New England Produce Council Cape Cod show to be in bigger location

Retail produce executives and others are sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod as the New England Produce Council's yearly produce show moves to a larger venue in the land of sand dunes and salty air.

High industry interest is expected to mark this year's incarnation of the Burlington, Mass.-based council's produce and floral expo, Sept. 21-23 at the Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club in Brewster, Mass.

The show is promoted as an educational and fun trade event and organizers are promising attendees increased opportunities to see new products, meet new contacts and learn how to better sell their products while enjoying Cape Cod.

"It will allow the retailers and wholesalers a platform to build relationships and find opportunities to grow sales with the largest produce buyers in the industry," said council president Anthony Sattler, vice president of produce and floral procurement for Hatfield, Mass.-based C&S Wholesale Grocers.

"As I've grown throughout the industry with various levels of responsibility, I've always looked forward to the NEPC expo to see the latest items, discuss with growers the latest trends and find opportunities to partner and build relationships."

The show helps buyers and sellers collaborate in growing sales, organizers say.

"The show is a great opportunity to showcase your products and get some face time with key decision makers in the industry and learn more about what's going on in the industry with the keynote presentations and a consumer panel," said Laura Sullivan, the council's executive director.

"It will be educational for everyone, the retailers, foodservice people and all the vendors exhibiting their products."

This will be the third year the council plans to host the 17th annual conference outside of Boston, and organizers expect strong industry turnout.

The show has grown every year since it relocated to Cape Cod and Sullivan said she expects around 1,000 retailers, foodservice personnel, grower-shippers, wholesalers, distributors, brokers, marketers and other produce industry people.

"We have some new retail attendance this year, which has to do with the feedback from last year," Sullivan said.

"There will be larger retail attendance this year and we are expecting more retail groups. We have some new companies that have never attended that are interested in attending."

The show attracts retailers and others from New England and the Northeast and the Eastern Seaboard, but for the first time, Texas retailers plan to participate, she said.

"For a lot of years, the show was specifically (for) the New England buyers, but now it's spreading out," Sullivan said.

While attendees enjoyed last year's show, the Chatham Bars Inn in Chatham, Mass., wasn't a large enough venue to host all of the show on the property, and some participants were housed in other hotels, she said.

The Ocean Edge Resort's acres of property on the shores of Cape Cod can adequately host the show, which includes a tented expo scheduled for Sept. 22, Sullivan said.

Being less spread out than last year, the new venue should offer closer proximity for the show's events, said expo committee member Bruce Klein, director of marketing for Maurice A. Auerbach Inc., Secaucus, N.J.

Last year went well and council members received a lot of positive response from the retail and foodservice attendees, he said.

When they learned how well the show went, the council heard from many that didn't attend later regret not attending, Klein said."This year's will be a big and packed event," Klein said. "The show offers an intimate setting where a lot of networking can be done. The resort atmosphere helps because people tend to be more relaxed."The show is important because of the prominence of the New England market, he said.

"The New England market is one of the biggest markets in the country and one of the largest markets you can sell to," Klein said.

"It's extremely important because it's so large and so diversified. The New York market is huge but when you add New England to it, and most of the Eastern Seaboard, it becomes even more important because many people live here."