Column HoReCa
After the
Dibbern Lumen
show… After walking the halls of Ambiente and speaking at the HoReCa Academy, Valda Goodfellow truly immersed herself in the show. So, in retrospect, was it all she had hoped it would be?
W About G & G Founded by Paul and Valda Goodfellow, G & G Goodfellows is a highly creative design & Distribution Company with an amazing showroom in Little Portland Street. Offering a truly hands-on service, Goodfellows passion is to bring new and exciting, bespoke food presentation concepts to the UK’s culinary scene. As well as offering a wide variety of the world’s best branded tableware, kitchen equipment, clothing and machines, Goodfellows also collaborates closely with UK craft producers for totally unique products. It works with all sizes of restaurant and catering projects, happy to supply anything from an individual plate to a full restaurant concept. 96 TABLEWARE INTERNATIONAL
asn’t it good to back! Good… but a bit weird, if I am honest. Obviously, I am talking about Ambiente. The good bit was the excitement and anticipation of not only seeing lots of products and innovation; but also meeting old friends. It had been too long! The weird bit was remembering that Ambiente 2020 was probably the last trade show to happen before Covid swept across Europe and we entered the lockdown era. Walking into the show for the very first time felt, for me, like we had just closed a massive loop in time. I was asked to speak at the HoReCa Academy, which was this time moved to Hall 11. The academy had been an innovation from the last show, which helped to strengthen the link between retail manufacturers (who also supplied hospitality), and their customers. Many of the
manufacturers we represent were exhibiting, which allowed us to meet them for the first time since Covid. Due to the huge tableware boom in hospitality, coupled with the supply chain issues of the past year or so, we have not had time to go and visit our amazing suppliers. So, this really was a big opportunity for us to reinforce those relationships which lie at the heart of our business. Without our loyal suppliers, we would not exist. Outside of my speaking duties, which covered the last three days of the show, I was eager to walk the halls. I say walk; the sheer scale of the show sometimes reduces you to catching the bus if you are spanning several halls. I was particularly interested to know whether Ambiente would kick-start the flood of innovation that I expected it would. As I have spoken about in earlier columns, it felt like there had not been a lot of
innovation in tableware for a long time before the show. So, did it live up to expectations? Well, yes and no. Let’s talk about the ‘no’ first. I very much felt that there was a lot of ‘lookalike’ products presented as new ranges. This felt particularly true in Hall 11 where a lot of the Turkish producers were situated. It was good to see a lot more choice from that part of the world, which must be benefitting massively from the failure of some far-eastern producers to supply on time. The sad thing is that they seem to be taking influence from each other rather than genuinely trying to innovate. Of course, they will thrive on the back of huge demand but it will fill the market with lots of similar products, which is certainly not what I was looking for. Moving onto more positive observations, there were some stand-out manufacturers who