Christchurch Food Show Report

As I sit at my desk late on a Friday, I feel as though I am getting overrun with ’shows’. Three weeks ago we were at the Christchurch Food Show and in 4 weeks we will be at the Wellington Food Show. In addition, we have just finalised our participation in the new trade show Fine Food NZ and there is still the Auckland Food Show to promote and set up. We are getting faster at setting these shows up but there is still a lot of admin work to do before you spend four days on your feet building and taking down the stand as well as the central aim of meeting new and old customers and generating leads.

So do these shows work? Well Christchurch is the smallest of the consumer shows in that only approximately 10,000 people go but that is reflected in the number of exhibitors – less than 80. Thus overall it feels nearly as busy as the Auckland Food Show. Getting people to enter our ‘Win A Cellar of Wine’ Competition is a little harder but we still managed to get 1350 e mail addresses which we can hopefully persuade to purchase some wine. Auckland yielded 3,500 e mails so there is a significant difference there. However, it was still good to talk to people and I know the wineries that came on the stand were happy. Three of the six have booked for the other shows later in the year and another has re-booked for Christchurch next year. Furthermore, it allows us to meet and chat to wineries – other than those on our stand – and this yielded one participant for the Fine Food NZ Show.

Thus yes it is worthwhile although the rate of return for your investment is lower. Wellington next and am looking forward to seeing the ‘Cake Tin’ – I’m a rugby nut. Should also be interesting to see how a circular venue works. Now where are those comfortable shoes…