Vienna fair: satisfied organisers

“This is not to be missed” – we thought after reading the invitation to the fair titled Food and Drink from Eastern and Middle Europe”, which was held for the first time in Vienna, in April. As a result of good communication by the organisers, Reed Exhibitions – Messe Wien, the Hungarian stand was one of the biggest with an area of 140 square meters. The majority of exhibitors expected more visitors than actually turned up, as retailers and purchasers from the host country were not mobilised quite as successfully as exhibitors. We were however, fortunate to have discovered new Hungarian small to medium enterprises which have competitive products to offer. Mária Ádám, sales director of Inwest Kft. from Lajosmizse presented their diverse product range. Their leading product line is speciality teas under the label “Gárdonyi Teaház”. They supply all but one retail chains in Hungary. They already export to Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria. Imre Pacsay is the director of Balatoni Húsüzem from Kistelek. He has a fantastic dried meat assortment to sample, with salamis made from all kinds of animals including mangalica swine, grey Hungarian cattle, goose etc. At the moment they supply specialised stores and wholesalers and also export to the Netherlands. I also met dr. József Losó, CEO and president of Mirsa. He sees a potential in the HoReCa market. There is demand for vegetables, fruits and pasta. Austria is near and importers are willing to pay a good price for quality and flexible service. Mirsa has three plants with a total production capacity of 40 thousand tons. An old acquaintance, Tibor Somogyi from Nyíregyháza was also present. He became known in the 90’s as a manufacturer of soft drinks and syrups. Now, he has local pálinkas, jams flavoured with honey, and fruit syrups flavoured with honey to sell. He moved to new products, because he lacked the capacity for mass production. On the other hand, region-specific, specialised, quality products are in demand. János Kuti is one of the owners of Nádas és Kuti Kft. from Szolnok. They make a special pickle under the label “Húsvarázs”, which prevents the loss of weight during roasting. His invention is already used in gastronomy under the name “Maggi prémium pác”. 90 per cent of the revenues of the Indian-owned Dunakiliti Konzervüzem Kft. are generated by exports to 52 countries, including France and Germany. Their leading products are cucumbers and sour cherry. Reed Exhibitions was trying to sell five different exhibitions at the same time. The main one was called “Alles für den Gast – Wien” with a 275 page catalogue, which included exhibitors of three “sub-fairs”. The fifth fair was Vinova, with a separate catalogue for 80 businesses selling wine. The number of exhibitors was 473, a hundred more than a year earlier, whle the number of visitors stagnated.