COLOGNE, Germany -- Anuga, the giant food industry trade show held here, wants to make itself more visitor-friendly.
ted overview of the world's food market. This will raise to nine the number of food and drink categories with individual exhibitor areas.
The 1995 edition of Anuga runs from Sept. 30 through Oct. 5 at the 2.8 million-square-foot KolnMesse fairground complex here. In 1993 Anuga drew about 200,000 trade visitors from 132 countries.
Explaining the show changes, Frank Hartmann, Anuga's marketing director, said the trade show must be an event where suppliers can easily meet buyers. "That's the job we have to do so that visitors leave the show satisfied and more knowledgeable about the market," he said.
The new food product segments scheduled to debut at Anuga in 1995 are: bread, baked products, spreads and nonessential provisions; fresh fruits and vegetables; fish, crustaceans and shellfish; health foods, preserves, spices and delicatessen, and general food and ingredients.
The five new sectors will join four areas previously established for specific categories. The existing sectors at Anuga are: meat, sausage, game and poultry; milk and dairy products; frozen foods and ice cream products, and drinks.
In 1995 more hall space will be made available for a number of fresh products, including meats and poultry; dairy products; frozen foods, and drinks. Fruits and vegetables, which will be in their own food product sector for the first time, also will get additional floor space. It's expected that the sector will be fully booked in spite of the extended hall space.
According to market research compiled at the Anuga show in 1993, about 11.6% of all visitors to the show -- about 22,040 people -- expressed interest in the fruits and vegetables sector. Meat and poultry ranked among the most popular food-product sectors at the 1993 show, with 45.5% of all visitors expressing interest in the category, according to Anuga's market research. Slightly under 34% of show visitors said they were interested in the wines and spirits sector and 34.4% expressed interest in the beer and nonalcoholic beverages exhibit.
The product ranges of about 400 suppliers of milk and dairy products attracted one-third of the total 190,822 buyers.
The product ranges of the 474 suppliers of frozen foods attracted 36.2% of the visitors.
Hartmann said the restructuring contemplated for the 1995 event will allow Anuga to become the world's largest meeting point for a number of food product sectors, including meats and poultry, drinks, fish, dairy products and frozen foods.
But with the addition of the new product sectors, Anuga will disband the pavilions that previously allowed some national and regional groups, including U.S. suppliers, to exhibit under a unifying flag or banner.
Of the total of more than 245 U.S. suppliers who participated at Anuga 1993, 183 exhibited in the booth organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
However, national groups are permitted to organize a pavilion inside one of the nine specific product sectors. Norwegian seafood suppliers, for example, will continue to exhibit in a national pavilion in the fish sector.
Hartmann said Anuga organizers are working with USDA representatives to organize U.S. national pavilions within certain food sectors.
Hartmann said he believes the changes will improve the show for both visitors and exhibitors. The buyer-oriented product segmentation saves trade visitors from making long, time-consuming walks around the various halls, he said.
Exhibitors, too, should benefit from the changes, he said.
"I am pretty sure that the new structure is more useful for exhibitors," he said. "Our aim is that every exhibitor should stand with his competitors."
Hartmann pointed out that Anuga is not a "promotional show for consumers," but instead is a professional show for the food industry. "We have to do everything so that the right people find the right people," he said.
Admission to Anuga is restricted solely to people employed in the food industry, retail and skilled trades, supply industries, institutional catering, hotel and restaurant trade, fast food, and grill and snack bar trades. The trade floor, which is spread through 14 halls at the fairgrounds, is open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.
