All set for Marketplace 2015 tomorrow
It’s there that over 185 Irish food and drink companies will ‘speed-date’ with more than 400 international and over 130 Irish food buyers. Bord Bia has already pre-planned and pre-scheduled 4,500 meetings and many more will take place on the ‘hot desks’ on the day. There are in excess of 20 alcohol buyers who are currently travelling around Ireland visiting distilleries, breweries etc and they will be present too tomorrow.
In addition to buyers from Ireland’s traditional export markets – the UK and Continental Europe – Bord Bia has secured buyers from Australia, Algeria, Bahrain, China, Indonesia, UAE, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
Over 200 of the buyers arrived on Sunday night and this morning these buyers embarked on 11 individual tailored itineraries across beef, lamb, dairy, alcohol, grocery, seafood etc.
Over a three-day period they’ll visit farms, factories and food manufacturing facilities throughout the country to see and experience first-hand Ireland’s world-class agri food industry.
The buyers represent some of the world’s largest retailers, distributors and foodservice operators and tomorrow all of the overseas buyers will join 140 Irish food and drink buyers gathering at the Convention Centre Dublin for a major one-to-one business development event.
This week’s event is the culmination of six months planning by Bord Bia and the Irish food and drink industry. Following feedback from previous Marketplace events, Bord Bia developed a comprehensive training programme for companies to ensure they were adequately prepared for this year’s showcase. Through a series of training workshops Irish companies availed of advice on choosing export markets, logistics, and sales pitch techniques.
The day will begin with a 7.30am breakfast for 800 at which Minister Simon Coveney will address the group and the first meetings will then get underway at 8.30am.
