Forty-eight hours that helps map the category

THE ICDA AWARDS & EXPO RETURNS ON 24–25 JUNE. A READING OF WHY THIS YEAR’S TWO-DAY WINDOW MATTERS MORE THAN THE CALENDAR SUGGESTS.

Four and a half thousand dairy products will pass under judges’ eyes in a single day at the ICDA Awards on 24 June. The figure is worth pausing on. It represents the largest concentrated act of category assessment the UK industry stages in any given year, and the scale alone says something about where dairy now sits commercially. The sector is under continuous reformulation, with NPD pipelines that no longer respect quiet quarters.

The Awards form the opening act of a 48-hour window at the ICDA EXPO on 24–25 June that pulls together more of the trade in one place than any other moment in the calendar. Trophy winners are announced on the second day. What happens between those two points is, in effect, an audit of where the category currently lives.

Look at the components and a pattern emerges. The Artisan Cheese Zone, sponsored by Tesco, anchors one end of the floor. At the other, suppliers showing machinery and packaging alongside robotic processing solutions display the operating equipment of a sector that has spent two difficult years tightening cost-to-make. In between sits a foodservice cooking demo stage running live menu ideas. Alongside it, the Italian Trade Agency hosts a presentation pairing Italian cheeses with wine, led by Charlie Turnbull. Each element answers a different commercial question. Together they describe a single industry conversation.

Published by The Dairy Mail, Dairy Connect: https://www.dairy-connect.com/the-dairy-mail/forty-eight-hours-that-helps-map-the-category/