News

BBC Haymarket Exhibitions

01 Dec 2011

BBC Good Food Show Winter - A great success!

The BBC Good Food Show Winter closed its doors on Sunday to its 21st Show. The Show welcomed an audience of around 80,000* food lovers and put on what has been acclaimed as the greatest BBC Good Food Show ever! This year’s editorial line up was the best yet featuring 63 culinary stars across 8 different stages, alongside 400 exhibitors displaying many goods that cannot be found on the high street.

Rachel Poletti-Gadd, BBC Haymarket Divisional Director says “We are overwhelmed at the positive response we have had from visitors and exhibitors this year. Times have been difficult and it’s testament to our team that we produced one of our best ever Shows. We had a great line up of chefs and cooks performing on stage including James Martin, Rick Stein and Gino D’Acampo plus John Torode and Gregg Wallace. Not forgetting celebrity appearances from Chris Evans on the Saturday Kitchen Live stage, Cherie Lunghi and Jimmi Mistry.

Organisers took previous visitor feedback into consideration when planning the Show and took over an extra hall of the NEC to create more space and increase visitor comfort. More seating areas were made available as requested in feedback forms and visitors are contacting organisers to congratulate and let them know what a fantastic Show they had:

@orangemartini visitor, said on twitter…”It certainly is the best I have ever been to, loved every minute of it”

Paul and Susannah Kendrick, visitors, said… “Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant our fifth trip to Birmingham and once again we were not disappointed, thanks for a great Show , Bake off Live being a particular highlight”

@domesticjules, visitor said on Twitter… “More room in the Aisles, lots going on, good choice of stalls.”

Happy visitors led to content exhibitors and this has been reflected in stand rebook which increased year on year:

Dan Twiddy, Fudge Kitchen said…“The show was brilliant for us our best ever BBC Good Food Show. We’re pretty much out of all our normal slab fudge and we’ve successfully launched our new butter fudge so we will definitely be coming back next year”

The Show hosted some world class events including the BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards attended by chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Valentine Warner. Plus the World Cheese Champion 2011 was chosen by a team of experts including Alex James at The World Cheese Awards hosted at the BBC Good Food Show Winter.

Highlights of the Show included

Festive inspiration from live demos - Some of TV’s favourite culinary stars cooked live on stage at the Supertheatre sponsored by Sainsbury’s. Star names included James Martin, who demonstrated an alternative Christmas Dinner, Rick Stein, John Torode and Gregg Wallace, who created his classic Christmas pudding. Plus Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood from the hit TV show, The Great British Bake Off.

Christmas Theatre – Visitors were able to get some great ideas for Christmas treats by joining in a tasting session and learning how to ice a Christmas cake on this stage.

British Theatre – Visitors enjoyed the best British chefs demonstrating with seasonal ingredients and picked up tips on how to make your Christmas a celebration of British food.

Shopping – With over 400 exhibitors it was the perfect place to pick up gifts for friends and family. With some fantastic producers’ including Kelly’s Turkeys, English Provender Company and the Scotland Food and Drink collection of regional producers.

Marks and Spencer Christmas Experience – Marks and Spencer returned once again with an even bigger Christmas theatre – featuring top chefs including Michael Caines giving tips and advice on how to make the most of your culinary skills this Christmas.

Drinks - Drinks cabinet were stocked up with a whole range of fantastic drinks suppliers such as Glengoyne Whisky, fabulous Port from ‘Spirits of the Place’ and even something really different from Demijohns Liquid Deli.

MasterChef Experience – Visitors saw all their favourite MasterChef faces live on stage including John Torode, Gregg Wallace, Dhruv Baker and Tim Anderson and the newly crowned Celebrity MasterChef Champion – Phil Vickery. Plus amateur cooks created their signature dishes live on stage and were judged by John and Gregg in the MasterChef Live Challenge sponsored by Plenty.

For more information please contact Ginny Braynsmith on ginny.braynsmith@haymarket.com or call on 020 8267 8310

*subject to audit