Since its launch in 2008, lunch! has enjoyed growing industry prominence and support.  2011 was a record-breaking year for the event, culminating in a 41% increase in total attendance, an 87% rise in international visitors, 42% more exhibitors, plus a best UK trade show award from the Association of Event Organisers (AEO) for the second consecutive time.  Whilst 2012 has already heralded the prospective announcement of a sold out 5^th anniversary show, with just a handful of stands still remaining seven months out from opening day.

Chris Brazier, lunch!’s event manager, is delighted with the nomination:  “One of lunch!’s real strengths has always been its niche, boutique appeal, so for it to be shortlisted amongst such established – and much bigger – shows really is an enormous achievement for the team at Diversified and a real recognition of the impact that lunch!’s made within the industry in just a few years.”

The Exhibition News awards, which recognise talent and achievement across the exhibition industry, will take place at Olympia, London, on Thursday 29 March.

lunch! 2011 from Diversified UK on Vimeo.

lunch! is pleased to announce a record 40% increase in attendance for the fourth edition of the food-to-go trade show; which took place on 29-30 September.  Over 4310 industry professionals from the UK’s £11.3bn out of home food and drinks sector packed the aisles at London’s Old Billingsgate to do business with 200 of the industry’s most innovative manufacturers and suppliers.

The record-breaking attendance was complemented by a 76% rise in international visitors, plus a 40% rise in exhibitor numbers compared to 2010.  Whilst the show’s on-site exhibitor rebookings were equally impressive, with around 70% of exhibitors demonstrating their continued support for the growth of the show by reserving stand space for lunch! 2012, which is set be held at the new venue of the Business Design Centre, Islington.

Chris Brazier, event manager of lunch!, is delighted by the “phenomenal” feedback received from visitors and exhibitors:  “We have just had our best lunch! ever.  Within the first two hours of opening on Thursday, we had over 1000 visitors through the doors!  The aisles were packed with a who’s who of the food industry doing genuine business with delighted exhibitors, who were showcasing the best in quality and innovation that this industry has to offer.”

“With a record 40% increase in visitor attendance and a record 70% of exhibitors already rebooked for our 2012 show, lunch! couldn’t be in a better position as we move to our new home of the Business Design Centre,” continued Brazier.  “I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our visitors, exhibitors, associations, media partners and the team at lunch! for their continuing support.”

Exhibitor Mark Stack, chief executive of Yum Yum Food Bros Company, was equally upbeat in hailing the show a huge success:  “We have done over 15 shows in the last year and lunch! has been by far the most successful for quality of leads and results.”

Renowned for its exceptional show content, it wasn’t just the show floor that was buzzing at lunch!.  The show’s highly anticipated Keynotes and lively, topic-focused, panel discussions were all well attended, with many enjoying standing room only crowds.  Indeed, audience participation was key to two of the show’s biggest draws – the prestigious British Smoothie Championships and the new-format Innovation Challenge Live!.

“lunch! continues to be our number one platform for launching innovative new products to the grab-and-go sector.  Tri-Star had a great show – lots of genuine interest and serious leads.  Winning Gold in the Innovation Challenge for PortaTray™ was the icing on the cake!  We’re already looking forward to exhibiting at the new venue next year,” says Kevin Curran, managing director of Tri-Star Packaging.

The show’s many first-time exhibitors also expressed their satisfaction.  “lunch! was a great arena for Pidy to launch its second major wave of 14 lines into the market,” says the company’s UK general manager, Robert Whittle.  “Coupled with our Innovation Challenge Gold Award for our recently launched flagship product Meringue Crumble, we were even more pleased with the interest it generated.”

Hundreds of surveyed visitors also sang the show’s praises.  “lunch! 2011 enabled me to see some fantastic innovation first hand as well as a unique opportunity to meet a number of high quality food and beverage suppliers” commented Neville Moon, Head of Food & Beverage at Caffe Nero.

Diversified UK’s lunch! food-to-go trade show has won “Best Trade Show Exhibition – under 2,000m2” for the second consecutive year at the Association of Event Organisers’ annual Excellence Awards, which are widely regarded as the ‘Oscars’ for the live events and exhibition industry.

lunch! scooped the prestigious award ahead of rivals E-Health Media and Ocean Media at the AEO’s annual awards ceremony, which was attended by more than 1,200 industry professionals on Friday 1 July, at ExCeL London.  One of the few companies this year to receive multiple nominations, Brighton-based Diversified Business Communications UK also received a ‘Highly Commended’ in this same category from the judges for its complementary healthcare show camexpo.

Carsten Holm, Diversified UK’s managing director, is delighted that the company has been honoured as a leader within its field:  “We always felt we had hit on something special with lunch! and it’s fantastic, if a little humbling, to see it being recognised by the rest of the exhibition industry for two years running  – even in our wildest dreams, we never expected that!”

