SPECIAL REVIEW
Spelling success with innovation,
industry partnerships
17-19 July 2018
Suntec Singapore
Singapore
www.speciality-asia.com and www.RPB-Asia.com
The trade-only shows saw buyers and
exhibitors in a focused environment making
valuable contacts and signing multimillion-
dollar deals, according to Montgomery Asia.
Visitors had the chance to learn from indus-
try experts through a series of engaging
panel discussions, cooking demos by star
chefs, and beverage masterclasses by som-
meliers, bartenders, sake and tea masters.
34
Retail Asia August 2018
“CONSUMERS in Asia are currently
starting to become more health-
conscious. In my experience during
my travels in the region, they are
concerned about their food intake
and this trend is especially so among
the younger generation. A lot of
them are more educated and are
now encouraging their parents and
grandparents to practise healthier
eating habits,” Alec Low, procurement
specialist, Unified Investment &
Holdings shared at the Speciality &
Fine Food Asia (SFFA) trade show last
month.
Speaking to Retail Asia, he
explained that his company’ products,
which include bar food, healthy
snacks and frozen fresh mangoes, are
targeted towards consumers who are
conscious about eating healthier. By
participating in SFFA, he hoped to
showcase the merchandise, which are
not available in retail stores at the
moment and “open up to a bigger
crowd”.
Now in its second year, SFFA and
Restaurant, Pub & Bar Asia (RPB
Asia) welcomed more than 3,300
visitors from the food and beverage
(F&B) and hospitality industries
across South-east Asia, with 160
local and international exhibiting
companies and eight national
pavilions from 20 countries for the
three-day shows and related events.
“It was a truly invigorating
experience at SFFA and RPB Asia
this year,” said Christopher McCuin,
managing director of Montgomery
Asia, who organised the shows. “We
listened to visitors’ and exhibitors’
feedback from our first year and
improved on creating more on- site
programming, and finding the right
experts to speak on topics that were
important to them. For the first
time this year, we collaborated with
industry partners such as FoodBev
Media, The Bar Awards, Restaurant
Association of Singapore and
Singapore Halal Culinary Federation
to co-organise competitions and
workshops at the shows which
provided more depth and relevance to
the F&B industry.”
Visitors had the chance to learn
from industry experts through a
series of engaging panel discussions,
cooking demos by star chefs, and
beverage masterclasses by sommeliers,
bartenders, sake and tea masters.
For potato chips brand Flavours of
the East (F.EAST), it wanted to gain
more exposure and branch out. Kee
Vern Cheng, director, Foodie Drools,
said: “We are looking towards exports
and the response [at SFFA] has been
encouraging. We’ve gotten enquiries
from a couple of interested parties
from Australia, Thailand and Brunei.”
Specialising in Asian-flavoured potato
“It was a truly invigorating
experience
at SFFA and
RPB Asia this
year.”
— Christopher McCuin,
Managing Director,
Montgomery Asia