Food Processing - June 2008 - (Page 9)

By dave Fusaro, editor in Chief e d i t o r ’ s p l at e let’s bring back a grand grocery products show the old FMi shows had a circus-like atmosphere full of personalities. ’m mourning the passing of an old and dear friend. For 15 years, one of the surest signs of spring for me in the unpredictable season-changing of Chicago has been the early-May arrival of the FMI Supermarket Show. My first FMI Show was “only” 1994, but it’s hard to forget the childlike awe of walking into a building as big as Chicago’s McCormick Place to find free food samples from one end of the building to the other. These weren’t just any food products. They certainly were not low sodium/zero trans fat/fiber-enhanced/whole-grain prototypes, since most of those issues were not yet on the radar screen (although I do remember fat-free Snackwells). These were the best, most decadent things the product development labs could turn out, from such companies as HaagenDazs, Ben & Jerry’s, Nabisco and Keebler. It was like the spring fashion show of new food products. Every food processor had its most delectable things on display, all of them brand-new for the spring grocery season. All were meant to tempt the attendees, all grocers, into making room for them on their store shelves. Although the food products alone were quite enough to make the show a hit, there was more. Chicago Cubs and Bears legends posed for photos. Betty Crocker signed copies of her cookbook. Pillsbury Bake-Off winners passed out recipes. FDA Commissioner David Kessler used FMI to explain the new Nutrition Facts panel. Ben (Cohen) and Jerry (Greenfield) in tie-dyed T-shirts were scooping out their latest concoction. That was the 1990s. The FMI show has been in decline for a few years now. There is no Haagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry’s, Nabisco or Keebler anymore. I recall one year noticing Sara Lee was missing. The next year it was Heinz. A year later Tyson was AWOL. And it’s been many years since I saw a CEO of a large food company attend. Important trade shows seem to get caught in a vicious circle, partly the fault of the exhibitors, who feel the need to make a bigger splash each year. Trade show costs go up every year, I’m sure, but that’s exacerbated by burgeoning booths of companies trying to make an impression. “Exhibiting with a smaller booth than you had last year sends a negative signal to people,” one exhibitor at this year’s show told me. “It’s better to not show up than to show up small.” foodprocessing.com i Chicago’s McCormick Place is to blame, too. People involved in trade shows and we Chicago-area residents have heard the stories of the trade unions at the hall charging obscene amounts for plugging in an electric cord. Chicago unwittingly is at fault, too, just for being itself. An attendee at this year’s FMI Show told me, “Chicago’s great, but going to the same town for 26 years gets old.” So maybe it was inevitable that the FMI Show would change, perhaps evolve. This year’s show was in Las Vegas in early May, the first time it was outside of Chicago since 1982 (see our report on p.19). Not in the Las Vegas Convention Center, but in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center (which was surprisingly roomy, although it seemed a several-miles walk from the hotel-casino’s front door). Kraft was still there, occupying a Kraft-sized booth, and so were Nestle, CocaCola and Anheuser-Busch (still my 5:00 stop every day). But 11 of the top 15 food processors were missing. The show floor was missing the old excitement. There will be no FMI Supermarket Show at all next year, although FMI will hold some conferences in its place. The new FMI Show will return to the same venue in Las Vegas in 2010. And I’ll be there, if only to hope this was a one-year anomaly. I find it hard to believe there’s no market for a food products show anymore. I wish the food processors, perhaps under the stewardship of Grocery Manufacturers Assn., would collectively create one. Maybe the answer is involving the public in some way. Paying an admission fee to eat all day seems like a reasonable request that could help amortize the costs. And after all, they’re the ones you’re supposed to be impressing. What better way to create demand for a new product and affinity for your brands? Maybe it could move to several large cities. If the car manufacturers can stage an annual auto show – actually several regional ones – with the slump they’re in, so can we. The fashion industry manages several every spring. Somebody call Ben and Jerry and see if they still fit in their tie-dyes. I’ll check with Ernie Banks. dave Fusaro, editor in Chief e-mail: dfusaro@putman.net June 2008 food processing • 9 http://foodprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - June 2008

Food Processing - June 2008 Editor's Plate NewsBites Show Report The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Consumer Taste Test A Bevy of New CEOs Ingredients Packaging Plant Operations MRO Q&A New Supplier Products Toops Scoops Contents

Food Processing - June 2008

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