The Association of Event Organisers (AEO) Excellence Awards celebrates achievements by organisers, venues, suppliers and contractors throughout the exhibition and event industry.  The judges were impressed by lunch!’s distinctive style, commenting:  “The winning show has really attacked a very difficult marketplace and established itself as a leading niche show.  We especially liked the unique and personal approach to their market.”

“It is such a wonderful achievement for lunch! to win this prestigious award not just once but two years in a row!  It really reflects how lunch! has gone from strength to strength over the last few years and what an important show it has become for the entire out-of-home food and drink industry.  We would like to thank the exhibitors, visitors, and partners of lunch! for making it so special.  We share this honour with them,” says Grace Pinder, lunch!’s marketing manager. 

Now in its fourth year, lunch! returns to Old Billingsgate, London, on 29-30 September 2011.  With a 50% increase in exhibition space taking the show up onto the venue’s upper level for the first time, lunch! 2011 will boast over 190 quality exhibitors, representing companies from right across the entire out-of-home food and drink spectrum.  lunch! is free to attend for pre-registered trade visitors. 

For further information and to register, please visit www.lunchshow.co.uk.

Click here to read the issue in full!

Buyers:

“A real ‘must visit’ for any serious food business, perfectly presented, perfectly balanced and above all the best place to discover those hidden gems”
Martin Hambleton, Category Manager, EAT

“lunch! was an outstanding event, I can’t think of a better place to spend an afternoon than being at an event with people that are so passionate about their brands. It was like going to a big party, seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I am looking forward to lunch! 2011”
Allan McCallum-Toppin, Owner, AMT Coffee

“lunch! is the perfect event to catch up with old colleagues and meet new start ups. Innovative solutions are the lifeblood of the food on the move market and this show certainly has plenty of them.”
Damian Dixon, Category Manager – Eating Out of Home, Marks & Spencer

“You can always rely on lunch! to keep you on top of the latest trends in the lunchtime market. In just a couple of hours you can have a real feel for the flavours, ingredients and products of the moment and how to serve them to customers quickly, without compromising on quality and value for money!”
Cathy Port, Food Team – McDonalds UK

“A fantastic networking opportunity and so good to be able to see so many new innovations in one place.”
Ben Jones, Co-Founder, graze

“lunch! is a great show! Compact enough that you don’t have to spend hours going around it and it still has plenty of interesting suppliers to go and talk to.”
Yseult Caroff-Richeux, Buying Manager – Food To Go, Waitrose

“lunch! gave me the opportunity to meet with suppliers that we currently use and also to see new suppliers and great innovative products fresh to the market.”
Mark Patten, Deputy Operations Manager – Visitor Catering, ZSL London Zoo

“lunch! provides an excellent opportunity to see how current food trends have been adopted by small and medium sized manufacturers. It’s a nice sized show which allows for a more relaxed experience. I really enjoyed it.”
Sonia Launders, Food Development Manager, Boots

 “lunch! is the place to go for innovation, ideas and the best new food-to-go products .”
Liam Kelly, Executive Head Chef, The Royal Marsden Hospital

“lunch! is a fantastic niche show that is dedicated to the food-on-the-move market. Definitely worth taking time out to visit!”
Mr. Andre Freeman, Catering Manager, Kent & East Sussex Railway Co.

“lunch! has lots of packaging and ready to go food products all under one roof. It is definitely the place to go in for up to minute service ideas and innovation.”
Nick Funnell, Head Chef, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

“lunch! was inspiring!  It provided a great opportunity to meet with new suppliers, as well as see and sample great new products relevant to our business.”
Steven Hodge, Fresh Ideas Head Chef, University of Exeter

“Thoroughly enjoyed lunch! It was great to see new ideas, new innovations and to catch up with suppliers that I already use. I came away with some great ideas to introduce into my site.”
Sam Sartain, Catering Manager, BaxterStorey / Deutsche Bank Bishopsgate

“A really useful show for product awareness and it helped me to appreciate the changing needs of consumers in the high street.”
Anthony Molyneux Dunball, Catering Procurement Manager, Metropolitan Police

“I love to be able to see all the new products coming in to the market plus try them and get a feel for what’s right for our cafe. It’s like being on the phone to lots of suppliers all at once.”
Poppy Corbet Burche, Dance Attic Studios Cafe

Exhibitors:

“We used lunch! as a platform to launch our new product, Indian Chai, and were overwhelmed by the number of visitors, potential clientele and the overall interest in our product.  On reflection this was the perfect event for product recognition…..lunch! was clearly the right choice!”
Usha Sharma, La Vie Products

“lunch! has been a fantastic show to launch our new milk drink. The feedback from the event visitors has been great.”
Simon Muschamp, Head of Marketing at Modern Milk for Lakeland Dairies

“If we wrote a wish list of the people we would like to meet at lunch! to approach with our brand- we have certainly ticked all the boxes. There are senior people from the major players here. It is an intimate and personal show. I have a five hour journey home after the show ends and I will have a big smile on my face – it has been brilliant.”
Tanya Brittain, Phat Pasty Ltd

“We are very happy. There is an excellent calibre of visitor from the leading retail chains and the independent retailers. We have seen more overseas visitors this year too.  lunch! has gone  from a London event to a countrywide show.”
Ashley Pinder, Foodservice Sales Manager UK & Ireland, Discovery Foods Ltd

“A great show –I didn’t have time to leave the stand! We have had a fantastic response to the launch of our new product. It is not a question of will we be exhibiting again next year but more, where shall we book our stand?”
Forbes Simmers, Original Drinks Co.

“A wonderful show.  Lots of genuine interest, and some heavyweight leads. Winning the Innovation Award was just the icing on the top. We’ll definitely be back next year!”
Paul Dooley, Filbert’s Fine Foods Ltd.

“Great feedback, really helpful for me to know there’s an appetite for the product.  I love lunch! because it’s so focused, it works because of this.”
Claire Lettice, LULL

“We have been massively impressed by the quality of venue, organisation and visitors.  The proof of the pudding will be in the resulting sales, which looks extremely promising given the wide number of very interested retailers, manufacturers and non-food visitors we have spoken with.”
Gary Hilton, Sales Manager, Byotrol Technology

“This is our second year and we’re definitely rebooking.  This year’s busier with even more quality focused buyers.”
Tony Stone, Stoats Porridge Bars

“lunch! has been an excellent opportunity to promote our new product.  We’ve been extremely impressed by the diversity of potential customers who’ve come to our stand – from coffee shops and restaurants to major operators in the healthcare sector.”
Jeff Bayley, Managing Director, Single Marketing Limited

“This is our first year at lunch! and it has been a fantastic springboard to promote our impressive range of sandwiches and sushi.  As part of our PR and marketing strategy, it really has helped to promote our brand and get us in front of our target audience.”
Andrew Pocock, Managing Director, Impress Sandwiches

“lunch! has become our favoured platform for launching new products to high-calibre visitors across the food service sector.  We believe 2011 is going to be a very exciting year for us and it has been great to showcase just some of our innovative range of packaging for the food-to-go sector.”
Kevin Curran, Managing Director, Tri-Star Packaging

“The lunch! show was really good for us. We managed to get all the contacts we needed and we saw some really big agencies that we wanted to see.”
Qin Shan, Holy Cow! Food Company

“It’s been a fantastic 2 days. We’ve had loads of interest from export leads through to retailers and UK distributors. We’re definitely booking for 2011.”
Mark Stack, Yum Yum Bros.

“lunch! has been absolutely amazing! We’ve had so many people on our stand and lots of interest. We love lunch! and have already re-booked for next year.”
Katharine Hodgkinson, Pulp Fruits

“I booked the 2011 show before the end of the first day this year!”
Steve Pearce, Southover Food Company Ltd

“lunch! had serious buyers who were interested in sourcing new suppliers.  We had an excellent show and both the quality and quantity of visitors to the stand was wonderful.”
Claire Martinsen, Breckland Orchard

“An excellent show, it’s compact, focused and only two days.”
Clive England, The Contact Grill Company

“This is one of the best shows we have attended this year, great quality leads, a wonderful location and a very welcoming and friendly environment.”
Lynette Sinclair, Tideford Organic Foods

“If you are serious about selling to the lunchtime foodservice sector, this show is recommended.”
Adele Jenkins, What on Earth

lunch! has once again been shortlisted for the Best UK Trade Show Award, following winning the title last year…

lunch!, the UK’s only dedicated food-to-go trade event, is a finalist for the prestigious Best Trade Show under 2000sqm award at the 2011 AEO Excellence Awards (Association of Event Organisers).

The nomination reflects the incredible success and growth that lunch! has achieved since its launch and how it continues to establish itself as the event for the industry.

lunch! scooped the award last year with the judges commenting: 

“An incredible demonstration of real empathy with their buyer and seller community enabled our winner to deliver a fantastic and valued event where others have failed.”

At the time the lunch! team said: “Winning the Best Exhibition award is a fantastic reflection of how quickly lunch! has become the essential event for the vibrant out of home food and drink community and a brilliant reward for the team who have committed themselves to representing the industry. It is an amazing achievement for an exhibition that has only taken place twice to be endorsed as the best exhibition in the UK!”.

To be shortlisted 2 years in a row is something that the whole team at lunch! are incredibly proud of and it would not be possible without the support of the exhibitors, visitors and the industry.