Speciality & Fine Food Fair reveals seminar line-up and award finalists

Taking place on the 5th and 6th of September, the Speciality & Fine Food Fair will transform London’s Olympia into a thriving event for fine food retailers, producers and suppliers. 

This year, the fair will kick off with a session from Charles Banks of thefoodpeople and Kelly Dowson of Good Sense Research taking a deep dive into the latest trends in sustainability and ESG in food and drink, followed by an in-depth session with Artisan Food Club’s Marcus Carter, Holtwhites Bakery’s Kate Smith and Jan Robijns of The Broadway Deli & Grocery as they look at how personalised customer service can lead to an increase in total basket spend.

The Food for Thought Stage will also see a session hosted by WGSN’s head of food and drink Jennifer Creevy, who will be joined by Liam Jones of food sharing app Olio, and Olympia London’s Abbey Short as they discuss tackling surplus food in the retail sector – a significant issue for the industry due to the knock-on effect of the war in Ukraine. 

New additions
Something new for this year’s fair is the Taste the Trends Kitchen, which will see consultant and chef Steve Walpole exploring various trends in food and drink and working with partners including the Guild of Fine Food and the World Charcuterie Awards.  

Across the two days of the event, Walpole will be exploring the healthy food movement, the influences of Japanese and Korean food and drink on Western cuisine, plant-based foods and what it means to be producing ethical products.  

Newly launched food and drink brands will also be highlighted as part of Pitch Live, sponsored by Virgin StartUp, which will give three exhibiting suppliers the chance to pitch their products to a panel of industry experts.

Awards shortlist
The Speciality & Fine Food Fair judges have now shortlisted the finalists for the event’s awards. Public voting is now open to let fine foodies make the final decision, closing on the 25th of August with the results announced on day one of the fair.

The judges for this year’s awards were Scott Winston, buying manager at Mindful Chef; Adrian Boswell, food buyer at Selfridges; Bruce Langlands, management consultant; Stephen Minall, owner of Moving Food and Vhari Russell, managing director at The Food Marketing Experts.

Speaking about the awards, Nicola Woods, event manager at the fair, commented, “After launching last year, the Speciality & Fine Food Fair Awards are back bigger and better for 2022. We’ve had a huge number of really fantastic entries and the judges had their work cut out narrowing all these amazing individuals, products and businesses down to a final shortlist.

“We can’t wait to celebrate the winner at this year’s edition of the fair, see you soon and get voting!”

Find out more about all the finalists, and place your vote here.