Plant Based World Expo Europe took place in London to immense success last week, allowing exhibitors and attendees a space to network, share insights, and help the plant-based industry to continue to thrive.
The event — Europe’s only dedicated plant-based trade fair — was this year hosted by the London Olympia, offering twice as much floorspace as the previous year. The event organisers report that last week’s exhibition welcomed an impressive 94% increase in attendees compared to the 2021 show, commenting that this demonstrates the “huge growth and innovation that has taken place in the plant-based food sector in 2022”.
Following this exponential growth, Plant Based World Expo Europe announces that next year’s show will take place at the ExCeL, London’s biggest conference venue offering a huge 100,000m2 of flexible event space.
150+ exhibitors
Cutting-edge culinary innovations reflecting the future of plant-based food were showcased by the industry’s most prominent names as well as up-and-coming brands, with over 150 exhibitors from around the world gathering to demonstrate their products, including Quorn, La Vie (pictured above), Moving Mountains, Wicked Kitchen, Redefine Meat, Thanks Plants, Willicroft, Revo Foods, The Raging Pig Company, Tiba Tempeh, MozzaRisella, and Shicken.
Senior decision-makers from multiple sectors spanning food service, retail, distribution, and investment, represented Tesco, M&S, Deliveroo, ALDI, Morrisons, Waitrose, Ocado, Sodexo, ISS, Bidfood, Sysco, Aramark, LEON, Papa Johns Pizza, Burger King, The Restaurant Group, and Greggs to name a few.
Meanwhile, panel discussions and keynotes were conducted by leaders from Deliveroo, Wagamama, Sainsbury’s, and Quorn, offering valuable insights into how plant-based ingredients are transforming consumers’ views of food and presenting significant business growth opportunities. Emily Weston, Head of Brand Development at Wagamama, said: “Launching vegan dishes and menus isn’t just about appeasing vegans. We want more people to try vegan foods and when we introduce new plant-based dishes to our menus we see participation spike.”
Buyer’s programme highly beneficial
The event also hosted a buyer’s programme, in which over 400 meetings took place across two days, forging new business relationships and helping to bring more plant-based foods to shelves and menus. Buyer Heerum Flearly, Procurement Consultant at Tickeat Ltd, commented: “The hosted buyer programme has been really beneficial. The show has been so busy, and I’ve been surprised by the breadth on offer. Plant Based World Expo has created a very strong plant-based community and I definitely want to be part of it next year.”
The perfect platform to facilitate collaboration
Jonathan Morley, Managing Director of Plant Based World Expo Europe, enthuses: “We are thrilled that support for our show has been so strong this year, so much so that Plant Based World Expo is moving to an even bigger venue in 2023. We are proud to provide the perfect platform to facilitate collaboration across the industry to realise the business opportunities that further integrating plant-based foods into the mainstream represents, all whilst improving both our health and the environment. We can’t wait for next year!”
