The UK’s largest food-to-go trade fair lunch! 2018 has confirmed the contenders for its annual Innovation Challenge Awards and the complete judging panel.
The show will be organised in London from 20-21 September and will see participation from thousands of food-to-go operators and retailers from across the UK.
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The judging panel will include Pod food head Aggie Morrell, Jack Hinchcliffe, innovation director for KFC UK&I, Arnaud Kaziewicz, director of food & beverage at EAT, Sandy Anderson (Elior), Louise Direito (Krispy Krème), Guy Meakin (Pret A Manger) and Martyn Clover, the head of food at Tortilla.
Pod food head Aggie Morrell said: “lunch! is inspiring, energetic and delicious. It’s a brilliant place to catch up with suppliers and meet new ones. I always come away from lunch! amazed at the level of creativity in NPD.”
Nearly 370 companies will showcase their products at lunch!, with about 100 manufacturers and suppliers pitching new products and entries for 2018.
Compared to 69 entries in 2017, this represents a 44% increase in new food, drink, foodservice equipment and technology innovations this year.
Representatives from SPAR, Nisa, Subway, Pret, Greggs, BP, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, M&S, Ocado, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Co-op Food, Aldi, Caffè Nero, LEON, Welcome Break, Roadchef, Merlin Entertainments, Aramark, Sodexo, Compass Group, British Airways and Eurostar International, among others, will participate in the show.
Waitrose buying manager Victoria Green said: “lunch! is a really valuable opportunity for buying teams to catch up with suppliers and check out up and coming brands and products.”
lunch! is being organised by Diversified Communications UK, which operates as a trade event organiser based in Brighton, Peterborough, Nailsworth and London.
