, Chief Operating Officer and David Coffer, Chairman.

The business comprises two of the UK’s busiest exhibition, concert and special events venues: London’s famous Earls Court and Olympia. Over 170 shows are held in the two venues each year, attracting over 3.8 million visitors and 25,000 exhibiting companies.