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EPPA EXPANDS EXHIBITION AND TASTE SHOW

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, N.J. -- As the Eastern Perishable Products Association heads into its 28th Taste Show & Exhibition, it's clear that the group is keeping up with changing times.The show, with more than 400 booths, is set for October 7-8 at the New Jersey Convention Center, Edison, N.J.Expanding the categories it covers, harnessing technology to get maximum information quickly to show attendees,

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, N.J. -- As the Eastern Perishable Products Association heads into its 28th Taste Show & Exhibition, it's clear that the group is keeping up with changing times.

The show, with more than 400 booths, is set for October 7-8 at the New Jersey Convention Center, Edison, N.J.

Expanding the categories it covers, harnessing technology to get maximum information quickly to show attendees, and strengthening its roster of meals solutions exhibitors are some of what EPPA is up to this year.

Earlier, the association took a new name to reflect additional perishables categories it represents now and those it may add in the future. Now, it has added at-show amenities -- such as offering a computerized interactive diagram of the show floor for quick identification of particular exhibitors and products -- that take into consideration the increasingly busy schedules of show attendees.

"In addition to the floor plan and directory on the computer, we'll be putting all our exhibitors on the Internet. There will be a computer in our booth [which is right at the entrance to the show floor] for locating exhibitors. If someone wants to see a particular exhibit, we can call it up on our screen by name or by product," said Marvin Spira, EPPA executive director, in a preshow interview.

Exhibitors have been informed in their exhibitor's kit that they'll be put on the Internet and attendees are told when they register about the computer convenience available to them.

"We've also bringing in more hosts to show people to the exhibits they want to see. We've doubled the number of hosts from 10 last year to about 25. There will be at least one host in each aisle," Spira said.

The hosts are charged with, for one thing, shepherding attendees to new exhibitors' booths, Spira said.

"We've tried to add as much convenience as we possibly can. It's imperative that we make our attendees comfortable," said Spira.

A lot of the fine-tuning this year underscores the show's regionality as well as the full schedules of those attending.

Spira pointed out that EPPA has spent a great deal of time studying the profile of the typical attendee. Because of the regional nature of the show, attendees make their visit a day trip and generally spend no more than an afternoon or morning there and EPPA therefore has condensed its agenda as well as making the show floor easy to traverse.

"For example, we again have not scheduled seminars at the show as we had in the past. We have found that our attendees spend at the most four and a half hours at the show and they don't want use that time sitting in a seminar," said Spira, pointing out that most attendees are from the densely populated Northeast which means it's a day trip for them.

"They have told us they would rather spend the time seeing exhibitors and making comparisons. Our show is so condensed, they can see 10 different pates and 15 different cheeses in a relatively short amount of time," Spira said.

Instead, the association schedules educational seminars at various times during the year. A seafood merchandising seminar is already scheduled for November 4 and a seminar on labor retention in EPPA's plans.

Paying attention to the particular needs of show attendees has been instrumental in attendance growing each year, he said.

"We want the buyers and managers there but we also want the supermarkets to be able to send their floor people and supervisors. We wouldn't get them here if we didn't listen to what their needs are," Spira said.

He pointed out, however, that while the majority of attendees are from the Northeast, the EPPA show is also strong enough to pull some attendees from as far away as Japan and South America.

This year, preregistration figures show a six percent increase over last year at this time, which should put show attendance over 10,000, Spira said.

"We're also 10% more exhibitors than last year," Spira said. He added that EPPA is also projecting a 15% membership increase this year which goes is related to the increasing exhibitor list because most exhibitors become EPPA members.

Both the exhibitor list and the membership role reflect EPPA's embracing of seafood as a category as reported in SN 9/14/98.

Twenty-five of the 300 exhibitors this year will represent seafood products. That's up from 10 seafood exhibitors last year.

"Seafood is not going to be a major part of the show because it takes a while to get as many exhibitors as you really want. But we did that with bakery, too. We only had about 25 or 30 special bakery exhibitors the first year and now we have 85 or 90," Spira said. But he added that EPPA has made a serious commitment to seafood as a category. Spira said he sees seafood as a neglected category, partially it's because supermarkets combine seafood -- because it's not a major income factor in the supermarket -- in with another category.

