East of England at ANUGA 2007

First time ANUGA exhibitors from the East of England netted big returns from the biggest exhibition of the year.

The five food and drink companies from the East of England which exhibited at ANUGA 2007 using support from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and Food from Britain (FFB), have reported high levels of satisfaction with the opportunities they secured at the show. Coles Traditional Foods, Boaters Flavoured Coffee Company, the Wild Meat Company, Percy Dalton’s Famous Peanut Company and Applesnapz were the exhibitors who reaped the rewards of their first ANUGA.

ANUGA is the largest trade show in the international food and drink calendar, offering huge opportunities combined with huge challenges to first-time exhibitors trying to get noticed. Exhibiting as part of FFB’s British pavilion enabled the new East of England exhibitors to get advice on how best to attract buyers to their stand, and benefit from FFB’s work to promote the British pavilion as a whole.

It can take time for contacts made at international trade shows to mature into concrete business, but the East of England exhibitors already have some positive results to report.

New Middle East business for Coles Traditional Foods
Coles Traditional Foods, manufacturers of Christmas puddings and other products of distinction, will be sending twice as much product to the Middle East after a meeting with a client saw them double their existing order for Coles’ non-alcoholic Christmas pudding. Coles’ presentation of a new product, a fruit cake, impressed the same buyer so much that it was added to their ANUGA order.

Bill Bouzan, Export Manager at Coles Traditional Foods, felt that the show had been a success for the company. “It was a good show and we’d do it again. It was good to be part of the British pavilion. FFB did their job very well in making sure visitors knew about us, so people came to see us. We got some good hits and are getting some great responses from new and existing clients. We were also able to show our new Guinness range of Christmas puddings, for which we are the sole licensee, to selected buyers, which worked really well.”

“Exhibiting at a show like ANUGA is so worthwhile because it lets your clients see, touch and taste your products – you can never beat that, it’s prime selling.”

Latvia’s new taste for Boaters’ flavoured coffee
ANUGA was the first international exhibition for the team at Boaters Flavoured Coffee Company. The Bedford-based manufacturer of flavoured coffees found it to be a very worthwhile experience.

The Boaters team is still in conversation with more than ten new prospective clients they met at ANUGA. An early success has left them optimistic, as a new client from Latvia was so impressed with his first immediate order of Boaters’ flavoured bean range, he has already re-ordered the product, which has flown off the shelves in 50 stores across the country.
Andrea Rowlands, one of the Boaters team who attended ANUGA, was delighted about their experience. “It took a while to kick off on the first day, which made us wonder if we’d done the right thing, but when it picked up we got some very positive prospects. We’re very glad we went and would certainly consider future shows.”

Wild Meat Company set for a sold-out 2008 season
Suffolk-based Wild Meat Company supplies a range of award-winning freshly-prepared game. ANUGA was the first experience of an international trade show for the company, which employs fewer than ten people.
Robert Gooch, the Wild Meat Company’s founder, was delighted with his experience of the show. “We had a very good show with over 100 good leads. Our market is seasonal, running from September to Christmas, so the October show was a great opportunity to set up leads for next September. So we are all looking towards next season with confidence!”

Snapz snapped up in Europe
Stuart Cattermole, Director of Snapz Crisps, manufacturers of low-fat apple and vegetable crisps, has already had orders from two major multiples from the show. He commented: “As a result of ANUGA, we’ve had a lot of enquiries, particularly in Europe, and we have since then successfully received an order from a large supermarket chain in Germany, which has 275 stores nationwide, and a 315-strong supermarket chain in Sweden. We’re also concluding negotiations with distributors in France, and we really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with existing contacts we’d met at previous shows.”

“It was our first ANUGA, as we’ve always exhibited at much smaller shows in the past. I was quite surprised by how busy we were, and by how many quality contacts we made. It was definitely a great opportunity and very useful show.”

Richard Sainter, Client Development Manager at Food from Britain, is delighted, but not surprised, at the companies’ success. “Our team has huge experience in advising companies taking their first steps into international business, so we knew that the East of England companies had what it takes to make it at an exhibition like ANUGA. The funding from EEDA has made their success possible. Given the increasingly difficult market in the UK, it’s becoming even more important for companies to consider the international potential of their products. The UK economy may be slowing, but overseas markets such as the Gulf States, Russia and Central Europe are booming, and quality British producers are in a great position to take advantage of this.”

For more information on how FFB can help you grow your international business, contact Richard Sainter on rsainter@foodfrombritain.co.uk or visit our international network pages for more information on particular markets.