Fine Food Sydney Success
The recent Fine Food show in Sydney has been
declared a huge success by exhibitors and visitors.

For the first time the show filled all six halls of the exhibition centre, as well as three halls of the nearby Wharf 8 complex. There were almost 1000 exhibitors from around the world.

The new tighter entrance policy saw visitor numbers actually drop for the first time. However this was accompanied by a significant lift in quality. The final number was 24,600 (CAB Audited).

Next year the show returns to Melbourne from 22-25 September. Bookings are already well advanced with record interest from local and international exhibitors.

Exhibitor brochures will be mailed to previous participants in the coming weeks. Online visitor registration will be available from 1 February.

New Liquor Laws Announced
Restaurants and small bars in NSW will be allowed to serve
alcohol without food under a radical shake-up of the state's
liquor laws announced earlier this month.

It will also be cheaper for premises to apply for a license.
The licence fee for a small bar will drop from $15,000 to $500. The social impact assessment process will also be dropped.

Penalties for venues and staff who repeatedly serve alcohol
to underage and intoxicated people will be doubled.

The Premier Morris Iemma hailed the proposed changes
as a dramatic transformation of Sydney's drinking culture
that would create a "true cosmopolitan city".

Star in Queensland
This week saw The Good Food & Wine Show run in Queensland for the third time, attracting a record crowd of 13,000 eager consumers.

Next year the trade version Fine Food Queensland will run from 9-11 March. This event only runs every second year and is strictly trade only. If you are looking to improve your retail or hospitality business in the north of Australia then this is the show you need to attend. There will be around 250 exhibitors and 8,000 visitors.

Next year sees a number of new features including a salon culinaire, a hotel manager’s forum, a restaurant workshop and totally new floorplan. Current exhibitors include Simplot, Dairy Farmers, Tasmania, KR Castlemaine, Bidvest, Top Cut, Nespresso and
Solomons. Equipment exhibitors will include Australian Fine China, Moffat, Comcater, Stoddart, Spilsbury, JL Lennard and Williams.

Also new this year will be a special section for wine suppliers. New licensing regulations will allow wine producers to show and sample their products to the trade as part of Fine Food. Contact the organisers for package details.

The Food Map
The Food Map is a remarkable new study that looks at the different ways that food reaches consumers in Australia.

The report covers the retail, convenience and foodservice sectors. It literally maps the journey a range of key food groups make on their way from production to end user. It also assesses the capacity of different food industries to understand their market, develop innovative products and diversify their product range.

The report was commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and is available free from their website.

Ramsay confirmed for
Good Food & Wine
It has just been confirmed that Gordon Ramsay will be appearing for the first time at The Good Food & Wine Show in Sydney next year.

Gordon Ramsay is a chef, author, Michelin star restaurateur, bar owner and television celebrity. His passion and colourful language are legendary. Through his series ‘Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares’ he has become the scourge of bad chefs throughout England.

The Good Food & Wine Show is a consumer event that runs annually in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. It offers companies the chance to show and sell their products directly to thousands of consumers.

Exhibitor tips
This quarter we focus on your best tradeshow tool – your staff.

Get your staff together before the show to discuss the
event, the stand and the people they are likely to meet.

Share your objectives with all the staff. Let them know
why you are at the show and what you want to achieve.

Get them excited. Offer rewards if they meet team or
personal objectives. For example 50 good leads might equal a half hour massage.

Discuss some basic stand techniques. For example how
to welcome buyers and to engage them with open ended
questions.

Remember to look after your staff onsite. Give them
regular breaks and encourage (at least a few) early nights and healthy food.

Final Exhibitor Training Sessions
After five years of running very successful training sessions
for exhibitors Colin Green is taking a break. His final sessions
will be staged in:

Sydney (Tuesday 27 November)
Melbourne (Wednesday 28 November)
Perth (Thursday 29 November)
Auckland (Thursday 6 December) and
Brisbane (Tuesday 11 December)

These sessions have proven enormously valuable for
companies who attend. They show you how to make the
most out of exhibitions and transform your results. The price
for a full day including lunch is only $399 which is bargain.

Retail Expo
Retail Expo is a dedicated exhibition for the retail industry. This year it ran in Melbourne from 14-16 August and attracted over 5000 retailers and shopfitters looking to improve their business.

The show features a full range of technology, shopfitting,
security, signage and business services. It is essentially
everything that goes into a shop except the stock.

Next year the show returns to Sydney after two years. It will run from 12-14 August at Darling Harbour. A new feature will be ‘green design’.

Exhibitor brochures have just been mailed and visitor
registration will open on 1 January.