"For instance, there are seafood/meat buyers and directors, and as a consequence seafood doesn't get enough attention of its own. There's a lot of potential for growth in that category, and it's our job as a trade association to help our members sell it," Spira said.

Spira said the meals solutions trend has heightened the possibilities for seafood merchandising. For example, some forward-thinking supermarkets have entered fish and chips and cooked shrimp and clams casino to their meals menus, he said.

"Almost all supermarkets have fryers for chicken. Why not sell fish and chips or calamari? We don't have to invent things; we just need to apply them. They could be adapted to breaded fish products which are easier to portion control than chicken is," Spira said.

At least one exhibitor at the EPPA show will be introducing a fully-cooked seafood product, Spira said.

Other products joining the meals solutions lineup this year are soups sold in bulk and intended for a hot program in the supermarket, Spira said. He added that he sees soup as an important addition to the meals menu.

"It's easy to fix and to maintain it at the right temperature and the margin is good and even more important, it's popular. Here's a way for supermarkets to beat the restaurants at their own game," Spira said.

Spira went on to say that he sees home-meal replacement or meals solutions as a great opportunity for supermarkets.

"Home-meal replacement is the one way a store can differentiate itself other than on price. They can aim to maintain a customer base with quality and service like stores do in Japan. Competition there is not with pricing," Spira said.

While the exhibitor list at EPPA's show this year is more diverse, there are no major changes in the show format from last year. Spira said, however, that some interesting participation-type activities have been added.

"This year, We'll be having some interesting sports participation exhibits such as virtual golf drives for holes-in- one and putting contests. That type of thing. It adds interest to the show," he said.

Asked if EPPA has any plans to go national, Spira said no.

"We are focused on the Northeast region. That's our niche, our strength. Fortunately for us, this region is responsible for over 25% of perishable food sales in the country. In this little area here, retailers are very concentrated. If we were to expand out, we would be diluting our focus from a marketing standpoint and that's not a good thing to do. Any expansion will be within the region and in expanding categories, not geographically."

A merger with any other organization is not on the horizon either, Spira said, but he pointed out that EPPA works closely with other trade associations.

"We have excellent relations with NEFFA [New England Fresh Foods Alliance], IDDBA, with the Tri-State, with all the associations that are in the same category we are. They call on us for some information and we call on them for some information. Of course, there's competition, but it's good healthy competition.

Asked how his work with suppliers and retailers in other countries fit into EPPA, Spira pointed out several perspective-expanding benefits.

"It expands the scope of what we're doing, the scope of global marketing that's very apparent in supermarkets today. We're able to do a comparison of products, packaging, methods of operation in foreign countries. We're also able to do some forecasting of products coming into this country that are popular in Europe such as flavored yogurt drinks and flexible packaging. There, olives and pickles and some other products are packaged in flexible plastic pouches," he said.

Questioned about what challenges are ahead in the next year for EPPA, Spira said one major challenge is implementing programs without the help of volunteers which are hard to come by because of everybody's busy schedules.

"At the same time, we have a dramatically changing profile of organizations these days. They used to be more fraternal. Now we need to be an information source and provide real opportunities for networking. We need to concentrate on the lack of time executives have," Spira said.

"Twenty years ago, 75% of the association's board of directors owned their own business. Now there's just one who does. So they're all differently responsible and that's reflected in our activities because nobody has extra time," he added.

A huge challenge that lies ahead for EPPA's retailer-members -- and all retailers -- is attracting more of their current customer base into their fresh departments, Spira said.

"Even now, only 22% or 23% of customers shop the deli. If supermarkets attracted a bigger percentage into the fresh foods section, it would boost their total margin," Spira said, and he offered some advice.

His personal opinion, he said, is that more sampling and demonstrations, such as Stew Leonard's does, would go a long way toward boosting the bottom line.

Meanwhile, retailers themselves have a chance to sample products and see what's new at EPPA's Taste Show & Exhibition next week at the New Jersey Convention Center.

TAGS: Seafood