Diversified Business Communications launches Casual Dining show

Diversified Business Communications UK, organiser of lunch!, has launched Casual Dining, a major trade show to take place at the Business Design Centre, London, on February 26-27, 2014.

The launch follows an extensive consultation process with leading industry operators and suppliers, which concluded that there was a significant gap for a dedicated trade show aimed at the casual dining market.

The announcement has received universal support from leading industry operators, including Daniel Broude, group supply chain manager at Gondola Group, whose brands include Ask, PizzaExpress and Zizzi: “The Casual Dining show is a great concept, which deserves the full support of the industry. We have no doubt it will be very successful and look forward to attending,” he said.

Other leading brands operating in the UK, including Prezzo, Pizza Hut and Carluccio’s, have welcomed the launch and said they look forward to attending:

The event will feature a seminar and keynote programme running alongside a trade exhibition of around 150 hand-picked companies, which supply innovative products required to run casual dining businesses, including food and drink, equipment, interior design, furniture, technology and table top.

Chris Brazier, event manager of Casual Dining, says the launch comes as a direct response to feedback received from visitors and exhibitors at Diversified’s lunch! show.

“We have become very close to many of our exhibitors at lunch!, who have told us that there is a real need for a new show, which reflects the specific needs of this crucial sector,” explained Brazier. “In many ways, it is similar to when Diversified first launched lunch!, a sector which had previously been served by the Sandwich and Snack Show but which failed to keep up with the changes in the market. Similarly trade shows aimed at publicans were very successful 10 years ago but they have now all gone. Not because the market has died but because it’s moved on to focus on the food offering. It is this huge gap in the market, which will be filled by the launch of Casual Dining. As many people have said during our research – it’s one of those ‘it’s so obvious that you ask why hasn’t it been done before’ situations.”