Providing specialist food to go options in convenience
MATCHING the demand for food on the go can provide challenges for local convenience retailers.
But having somewhere to start from will help to pick up momentum for stores and ensure retailers can make the most from their food and drink on the go offering.
As such, Sam Henderson, director at Lomond Fine Foods Wholesaler, has shouted out the importance of the firm’s upcoming trade show this month for retailers that are looking to clue up on this wide-ranging category.
Taking place Thursday 18 May in the SEC, Henderson reckons the trade show will help retailers to find the right people with the right knowledge on how to build up an effective food to go section, from the food itself all the way to appropriate packaging.
Henderson said: “We have everything that a retailer looking to get into food to go will need
at this show. And we can help out no matter how big or small your food to go section will be, if it is just hot rolls, such as rolls and bacon, then there will be people there to talk to.
“If you’re looking to build up on your section, then we’ll have plenty of drinks manufacturers to help top that order up – as well as other cooked meats.”
The trade show will include about 90 stands of food and drink specialists that visitors will be able to benefit from.
Providing a specialist insight to the food to go market, the Lomond trade show will help to bring members from across convenience and hospitality together to ensure all of the firms in attendance get a strong platform for their quality products and to tell their story.
And as popularity for the show has grown as well, the firm has made the move to Hall Two inside the SEC, providing them with a larger space to allow more people into the show.
This will allow more attendees and businesses to meet with producers from across the country, from the larger, more well-known firms such as AG Barr as well as smaller local producers that will have their chance to shout about their quality Scottish products on a much larger platform.
This will be especially important for the smaller Scottish firms in attendance at the event, which Henderson was keen to shout out about.
Henderson noted the importance of helping to bring more of a platform for these smaller producers, who would otherwise not get the chance to talk about not only their products but also their own story and innovations.
As evidence of this, Henderson mentioned a recent trip to the Mull that the firm made to help bring the opportunity the trade show presents to more local producers across the whole of Scotland and give them the chance to talk about their own sustainability efforts.
He said: “Our message is that we want to promote more and more sustainability and get as many of our local suppliers in contact with buyers as possible, give them time to talk to each other and taste their products.
“It means people will get to know the name and understand more about the firm itself, too, and that was what our own trip to Mull was about – to get them to understand the process that makes these products more sustainable.
“For example, a local cheese company in Mull said that their grandfather started the business after moving there in 1869 and you can see old pictures of the farm where it was derelict and now the firm has used local materials to help build this farm back up.
“To see it now is phenomenal and, in addition to the cheese, they’ve added in a cafe and are now working to launch a spirit made from the whey, a by-product from the cheese.
“And this whole story you wouldn’t know without actually having the opportunity to talk to the producers.”
