Winter Fancy Food Show to Move to Las Vegas in 2022

The Specialty Food Association (SFA) announced today that its Winter Fancy Food Show will be relocating from San Francisco to Las Vegas in 2022. The annual event, previously set to be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, will now be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center on February 6-8.

The annual trade show, which highlights food and beverage companies targeting the specialty food channel, attracted over 1,400 companies from over 30 countries at its last in-person show event in January 2020.

“The Specialty Food Association continues to be focused on exploring new opportunities for our members, and safely continuing the growth of the $170.4 billion specialty food industry during the pandemic,” SFA president Bill Lynch said in a press release. “We are excited to be partnering with a premier trade show destination like Las Vegas, which has been the leader in the return of in-person events.”

The SFA said it is working with Las Vegas to establish safety protocols for the show that “meet the needs of the specialty food community.” The Las Vegas Convention Center is also home to the Consumer Technology Association’s CES show, fashion tradeshow MAGIC and the National Association of Broadcasters’ NAB.

The 2020 Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City and 2021 Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco were both cancelled due to safety concerns over COVID-19, with the SFA announcing cost-saving measures including executive team pay cuts and employee furloughs after cancellation of the summer 2020 show.

The 2021 summer show, usually held in late June at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, was moved to September this year but ultimately cancelled last month in favor of a virtual format, with the SFA citing the rise of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The virtual version of the event, called Fancy Food 24/7, included educational sessions and “digital showrooms” for brands to attend.

The news comes as many in the food and beverage industry head to Philadelphia this week for Natural Products Expo East, the first in-person trade show for the majority of companies since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year marks Expo East’s planned move to Philadelphia after several years at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. As of today, Expo East’s website lists approximately 780 exhibitors for the show, down from 2019’s 1,200 exhibitors, though New Hope SVP and market leader Carlotta Mast said earlier this week that its attendee registration has “continued to grow.” Masks and either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result are required for all attendees.