Caterfood launches new-format supplier events
The first ‘new-format’ Meet the Buyer event from Caterfood Buying Group in 2025 will take place from 25–27 February
Featuring a new venue (Carden Park Hotel in Cheshire) and extended format, the event is designed to provide more quality time for suppliers to engage with 40 key representatives from across the Caterfood Buying Group’s (CFBG) eight member businesses and Central Team.
CFBG Meet the Buyer will now include a dedicated networking dinner and overnight stay at the hotel resort for each group of 20 suppliers selected to present to delegates the following day. In addition, while demonstrating their products, suppliers will now get almost twice as much time to discuss products and business goals with each small group of CFBG delegates. As with previous events, each day of Meet the Buyer will start with a dedicated business update from CFBG Managing Director Phil Atyeo and Commercial Director Tom Workman.
A two-day event, featuring 20 different suppliers each day, CFBG Meet the Buyer is attended by key buying, sales and senior leadership representatives from all eight of the CFBG members. Last year, CFBG launched its very first Meet the Buyer event in July 2024, held at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, and is excited to offer suppliers this new format event for 2025 in a different location.
Len Gould, Head of Purchasing at CFBG, commented: “At Caterfood Buying Group, we really value developing quality relationships between our suppliers and our members, and that’s why we’ve developed this new and improved event format; taking onboard constructive feedback from the first event that we held last year.
“Ultimately, we believe in the power of strong working relationships and want everyone to come away from CFBG Meet the Buyer feeling that they got the most that they could from it – and that includes plenty of time to network, before and during the allocated product demonstration. By introducing the networking dinner the evening prior to each presentation day, we hope that everyone will have the opportunity to break the ice, settle in and then be more able to hit the ground running the following day.
“We see these events as a crucial investment of time and knowledge sharing between our members and suppliers, which are in everyone’s favour. As the CFBG continues to grow and evolve, so will our calendar of events. For now, we plan to host two dedicated Meet the Buyer events per year (the first in February and second in July) followed by our annual Winter Conference and CFBG Awards at the end of the year.
“Each Meet the Buyer event welcomes a significant number of suppliers, with 40 different suppliers in total attending in February over the two days. For me, the highlights on this first event of the year will be trying fantastic gluten free products from Shar UK, sampling fine cheeses from Nantwich Cheese Company and tasting delicious cakes from Truly Treats, whom we have the pleasure of working closely with. This jam-packed event will also demonstrate key new lines to delegates from our own-brand range, The Caterfood Collection.”
Caterfood Buying Group event Len Gould Members Phil Atyeo suppliers Tom Workman