New England produce show expo close to selling out

This year's trade show at the New England Produce Council's Produce and Floral Expo promises participants marketing and networking opportunities and the chance to view new products.

The expo is scheduled for Sept. 22 in a tent on the front lawn of the mansion at the Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club in Brewster, Mass.

The number of exhibitors at the expo, which is part of the Sept. 21-23 show, is similar to last year at 126.

However, because the trade show is to be in a tent, space is limited, said Laura Sullivan, the Burlington, Mass.-based council's executive director.

In mid-August, exhibitor interest was high and Sullivan said only a limited number of booths were still available.

The organization maintained a waiting list last year, she said.

Interest in the show has increased since 2014, when the council revamped its one-day spring event to a multi-day fall event on Cape Cod in Newport, R.I., Sullivan said.

"We have received a lot of positive feedback from the expo and show," Sullivan said.

"Each year, it's grown. We are getting probably the same number of attendees but the quality of the participants has increased. The exhibitors want to get in front of the decision makers. Getting those decision makers to the event is important."

Networking is one of the key benefits of the expo, said council president Anthony Sattler, vice president of produce and floral procurement for Hatfield, Mass.-based C&S Wholesale Grocers.

"Extremely strong relationships have been proven (at the show)," he said. "It's been very well-attended. The largest chain retailers and independent retailers and everything in between walk the aisles and visit with the different grower-shippers and packers and gain insight as to what's important to the retailers, what's important for the growers and how together we can continue to grow sales throughout the parameter of the store."

Last year's trade show was successful and saw high participation, said expo committee member Bruce Klein, director of marketing for Maurice A. Auerbach Inc., Secaucus, N.J.

"The expo was really good," he said. "It's a relatively small and smaller expo than some of the other ones, but it gives buyers more time to spend at each booth."

A breakfast is scheduled for Sept. 22, followed by the expo, which is scheduled to open at 9 a.m. and run to 3 p.m.

A sunset sail is scheduled for later that evening.

On Sept. 23, leisure activities including Cape Cod sail excursions, golf, fishing, whale watching, spa treatments and shopping are scheduled. The Ocean Edge Resort resides on a 400-acre estate overlooking Cape Cod Bay in a historic 1890s mansion.

Learn more about the conference at http://bit.ly/2atXj64