We've just returned from the three-day Speciality & Fine Food Fair in Olympia. We signed up in late 2013 on the back of a recommendation from Hazel at Eat Toast Dunk Me - we've been stall neighbours at Twelseldown Artisan Market many times, trading supplier advice and war stories. Hazel launched her marshmallow business at the 2013 show and it worked out great for her, so we took up a stand in the small producer village for the 2014 event. Being right at the start of our business journey, we wanted to keep costs to an absolute minimum, and the 2m x 1m stand was the most we could afford.

Preparation

Whilst we made our booking a good 9 months before the event, September (show month!) was upon us before we knew it. We bought some IKEA shelving, marked out the stand size with duct tape at BakedIn HQ and set up the basic stand. The first thing that jumped out at us was just how small 2mx1m is - it's TINY! Nevertheless, the shelving gave us plenty of space to display our 4 product ranges. We got some PVC banners printed for the sides, built some display stands out of foamboard and designed some flyers explaining our range. We also got some team T-shirts printed up so we could subtly advertise our brand as we roamed around the exhibition hall. We'd already been to a prep day where Clare from Monkhouse PR shared some great tips for exhibiting so we prepared a press release to upload to the shows webpages to boost our visability.

We had to build the stand the day before the show started, so a trip up to Olympia on Saturday lunchtime, 3 hours of unloading and assembly, some minor modifications from the event set up team and we were good to go. The last time I was at Olympia was for the ski show in 2002 - it was a little surreal being back in there setting up a stand of my own. 

At the show

We rented a house about 15 minutes away in Richmond using AirBnB - we needed somewhere with a kitchen that we could bake more samples in if we ran out, so a hotel just wouldn't do the job. It worked well (apart from getting stuck in traffic for and hour on day 2). We used Just Park to book somebody's driveway a 5 minute walk from the venue and that worked very well too. Sharing a house with 2 ladies and only 1 bath meant military planning of bathroom time was required, but I am sure if either of them were writing this blog they would have plenty of complaints about me ;o)  It worked out cheaper than 2 hotel rooms and the drive wasn't too bad to the venue.

We had hugely over-prepared with samples - it turned out the vast amount of food on offer for tasting meant that lots of people passed up on our brownies and cookies. Better to have some left over than to run out though, and given the investment in both time and money in the show we wanted to get the maximum benefit from it - running out would have been a disaster! At the start of the show, being exhibition novices, we talked enthusiastically to everyone that walked up to our stand, giving them the full sales pitch often to then find out they were another exhibitor and in some cases a competitor who had concealed their badge. We rapidly developed eagle-eyed skills at spotting from a distance whether people were visitors or other exhibitors and modified our opening exchanges to try to find out quickly who we were talking to. We'd opted against the barcode scanner for taking people's details, so used a notebook to collect people's business cards and make details of who we'd like to follow up with after the show.

There were some excellent business seminars put on during the event, and we attended great sessions including Bruce Langlands form Harrods, Paul Hargreaves from Cotswold Fayre and Jane Milton. We were also fortunate to have mentoring sessions with some great people in the food industry. A number of other companies in the home-baking market were dotted around the exhibition hall, and we met Tania and Phillipa from Sweetpea Pantry, who were lovely - we are looking forward to chatting to them more as our respective businesses grow.

Industrial sabotage
Meeting our competitors wasn't an entirely positive experience however. On the balcony level of the hall was an exhibitor lounge, where you could take a break and enjoy some coffee from the lovely folk at Union Coffee and crisps from Ten Acre (thanks guys - caffeine and crisps were a lifesaver!). There was also a table where you could leave samples of your products for the press and media to look at in case they were interested in writing about them - we put a couple of our products up there alongside probably another hundred or so brands. Whilst taking a break in the lounge on day 2, I watched somebody (who ran a business I did not consider in direct competition, but loosely related to us) walk over to the table and pick up our product. She started walking off with it, but after maybe 5 yards saw me, swiftly turned round, walked back to the table and put it back down. To say I was angry was an understatement - this person was prepared to not only steal our product, but also take it away from the attention of the press (which was the intention of the display). She also had another product in her hand, which I couldn't make out clearly from where I was sat. I watched her take the packaging off it, discard the product and then walk out with the cardboard sleeve hidden under a napkin. I was struggling to compute what I just saw and part of me feels bad for not stepping in, but I didn't know for sure what she was doing. Even if I had known, I don't think making a scene in front of potential customers and the press would have been a great idea... We've had competitors order our products off our website and always happily send them out to them - it's flattering they want to see what we are up to. The presentation I went to from Jane Milton advised buying every one of your competitors products and evaluating them, so you really know your competition well. This is great advice - business is business and competition is healthy - just do it ethically.

Home time
5pm on Tuesday came around fast. In some ways the exhibition hall felt like home, but we were all physically and mentally exhausted and looking forward to getting back to our own beds! As everyone started breaking down their stands, a big swapsies session took place. We got our hands on some great products in exchange for some of our mug brownies and baking kits - everyone wins :). Repacking the car was a challenge, seeing as we had one more person to fit in than on Saturday set up, but being an 80s child my Tetris skills are second to none and we just squeezed it all in!

We loved our time at Speciality (as the veterans seem to refer to it) - we met lots of potential new stockists, including some big names, and made some great new friends. It was a very well run event and we've already booked our place for next year! We'd highly recommend it, so drop us a line if you are thinking of exhibiting and would like to talk more about our experience.