By The magic of Las Vegas, and an exceptional location like the Las Vegas Convention Center, will be again the “winter home” of Fancy Food, the biggest and most important specialty food and beverage show in North America.
Italy’s excellence will come to life in the traditional Italian Pavilion, once again the largest exhibition space in the whole show’s international area; the Italian area measuring approximately 1000 m2 will host 74 exhibitor companies and 87 stands.
The Italian Pavilion will, as always, present the entire range of Made in Italy food and agriculture products and its “The Extraordinary Italian Taste” will have plenty of new features, attractions, promotional activities and cooking demos on the first and second day of the show.
Italian companies will be situated in a dedicated area, a structure with a strong visual impact created by colors and images of Italy recalling the quality of the products on display.
The traditional Lounge organized by the ICE (Italian Trade Agency), created in a very central location within the Italian Pavilion, will again present a special area dedicated to the ITALIAN APERITIF. All visitors will be able to share an experience in pure Italian style with stations dedicated to typical products from the great Made in Italy tradition: charcuterie, cheeses, coffee, wines and spirits.
The progress of US-Italy trade continues to reinforce the strong increase noted in the previous analyses, +5.3%. Italy holds 12th place among US trade partners moving from 5th to 4th place among European partners.
In the January-September 2023 period, Italy continued to record a consistent increase (+7.0%), slightly above the EU average (+6.8%), and it remains in 11th place among the main suppliers of the US, with a market share of 2.4%.
“Winter Fancy Food Show is the most important show for industry professionals, who can discover trendsetting products that will be sold more in the United States in 2024,” declared Bill Lynch, President of the Specialty Food Association. “The SFA created the Fancy Food Show in order to contribute and expand the consumption of specialty food and drink, and we are excited that Italy will share its high-quality products in Las Vegas with the best sellers, distributors and professionals from the commercial food industry.”
“Thanks again,” Lynch continued, “to Universal Marketing, our exclusive agent, for once again organizing a great Italian pavilion, always one of the most popular in our show, offering a mix of traditions and innovation in the display of their products and to the ICE of New York as an institutional partner.
Today begins the winter edition of Fancy Food, and I am glad that my first public appearance as Director of the ICE New York and Executive Coordinator for the US is taking place on the occasion of such an important show for the Italian food and agriculture industry and for American professionals from the west coast,” declared Erica Di Giovancarlo, Director of the ICE Agency of New York and Coordinator of the US network.
For the Las Vegas show, we are promoting more than 70 companies, which are taking part in the Italian Pavilion with the ICE as an institutional partner, establishing Italy as the first foreign exhibiting country. The ICE Lounge,” continued Di Giovancarlo, “will be the best place for meetings and to promote Cibus 2024. All actions guarantee the ICE Agency’s support for the companies to confirm Italy’s place as the third exporting country overall, after Canada and Mexico, for 2024 as well. In this context,” Di Giovancarlo concluded, “with the collaboration of SFA- Universal Marketing and Fiere di Parma, we will organize a special evening celebrating our exceptional national products in support of Italian cuisine’s candidacy for Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, in an action on which we have been working for months alongside the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests to achieve this important result.”
“Finally, we’re off and running!” declared Donato Cinelli, president of Universal Marketing, the exclusive agent for Italy of the Specialty Food Association. “After the great success of last year, the many Italian companies in the Italian Pavilion of Winter Fancy Food in Las Vegas will have, in their prestigious dedicated space, the possibility to draw even more attention,” continued Cinelli, “demonstrating, now more than ever, how important and strategic this trade show is.”
There will be plenty of new features and pleasant surprises for exhibitors and attendees to this 2024 show.
“First of all, there will be many more areas dedicated to live tastings, cooking shows and educational programs, a real experiential tour,” concluded Cinelli. “As Universal Marketing, we can’t wait to feature and highlight, once again, Italy’s great food and agriculture sector, the continued leader in the United States.
