“Trade shows – which, what and why to go?”

Cheese Talk with

Juliet Harbutt

• How one cheese shop supported locals in lockdown
• Rory Mellis, IJ Mellis: “Local businesses have a chance to flourish”
• Why we should be proud of the cheese industry’s response to Covid
• The joy of cheese grading
• “Keeping the faith”

Questions you should, and hopefully do, consider seriously before investing precious time out of the office, yet research shows that many have attended shows that are irrelevant or largely unnecessary

’ve done it and realised that visiting my competitors was a far more effective use of my time. However, I recently attended two very different shows which prompted me to write this piece. During the Slow Food showcase Salone del Gusto in Turin, I stayed in the old Fiat building next door with the legendary racetrack on the roof, and then attended the World Travel Market at Excel – a great venue but hideous location – why can’t the river boats go there direct?

I went to Salone del Gusto specifically to find Italian cheeses for the second edition of my World Cheese Book and to look for new deli products, not just cheese, and new ways to display and market food to inspire my retail clients. So first I registered in advance to save time on the day – the worst system ever – four attempts and at least four hours later I succeeded only to stand in the Advanced Payment queue for an hour on the morning of the first day before discovering you had to push to the front and then just flash your ticket!

I knew from previous visits that, like most shows, the first day was the quietest, 2pm-6pm were the busiest times, and school groups were actively encouraged so I headed straight to the back of the farthest away hall and had a very relaxed two hours before meeting the snatch, grab and space-hogging crowds. I did take a bag-carrying foodie friend with me, leaving me free to take photos of every cheese, cheese label and cheesemaker against a backdrop of their stand – much easier than making illegible notes. 

I had pre-planned to meet clients for lunch in the street food section – which was mayhem – but three quick texts and we were all safely installed in a local pizzeria. Moral of the story: always have everyone’s mobile numbers and/or email addresses. A quick review of who I had met, plus a few notes to remind me who was who put in order of priority with stars, and I was back into the non-Italian section – significantly smaller than previous years, but an inspirational array of rare foods threatened by extinction from Ethiopia to the Amazon.

Obviously you need to plan – blindly going where thousands have gone before is unwise, so download a map, put the postcode in your sat nav so you know exactly where it is, how to get into it and where exactly to park. Despite allowing an extra hour, I was first lost in Docklands then in Excel’s massive car park (incorrectly marked DO NOT ENTER), before reaching my clients at the World Travel Market for whom I was doing a talk on Croatian Cheese. I was hot, stressed and my briefing was down to 10 minutes.

Which brings me to talks, demos and presentations. Don’t think ‘been there done that, got the tee shirt’ – we can always learn something. I have attend some superbly delivered, worthwhile workshops, and naturally I think mine are full of inspirational, innovative ideas to make you more profitable, but do your homework.  Avoid those presented by people who have never practiced what they preach. 

Last but not least, go with an open mind, look out for ideas on stands that don’t sell what you want, work out key questions to ask to eliminate exhibitors who aren’t worth spending time with (do you have an agent? Are you licensed to sell to the EU? etc), make a few – not loads – of appointments, and put the following day aside to follow-up, record, contact or action the ideas you gathered, or like 75% of us the bag of ideas, flyers and contacts will still be sitting there giving you the evil eye when you book your ticket the following year!