>>MAUREEN AMAR, EXHIBITION MANAGER, RH AMAR

RH Amar, the speciality food importer and distributor, exhibited at Food & Drink Expo at the Birmingham NEC for the first time last month.
In her capacity as exhibition manager, Maureen Amar charts her progress at the show with typical enthusiasm.
“On day one, things got off to a cracking start,” she says. “Sunday is the day for the independent retailer. It proved very useful for us following the introduction last summer of our speciality food division under general manager Mike Cook.”
Maureen says the sales team were on the go all day, with the result that 80 leads were generated for the company to follow up.
Day two - Monday - started more slowly, hampered by traffic problems on the M6, but numbers of visitors at the show soon swelled, says Amar.
Walter Zanré, UK manager for Filippo Berio olive oil, and product manager Gioia Giacobazzi plugged their brand, one of RH Amar’s key sellers, on its stall.
The company busied itself offering punters samples of a range of products, from Busch Meringue Drops to Ukuva iAfrica Zulu Fire Sauce says Amar. “The sampling went down a storm,” she says.
“Day three confirmed that the show was delivering large numbers of manufacturers and caterers, two other important groups in our business.”
Suppliers including Star, Geeta’s, Khune, Lizzy B and Wing Yip made themselves available for these groups on RH Amar’s stand.
In the evening, the team manning the stall took the weight off their feet for a hearty meal at the Chung Ying Garden restaurant in Birmingham.
“Wednesday, the final day, went as predicted,” says Amar, “with fewer leads, but a barrage of advertising companies trying to sell us their wares.” Clear up started at 4pm, with everyone ready to leave by 5pm.
amar gets leads at a swell expo