Honeybuns'  Emma Goss-Custard reports exclusively for thegrocer.co.uk from this year's SIAL trade show


Wednesday has been the best day yet in a really really good show. We saw lot of the buyers who were looking for us, so we’ve enjoyed all that focused interest. In terms of where people have been coming from, it’s a case of anybody but the French! We’ve had strong interest from Scandinavia, which is brilliant because it’s one of our targets; from Russian wholesalers, which again is great because we’re aiming for wholesalers; and lots of interest from all over Ireland, where we’re currently only sold in Dublin.

Lots of visitors have said that they make a point of visiting the British pavilion because that’s where you see the most innovation – products that are a bit fun, left-field and eye-catching. I’d say about three-quarters of the interest we’ve had has been on spec from people passing the stand. People are attracted to the packaging and then they’ve loved the taste - even the French! People are very frank so you'll get an honest appraisal of how your product will work in their market. Our new enamel tins – for use as a retail gift item or POS – has gone down well and the Scandinavians really homed in on them.

There’s been a very good atmosphere and people around are having a really good show too. Food from Britain have been excellent and really looked after us. There’s no sense of trepidation about the global economy - quite the reverse, people are busy and we’re confident that if people have to cut back on the big things, they’re going to want a bit of yummyness in their lives.

Exhibiting at SIAL’s been completely worth it. A UK wholesaler we’ve been chasing vainly for years is now really interested because he saw us here. It just shows that being at an international show gives you more credibility with buyers. We will definitely be back.