The first ‘new-format’ Meet the Buyer event from Caterfood Buying Group (CFBG) in 2025 will take place later this month from the 25th – 27th February at the prestigious Carden Park Hotel in Cheshire.
Featuring a new venue and extended format, this event will provide more quality time for suppliers to engage with 40 key representatives from across the CFBG’s eight member businesses and Central Team.
The CFBG Meet the Buyer will now include a dedicated networking dinner and overnight stay at the picturesque Cheshire hotel resort, for each group of 20 suppliers selected to present to delegates the following day. In addition, whilst 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 the 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, the 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 the 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.”
Want to work with CFBG at future events?
If you are interested in presenting your products to the CFBG and exhibiting at any CFBG events, please visit the Become a Supplier section on the CFBG website. The buying team will then be in touch if they think your products would be suitable for their Members: South Lincs Foodservice, Caterfood SW, Cimandis, Elite Fine Foods, Nicol Hughes, Harvest, Thomas Ridley Foodservice and Turner Price.
https://www.caterfoodbg.co.uk/become-a-supplier
Photo Credits: Caterfood Buying Group (CFBG)
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