LAS VEGAS– As a blessing to an industry still recovering from the effects of the pandemic, Damn Americaa new trade show bringing together the entire food and beverage community, will debut at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) March 22-24.
The show is the only event in the United States that spans 10 sectors of the food and beverage industry, bringing together importers, distributors, food service companies, wholesalers and retailers. It is also the first large-scale, general food trade show focused on supporting the $1.5 trillion U.S. food and beverage market.
SIAL America is a collaboration between Emerald Holding, Inc., which organizes more than 140 live events focused on B2B platforms, and Comexposium, one of the world’s leading event organizers and owner of the SIAL brand. The SIAL brand includes 10 international food events in France, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, India, China, Algeria and Indonesia, which together bring together more than 700,000 attendees and 16,000 exhibitors each year.
“This is a great collaboration,” said Jessica Blue, executive vice president of Emerald. “It’s exciting to work with another trade show company, and we both bring different strengths. The SIAL team in Paris focuses on international visitors and exhibitors, and we work on the U.S. side.”
SIAL America currently has nearly 200 exhibitors, with registration still open. The show will feature products from the full spectrum of food categories, from organic to snacks, fruits and vegetables to meat. Major brands in attendance include See’s Candies, Touchstone Pistachios, USA Rice and the US Highbush Blueberry Association.
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Sessions are packed, with topics including cooking with CBD oil, the future of organic produce, the impact of COVID on the restaurant industry, and the era of on-demand food, among others.
For its one-on-one meetings, Emerald emphasizes its skills in connecting with a carefully selected pool of buyers. “We think it’s very important, especially in the launch year of SIAL America, that the right buyers are there,” Blue said. “It’s important that exhibitors get the quality of meetings they’re supposed to get, so everything is very well organized in that regard.”
Inaugural Food Industry Week in Las Vegas
SIAL America is one of the elements of the recently announced inauguration Las Vegas Food Industry Weekscheduled for March 21-24 and which will offer four top-notch culinary shows simultaneously at the LVCC. The other three are Emerald International Pizza Showas well as the Bar and restaurant fair (formerly known as Nightclub & Bar Show) and World Tea Conference and Exhibitionboth produced by Questex.
“We are grateful for our partnership with Emerald and Questex and are excited to host the first-ever Las Vegas Food and Beverage Week at the Las Vegas Convention Center,” said Brian Yost, chief operating officer of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which owns and operates the LVCC.
Tim McLucas, Vice President of Questex’s Bar & Restaurant Group, said in a statement: “We are excited to partner with Emerald and the LVCVA to bring together leading food and beverage buyers in one central location to deliver a new, high-value experience that combines key education, product activations and customer interaction.”
At the Bar & Restaurant Expo, attendees will discover the latest trends and solve the challenges facing their businesses, as the World Tea Conference + Expo celebrates its 20th anniversary.th birthday.
Emerald specifically targeted the March dates for SIAL America to align with its Pizza Expo, now in its 38th year.thyear. While hosting a new trade show during the COVID-19 pandemic made the effort more challenging, Blue said having easy access to the LVCC between SIAL America and Pizza Expo for his attendees was important. “There’s a nice synergy between those two shows.”