Skip navigation

FMI TO REFORMAT, GROW NEXT YEAR'S SHOW

CHICAGO -- The Food Marketing Institute plans to offer its 2003 exhibit here in one hall at McCormick Place, rather than the north and south halls it has occupied for several years, Brian E. Tully, senior vice president, told SN last week.However, FMI does not anticipate utilizing any less space for its floor exhibits, he said. The institute is utilizing 800,000 to 900,000 gross square feet of exhibit

CHICAGO -- The Food Marketing Institute plans to offer its 2003 exhibit here in one hall at McCormick Place, rather than the north and south halls it has occupied for several years, Brian E. Tully, senior vice president, told SN last week.

However, FMI does not anticipate utilizing any less space for its floor exhibits, he said. The institute is utilizing 800,000 to 900,000 gross square feet of exhibit space in the two halls this year, he pointed out, "and we hope we can grow to 1 million square feet next year.

"But there will be no space contraction -- we don't need to do that," he said. "There will be more than enough space."

Tully said there is unused space at the back of the exhibit halls that will allow for more space on one side than FMI has been using.

He said the change in the exhibit hall design has nothing to do with declining attendance. In response to SN questioning, Tully said attendance at last week's FMI show was down about 15 % to 17% -- to 27,000 to 28,000 from last year's 32,500 to 33,000.

Tully said FMI set its last attendance record in 1997, and it's been running about even since then, moving by about 500 people per year.

He listed four reasons for this year's decline:

The impact of Sept. 11 on travel.

The state of the economy and its impact on business, with some companies sending fewer people to the show.

Ongoing industry consolidation -- "of Biblical proportions that is unlikely to stop," he noted -- among distributors and manufacturers.

A drop in the number of international attendees. Tully said international attendees have accounted for 20% of FMI's turnout over the past few years, but that number was down by 15% to 20% this year because of economic difficulties in several foreign nations, including Argentina and Japan in particular, he noted.

Looking ahead to next year, Tully said FMI exhibits will be located in the south hall, while the north hall will be occupied by the U.S. Food Export Showcase -- which currently shares space with FMI's exhibits -- and the Fancy Food Show. Any space that the Fancy Food Show does not need on the north side could be used by FMI for additional exhibits, Tully said.

The two events were held simultaneously for the first time last week -- albeit in separate sections of the vast McCormick Place facility.

Tully said FMI had not anticipated that the Fancy Food Show would be held at the same time as FMI's annual convention next year, but the fact that it will be fits in with FMI's plans very well.

According to Tully, FMI will hold its exhibit in a single hall because of consolidation among exhibiting companies. "In 2000 we had about 850 exhibitors representing 1,300 or 1,400 different companies, but this year that number is down to about 650, although they represent the same number of companies," he explained.

"For example, Nabisco is part of Phillip Morris, Pillsbury is part of General Mills and Keebler is part of Kellogg's, and since we work with only one contact per company, we're talking about three exhibitors instead of six."

But unlike this year, when people attending both shows had to register separately -- although badges from one show were honored at the other on the closing day last week -- next year's attendees will be able to register for both shows at once, "which provides an opportunity to remove the barriers we had this year."

In setting up next year's exhibit, "the trick is how we organize it to make it easier for the end-user, and our plan is to retain what we have -- grouping exhibits for consumer products separately from exhibits for equipment, technology and services -- and we think we can do that in one hall."