Coventry and Warwickshire Food and Drink Showcase to launch next month

Hospitality sector suppliers in Warwickshire will have a chance to boost their business at a new region-wide event next month.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Food and Drink Showcase will be held on Tuesday 24 September at Warwick Racecourse, with an aim to encourage businesses to discover and use local suppliers.

It’s the second major event to be organised by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP).

It will provide opportunities for exhibitors to meet buyers and decision makers from hotels, venues, attractions and other industry suppliers.

More than 35 exhibitors are set to feature, including a range of independent food and drink producers – from distillers, vineyards and breweries to beekeepers and chocolatiers.

Many are also all part of the growing Coventry and Warwickshire Food and Drink Producers Network.

Experts will also be exhibiting to highlight services that can help grow and develop hospitality businesses, including marketing companies, audiovisual suppliers and business support services.

It’s a hybrid event, with a closed event in the morning for business-to-business networking, sales and peer-to-peer support.

There’ll be workshops and talks from experts, including Mark Farr from Purple Planet Packaging, and food demonstrations on a live stage.

The showcase is being hosted on the day of the Grand Season Opener at Warwick Racecourse.

From 1pm, the event will go public, giving producers the opportunity to sell to hundreds of racegoers.

The Food and Drink Showcase is hosted by Destination Coventry, Shakespeare’s England, Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council.

Business support advisers will be present throughout the day to help signpost hospitality businesses to funding and support available.

Colleen Muldoon-Taylor, business development manager at Destination Coventry, said: “Hospitality businesses across our region are always searching for local hero products to help their offer stand out from the crowd.

“We’re proud to be collaborating with our partners to host an event which will cultivate and enable further partnership working across Coventry and Warwickshire.

“At the last Meet the Supplier event, one hospitality business made connections with four food and drink producers. Their products now feature across the operator’s venues.

“The hybrid nature means that exhibitors will get the chance to showcase their products to two distinct audiences, creating meaningful connections and building business leads in the morning, and then the opportunity to sell direct to the public in the afternoon.”

Darren Tosh, operations and marketing director at Shakespeare’s England, added: “South Warwickshire is blessed with an array of independent and award-winning food and drink businesses who are well known among consumers locally and from afar.

“This event provides a fantastic opportunity for them to expand even further with corporate partnerships.

“Consumers are seeking memorable experiences, which presents a real opportunity for hospitality suppliers to shout about the story and uniqueness of their products – whether it’s inspired by history, made in a unique way or is adopting a new approach.

“We’re excited at the prospect of hospitality firms from across the wider Coventry and Warwickshire patch collaborating so that our region’s products – and the local economy – can reach new heights.”

Launched in 2022 and supported by VisitEngland, the Coventry and Warwickshire LVEP sees the region’s two leading tourism bodies and local authority stakeholders work in partnership to promote and support tourism businesses.