Fancy Food Show 2021 to Take Place in Person
The Specialty Food Association (SFA) will hold its sole in-person trade event — the Summer Fancy Food Show — Sept. 27-29, 2021, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.
After surveying buyers and consulting with SFA members, New York city and state officials, the Javits Center, and health experts to gauge the safety and viability of moving forward with a live event, the association determined that a modified, late third-quarter Fancy Food Show had the best chance of success in a safe environment.
“We are grateful to our members, New York state and city officials, and the Javits Center, for working with us on determining the best course of action during these uncertain times,” said Bill Lynch, president of the New York-based SFA. “Safely and creatively supporting our members, and the specialty food industry overall, remains our No. 1 priority.”
This will be the sole Fancy Food Show of the year and therefore, for this year only, SFA is modifying the event name to Fancy Food Show 2021.
Due to pandemic restrictions in place since last March, both the 2020 Summer Fancy Food Show and 2021 Winter Fancy Food Show were canceled. In the absence of its traditional in-person trade shows, the SFA produced its 47th sofi Awards, two Specialty Food LIVE! digital marketplace events and three Virtual Tasting Experience events; held 37 webinars designed to assist SFA members and the industry with business continuity during the pandemic, along with 21 webinars on a broad range of educational topics; and launched Infinite Aisle, a new transactional marketplace connecting SFA maker members with distributors and retail buyers.
The association currently anticipates a return to its Winter and Summer Show schedule for 2022.
SFA is a membership-based trade association currently representing more than 3,500 businesses. Members are specialty food artisans, purveyors, importers and entrepreneurs, as well as distributors, retailers and others involved in the specialty food trade.
