Earlier this month, the Leisure F&B Expo returned to the NEC, Birmingham bringing together exhibitors, speakers, and suppliers from across the industry.

The two day event ran alongside three long-established shows: Farm Business Innovation, Holiday Park & Resort and Family Attraction Expo, to provide a business owners with advice on funding and grants, new products and services, troubleshooting and business tips, plus marketing tools and networking opportunities through keynote sessions.

Our Managing Director, Alex Demetriou spent a day at the show meeting face-to-face with Regency suppliers, brand owners and customers. Alex shares his thoughts on this year’s event:

"The Leisure F&B Expo provided a perfectly-timed opportunity for our industry to reconnect and meet up in person to discuss our challenges, success stories and plans for the future.

It was fantastic to see such a diverse range of exhibitors and it was pleasing to witness such high levels of footfall and such a positive, buzzing atmosphere – it really felt like the trade had finally returned to some form of normality.

I had some extremely interesting conversations during the show and I was impressed, and somewhat pleasantly surprised, by the number of business owners and decision makers who attended.

It was great to learn about some of the new products coming onto the market, with my personal favourites coming from two of our suppliers; I saw some great product innovation from Sibylla and I am hugely excited about the arrival of the new Reese’s frozen and hot drink concepts arriving in Spring 2022."

Following the event, Alex then went on to deliver a presentation to 30 farm attraction businesses focusing on food trends and providing business owners with advice on how to navigate some of the current market challenges. If you'd like to find out more about either of these topics, please get in touch.