Hotelympia goes east

Claire Finch has undoubtedly put some noses out of joint since she took charge of organising Hotelympia and Hospitality Week two-and-a-half years ago.

First, she cut the salon culinaire from Hospitality Week, the second-largest event of its kind in the UK. Then she announced that Hotelympia was leaving its home of 12 years and heading east to ExCel. Was it really necessary to make such radical changes?

"We have to continue evolving," Finch says, "which is only right and proper for an industry that is evolving itself. People felt I was making changes willy-nilly, but, believe me, that would be a very foolish thing to do."

Finch, you see, is all too aware of the "told-you-sos" that will swamp her if it all goes wrong - and of the challenge to cement Hotelympia's reputation as the biggest international food service trade show in the UK. But while some believe she has just rocked the boat unnecessarily, she is adamant she simply wants to improve what the show has to offer.

The problem, she says, lay with Earls Court. "We had used up every last metre of space," she says. Added to that was the venue's two-floor set up, which was "a headache to arrange effectively. We tried reversing escalators so they only went up and colour-coding entrances - but encouraging visitors to go upstairs was always difficult."

Then ExCel came along, with its huge halls and simple floor plan - allowing Finch to develop more ideas for the show. "I wanted to increase the food presence, but you are never going to attract anything if you tell them they are being squeezed into a tiny corner," she explains. "Food used to be about 25% of the Earls Court show, but the perspective was still that it was an equipment show."

The new-look Hotelympia at ExCel ("don't worry, the name isn't going to change," Finch laughs) will therefore see enlarged Speciality Food, Scottish and Welsh Development pavilions. The Speciality Food pavilion in particular will take pride of place, out of the dark recesses of previous years and into the front of the food and drink hall.

"Chefs want to see quirky, exciting and interesting products," she says. "Even the food and beverage directors of the big organisations, while they can't buy from Tiddly Winks Cakes Ltd, still have a passion for food. Very often the speciality food is where the inspiration comes from."

Inspiration can also be found at another new feature called the Skillery, aimed at people who want to create a more innovative menu or make their offering stand out from the crowd. Headed by the Craft Guild of Chefs, and featuring speakers such as chefs Paul Gayler and Peter Gordon, the feature will look at skills, products and how both can be used with imagination to transform your business.

"It's about looking deeper than a cookery demonstration," Finch says. "Visitors say they want to see innovation, but that can be hard if exhibitors are coy about going public with something new. With the Skillery they can see something that's guaranteed to be exciting."

Of course, cooking will play its part. Finch made a lot of enemies after she axed the salon culinaire from Hospitality Week, and she smiles knowingly when the subject is brought up. Has the dust settled? "Yes, I think it has," she replies.

"I understood the passion that chefs felt for those competitions and I understood that in their eyes I was taking away a platform for younger chefs," she continues. "But my commitment is to delivering for visitors."

However, the changes that saw the culinary theatre arise out of the salon's ashes at Hospitality Week will not be implemented at Hotelympia. "It will remain relatively untouched," Finch says.

How untouched, exactly? "I felt I wanted to make it more accessible," she explains. "As a newcomer to the industry I saw an enormous amount of enthusiasm, commitment and passion - but behind closed doors and not talked about a great deal."

Finch says she couldn't understand the six-foot walls and stewards on the door, "intimidating younger people or those who weren't familiar with what goes on inside - it was like a club."

So she has bought this year's salon "and its buzz" into the heart of the show, without the walls. "I want everyone to see what goes on in there because I think it's amazing," she says. "Why do I want to hide our light under a bushel?" Apart from that she promises she has made no more changes to the salon: "And there it will rest!"

Changes have, however, been made to the New Product Awards. To encourage manufacturers and suppliers who would otherwise keep things under wraps until the show itself, entries will be accepted later, then paper judged to provide a shortlist, which will be judged at the event - IFE-style.

Other features will include a Grab ‘n' Go zone, for the growing convenience and vending sectors; Bar Scene, for the drinks industry, including a new competition programme called Bar Excellence for bartenders; Hostec, focusing on technology; and an area dedicated to the latest design projects, Design Link, with speakers including Sir Terence Conran and design supremo David Collins, and a focus on gardens and spas. "That's where the industry is looking for additional revenue - and if that is what the industry is focusing on, that's what Hotelympia should be reflecting," Finch says.

Is there a danger of trying to cover too much, though? "Hotelympia has always been a very broad-based event," she says. "But when I looked at what I call the editorial side of the show, which is the features not the stands, they were all food related - salon culinaire, La Parade des Chefs, salon display - which is great, but there are other people who come who might say that there is nothing here for me. So that's what I was trying to address."

This means that there will inevitably be differences with Hospitality Week, which will also be subject to one last surprise from Finch - a name change. It's not drastic, just a cut to "Hospitality" - to reflect the fact that it does not actually last a week. "Hospitality is a smaller show, more business focused, a show where people place orders," she says, "whereas Hotelympia, because of its size to some extent, is more of a showcase where people see products and start forming decisions - though they might not place orders."

The vision is to have two different shows ("it's very important not to offer the same show twice to visitors") - but she is careful not to dress up Hotelympia as the glamorous older sister of a younger more workmanlike brother, Hospitality.

"Size on this occasion is not important," she says. "I don't know if it means anything to the vast majority of people to say that there will be an extra 5,000 square metres of space at this year's Hotelympia. It's about content. Hotelympia is an all-singing, all-dancing event, but there is no point if it doesn't wring results," she says.

Well, the industry expects. The move will be greeted with a great deal of curiosity and comment, and, despite her confidence, Finch admits to being just a little scared. "Right now we've still got a big job to do - all I want is to remind people not to jump into the cab and say "Olympia" which is still what they call it and why for the past 10 years they have still turned up at Olympia! - which is fine when its only a short hop across to Earls Court, but all of a sudden its going to be across the other side of town. Hotelympia at Excel, that's all people need to remember."

Hotelympia 2004

Dates: Monday 23 to Friday 27 February 2004
Venue: ExCel, London Docklands
Opening times: 9.30am to 5.30pm (Friday 9.30am to 4pm)
To register: telephone 0870 4294644 or visit www.hotelympia.com
Nearest transport link: Custom House (Docklands Light Railway; Custom House (Silverlink train); Canning Town (Jubilee line underground)