Feedback on fair prompts changes
This year's Fast Food Fair will see many changes, following feedback from the show's advisory committee.
The committee was formed after Fast Food Fair 93 by organiser Reed Exhibitions. It represents a cross-section of regular exhibitors, ranging from Britvic Soft Drinks and Barbecue King, to the Meat and Livestock Commission and the Mobile & Outside Caterers Association.
Their task has been to gather feedback from last year's fair. As a result of their findings, the Fast Food Fair 94 will include the following innovations.
On the right track
To begin with, visitors will find it easier than before to find their way around the show. Reed Exhibitions has created a specially redesigned floor plan, as a result of recommendations made by the committee.
Each level will be colour-coded - carpeted in red, blue or gold to guide visitors to the exhibitors they want to see. In addition, the stands will be numbered in a logical order, allowing visitors to find their way through the fair without missing anything which could prove vital to their business.
There will also be "You Are Here" boards situated at key points around the fair.
Sponsored by exhibitors, these boards will not only let visitors know which part of the fair they have reached, but will also inform them of events going on nearby. Regular audio announcements will give advance warning of special attractions, such as competitions in the Live Cookery Theatre.
Who's who
Exhibitors at the Fast Food Fair 94 will have an even clearer picture than before about the type of visitor the fair attracts, thanks to detailed research by Market Research Solutions (MRSL).
Visitor attendance figures at the Fast Food Fair are audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), ensuring that they are 100% reliable.
All this information is made available to exhibitors, helping them to target their marketing efforts before, during and after the fair.
In 1993, around 6,000 of the 14,000 visitors said the Fast Food Fair was the only exhibition they attended. MRSL found that 84% said they would be interested in visiting again.
More than 9,500 visitors last year were buyers, and 80% of all visitors either placed an order or planned to do so.
Take-away and home delivery operators, independent restaurants, pub caterers and contract and institutional caterers were among the largest number of visitors, says ABC.
Together these sectors accounted for nearly 40% of visitors alone, with hotels, chain restaurants, snack bars and leisure centres making up the remainder.
Visitors came not only from London and the South-east but also the Midlands and the North, the South-west and even Scotland, Northern Ireland, Europe and the USA.
See August 25 for Caterer's debate Fast Food in the Year 2000
