Team PBFA is just back from the first-ever Plant Based World Conference and Expo at the Javits Center in New York City and we are thrilled to report it was a huge success!
The event attracted over 3,700 attendees and the show floor and education sessions were packed throughout the weekend. An impressive 42 PBFA members exhibited at the show and we had our own booth where the entire PBFA staff could speak with conference attendees, journalists, members, and experts from across the plant-based foods industry.
“Personally, it was my overall favorite trade show experience.” Daniel Nicholson, president and CEO of PBFA member NadaMoo!
To kick off the two-day conference, our Executive Director Michele Simon spoke on the Eat For The Future Business Forum keynote panel, “The Growth of the Plant Based Foods Industry.” The panel was moderated by PBFA advisor Nil Zacharias and featured Ann Beaty, director of Kroger Merchandising Consulting at 84.51° and Edward Brown, president of Restaurant Associates. The auditorium was SRO with so many people excited to learn more about the expansion of plant-based foods.
Ann Beaty shared that she thoroughly enjoyed her time at the show, adding “It was great to see so many people passionately involved in promoting a plant-based diet and to try innovative new plant-based foods.”
We also participated in “Trends and Projections: Decoding the Data Around Retail Growth of Plant-Based Foods”, which featured PBFA’s Senior Director of Retail Partnerships, Julie Emmett. Michele Simon also moderated on an afternoon panel “Know Your Legal Rights and Responsibilities,” featuring PBFA advisor Rebecca Cross, that covered current legal challenges facing the plant-based foods industry and how we can overcome them.
We had a wonderful time visiting with our members and getting to sample all their delicious foods! Based on conversations we had with members, the conference provided wonderful opportunities for them to network and make business connections with industry leaders.
What Did PBFA Members Think?
“Our NadaMoo! team was so inspired and impressed by the success of the first ever Plant Based World Expo,” Daniel Nicholson, president and CEO of PBFA member NadaMoo! shared. “It was so well attended, and the interactions were such high quality, at the same time. Personally, it was my overall favorite trade show experience.”
This sentiment was echoed by Danny O’Malley, “presiplant” and founder of PBFA member Before the Butcher. Danny said he’s “looking forward to the growth of this trade show for many years to come.”
Brett Christoffel, proprietor of All Y’alls Foods, said this was his company’s first tradeshow and they saw it as a “solid investment”, considering the connections they made with “passionate industry leaders” and “buyers from all around the world.”
“As Gold Sponsors of the first annual Plant Based World Expo, No Evil Foods could not be more thrilled with the success for the show,” said Sadrah Schadel, co-founder of No Evil Foods. “The energy and enthusiasm on the show floor was palpable. This inaugural community of leaders and emerging brands showed up and proudly put a stake in the ground indicating our commitment to a plant-based future. Attendance surpassed our expectations and I can say without hesitation that No Evil Foods would jump at the opportunity to sponsor this show again next year”
The conference also gave us the great opportunity to hold meetings with retailers and professionals in the food service space to further PBFA’s efforts in the marketplace.
We are so proud to call the Plant Based World Conference and Expo PBFA’s official trade show and want to say a big thank you to the Plant Based World team and JD Events for organizing such a fruitful event and being such a great partner to work with.
If you missed this one, great news, we are doing it again next year!
The 2020 Plant Based World Conference & Expo will be held June 5-6 back at the Javits Center in New York City. For information on exhibiting contact Michelle Bonina, Sales & Business Development Director at 203-416-1924 or Michelle@theplantbasedworld.com. For information about Plant Based World Conference & Expo, visit http://www.plantbasedworldexpo.com/