Visitors arrived in their droves to Hotelympia 2016 – with the show welcoming over 26,000 attendees* through its doors and recording a massive 15% surge in numbers, for its four-day run.
With almost 1000 innovative Food and Drink, Technology, Catering Equipment, Interiors and Waste Management companies set across the show’s 300,000 square feet, the throng of visitors was rewarded with ground-breaking new products, new features and big names.
The show floor was alive with talk of high quality, big-hitting visitors, those with purchasing power and national account representatives, proving that Hotelympia has the contacts book and pulling power to attract the right people at the right time.
Hotelympia exhibitors commented on this year’s show:
Nigel Crane, MD, Essential Cuisine: “The show’s been absolutely fabulous, it’s been busy for the whole four days and I think it’s been busier than the last two Hotelympia shows put together.”
CESA Director, Keith Warren: “The strength of the partnership between Hotelympia and CESA has helped develop the attendance of the show, particularly in respect of group buyers. Put simply, Hotelympia is undoubtedly the strongest exhibition for catering equipment suppliers.”
Graham Cornhill, Managing Director, Wi-Q: “The show’s been very successful. We’ve probably picked up over 100 leads – we’ve got good quality leads, superb quality leads, the right people, the right positions, and the right engagement and interaction, and that’s all you can ask for. So, the show’s done its job.”
Rosalind Atkins, Business Development, Utopia: “Hotelympia has gone really well, Monday was surprisingly very, very busy and our best day by far. Quality of leads has been fantastic, volume of leads has been fantastic and we gained some contacts that we didn’t imagine we’d ever get.”
Show highlights included The Staff Canteen Live – Skillery, which over four days was able to showcase one of the most stellar line-up of chefs ever amassed on UK soil. Tom Kerridge, Clare Smyth, Simon Rogan, Graham Garrett, Claude Bosi, Nathan Outlaw and Angela Hartnett were among those chefs, sharing some 24 Michelin stars, to offer demos. Elsewhere, on day one, the Godfather of them all, Anton Mosimann OBE, was inaugurated into the Hotelympia Hall of Fame in front of a packed audience.
The Swiss master was just one of a number of Stage high points, with the attraction providing the platform for the finals of Hotelympia’s Innovation Awards and the World Food Innovation Awards.
2016’s most ingenious new products were also celebrated alongside the UK’s best designed new restaurant, The Bombay Brasserie; as recipient of the Hotelympia Restaurant Design Award.
Hot topics such as the Brexit; the chef shortage, the proposed taxation on sugar, and the national living wage were put firmly under the microscope, while the latest design trends, industry insight, sustainable best practice and hospitality technology were hotly debated.
World renowned chef and restaurateur Jason Atherton headlined the Hotelympia Food Service 2020 Conference discussing his growing number of sites in a fascinating talk entitled ‘re-imagining global for local’. The one and half day event comprised of educational content sessions as well as restaurant familiarisation trips.
Toby Wand, Managing Director at Fresh Montgomery, said: “Thank you to everyone who made the show such a massive success, we’re proud to yet again provide the perfect platform for our innovative exhibitors to do what they do best, proud to provide visitors with the most relevant tools and insight to face 2016 head-on, and immensely proud to smash 2014’s attendance record.
“We’re also particularly pleased with the quality of visitor. My team was inundated with praise from exhibitors, many of which had been mobbed by group buyers and those with purchasing clout. Proof if it were needed of the unique opportunity that this show presents.
“With so many exhibitors signing up to do it all again in two years’ time, we can’t wait for Hotelympia 2018.”
On day two of the show, The Big Event, Hotelympia’s traditional Gala Dinner celebration welcomed over 550 people, treating them to a St David’s day-themed menu and entertainment. The night raised over £70,000 for the Springboard Charity.
*Subject to ABC Audit