NEXT March, Northern Ireland’s premier food, drink, retail and hospitality event – IFEX – returns to the Titanic Exhibition Centre and as THE one-stop shop for the hospitality, foodservice and retail sectors in 2018, there’s set to be more ingredients for a successful show than ever before.
Owned by Fresh Montgomery – the company behind IFE, Hotelympia, the Great Hospitality Show and ScotHot – IFEX will retain all of the elements that it’s best known for, while a new partnership with Butchery Excellence Ireland will see the addition of a sister event Meat@IFEX – doubling the original floorspace of IFEX!
Taking place from Tuesday 20th March to Thursday 22nd March, the 2018 event will welcome a host of new exhibitors, who will be on hand to showcase innovative new food and drink products, services, features and exclusive show offers. They will join show sponsors – Flogas and Stephens Catering, alongside seasoned exhibitors who will be making new contacts, meeting current customers, and ultimately generating sales at IFEX 2018 – the biggest and most exciting IFEX trade expo to date.
Caroline McCusker, IFEX Event Manager, Fresh Montgomery explains: “IFEX is firmly-rooted in NI’s hospitality industry and we’ve had a great response to IFEX 2018, with many of Northern Ireland’s biggest names in the foodservice and hospitality sectors already securing their space. Their on-going commitment to the show underpins the return that IFEX delivers for exhibitors and how important exhibiting at IFEX is to securing sales and making new contacts.
“IFEX has always been an excellent show with a vibrant mix of suppliers, buyers, chefs, competitors and features, and the forthcoming event will be no exception. We have partnered with NI company, Butchery Excellence Ireland, to add an international dimension to IFEX with the addition of a sister show – Meat@IFEX – and the arrival of the World Butchers’ Challenge. Team Ireland is set to be announced within the coming weeks, and they’ll be competing against an incredible 11 international teams who are all travelling to Northern Ireland for the World Butchers’ Challenge.”
With over 70% of show space already secured, confirmed exhibitors include show stalwarts – Stephen’s Catering, Henderson Foodservice, Hugh Jordon, BD Foods, Bunzl McLaughlin, JD Catering Supplies, Lynas Foodservice, Nestle (Ireland), North South Retail and Unilever Ireland. There are many new names committed to IFEX 2018 including The Galgorm Group, Dairyglen Products, Uniformal, Reach Retail Services and Rentokil Initial.
Damien Barrett, Managing Director at Henderson Foodservice said; “Following on from a successful IFEX Exhibition in 2016, we are really looking forward to the show returning early next year. It’s incredibly important for us to not only see all of the sector’s latest trends and equipment under one roof, but to also provide a strong presence with our business offer.
“We have just launched an exciting refresh to our brand with a vibrant new identity and proposition, ‘Quality is Served.’ We are eager to share this with leading industry figures and to engage with our customers and suppliers on delivering quality service and experience. As always, we will be bringing our complete product portfolio to IFEX which includes the very best of local, national and exclusive Country Range brands.”
As one of Northern Ireland’s longest running trade exhibitions, IFEX attracts over 6,000 visitors from the food, retail and hospitality sectors over three days. With a strong history of being the stomping ground for talented young culinarians, skills is high on the agenda, with the Salon Culinaire raising the bar in terms of culinary expertise in Northern Ireland.
IFEX 2018 is taking place on the 20th – 22nd March 2018 at the Titanic Exhibition Centre.
Visitor registration has just gone live and readers can get free tickets via: https://ifex18-visitor.reg.buzz/RetailVoices
