Steve Cabrera, commercial director at Southern Alps, reports exclusively for thegrocer.co.uk from this year's SIAL trade show


This is the first time Southern Alps has had its own stand at the show. Although we have been at shows before, it was always shared with our agent so this is a real first for us.

So far it has been by far our most successful show this year, the quality of visitors seems higher than at other shows – great retailers and distributors. At other shows, like Speciality, we have found that visitors already knew our products, whereas here we seem to be addressing a new and interested audience. What has also been a really positive experience for us though, is that we have had a lot of affirmations for our concept of quality, slowly dried fruit. The trend for health-boosting foods is as strong as ever, and this seems to be the case internationally.

Sunday was incredibly busy for us and while the number of visitors to the stand has declined slowly as the show progressed, the number of seriously interested companies has been strong all week. We have already had listings confirmed from the show.

Food from Britain have been as fantastic as ever; they really delivered the goods this time and it is a great shame that they are closing. It’s a real disappointment for the industry.