The very first edition of the London Produce Show, organised by The Fresh Produce Consortium and Produce Business Magazine (PBM), was held last week between 4 and 6 June. According to Jim Prevor, of PBM, “the response to the exhibition has been extraordinary in a really positive way, as it has attracted a nice combination of people from all portions of the industry: retail, fruit service, wholesale, production and support services. It’s very unusual to get all these people in one place at one time.”
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Mr Prevor explains that “part of what we do is bring people together to look for new opportunities, and another part is learning to share intellectually; maybe they won’t do business together, but they will learn about innovations in packaging, desk practices or equipment, so there are many ways in which visitors can profit from an event like this; buying and selling produce is just one of them. Around 10% of the visitors were from North America.”
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The event counted with the presence of groups of Russian and Scandinavian retailers and a large Middle Eastern contingent, from places like Egypt, Dubai, Saudi Arabia or Qatar. “Who will end up being in the audience is difficult to say, but our heart and soul is right here in the United Kingdom and we will see how it goes from there,” assures Mr Prevor.
“We will strive to make it better each year, but focusing on the intimacy of the interaction; the ability to visit each and every one of the exhibitors. Our goal is to look for quality people to interact with quality vendors to create the environment that is conducive to that kind of discussion,” affirms Jim Prevor.
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