LAS VEGAS—Despite the global economic downturn, nearly 8,300 industry executives from global dietary supplement, food and beverage, and cosmeceutical companies gathered Nov. 11 to 13 at The Sands Exposition Center and The Venetian Resort Casino for SupplySide West 2009. This year’s exhibit hall featured 1,128 booths, breaking the SupplySide West 2008 record with a 7.2 percent increase in the number of exhibiting companies, solidifying SupplySide West as the world’s largest event for healthy and innovative ingredients.
“Most trade shows are experiencing dwindling numbers this year, but SupplySide West has defied the trend and proven it is the must-attend event for food, supplement and cosmetic innovators, drawing nearly 8,300 professionals, almost 4 percent more than last year,” said Peggy Jackson, Vice President of Virgo Publishing’s Health & Nutrition Division.
Professionals from Alacer, Arbonne, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Carlson Laboratories, Clif Bar, Clorox, ConAgra, Country Life, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, General Mills, GNC, Hartz Mountain, Herbalife International, Hershey Co., JM Smucker, Johnson & Johnson, The Kellogg Co., Natrol, NBTY, Nestlé, Neways, Nutrilite, Ocean Spray, Odwalla, Orange Julius/Dairy Queen, Pepsi Co, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Red Mango USA, Sargento Foods, Schiff Nutrition, Target, The Vitamin Shoppe, White Wave, XanGo, Yes to Carrots, and many more leading companies attended.
“If you want to stay on the forefront of the industry, you have to come to this show, because we can cover all the different areas while we’re here. You want to talk to all the different vendors because there are always cutting-edge ingredients coming out. In order to stay on top, we bring a team to work this show.” — Gerard McIntee, Vice President-Marketing Integration, NBTY
“… I was talking to some of my team and we found three new ingredients we didn’t know about out of South America and why don’t we incorporate these into a new line we’re looking at coming out with in 2011…in a month the three people who had those ingredients will be in our offices making presentations. Trade shows for us have really been a key driver not only from business development side but also from an innovation perspective.” — Ido Leffler, Global CEO, Yes to Inc.
Guru Ramanathan, Ph.D., senior vice president, technology and product innovation, GNC, also shared his thoughts about innovative ingredients at SupplySide.
The Golf Classic, sponsored by Pharmachem Laboratories, on Wednesday, Nov. 11 was the first SupplySide West event. Held at The Revere Golf Club for the third year, more than 240 golfers played in the tournament and enjoyed an awards luncheon afterwards.
More than 100 participants attended the “Energy Shots and Beverages: Growth, Innovation, Safety and Regulation” pre-conference workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 11 presented by Mark Blumenthal from American Botanical Council, Tom Vierhile from Datamonitor, and Anthony Young, Esq., from Kleinfeld, Kaplan & Becker LLP.
The exhibit hall opened at 10am on Thursday, Nov. 12 with 1,128 booths. Thousands of executives walked the exhibit hall until 5:30pm on Thursday and again from 10am to 5pm on Friday. New this year, attendees could taste samples incorporating exhibitors’ ingredients and technologies with Taste of SupplySide Food and Beverage Sampling Program, which featured more than 30 exhibitors.
William A. Barrier, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development, American Dairy Queen Corporation (ADQ), noted, “…I am looking for opportunities across all of the nutraceutical areas…there are probably some new ones I will find this year that I haven’t considered so it is always such a surprise and adventure when you come to SupplySide West.” For more of his thoughts on the innovative ingredients he's seeing at SupplySide West, see below.
The Manufacturers Welcome Reception, sponsored by AmealPeptide, on Wednesday and the Opening Reception, on Thursday evening, offered continued networking off the show floor. New this year, three attendees won $250 gift cards in a special drawing at the Opening Reception, sponsored by DSM, Rochem International and SourceOne Global Partners.
The three-day Education Program, sponsored by Cognis Nutrition & Health, offered distinct tracks for dietary supplement, food and cosmeceutical sessions totaling more than 40 sessions. Ellie Krieger, host of the Food Network’s “Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger,” discussed society’s views on food, health and nutrition in the featured presentation on Thursday. Speakers from U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, Federal Trade Commission, Frost & Sullivan, The Hartman Group, Sloan Trends, UCLA School of Medicine, U.S. Department of Agriculture at Tufts University, American Botanical Council, American Herbal Products Association, Council for Responsible Nutrition, and many more prestigious organizations presented.
"This year marks the eighth year Cognis has been the exclusive sponsor of the SupplySide West Education Program and there's one word that explains why: value. Countless industry colleagues, speakers and business leaders continue to praise the valuable and up-to-date information presented in the wide range of sessions. The conference provides a perfect venue for the industry to share knowledge and new ideas which can immediately be used to drive business growth." —Sharrann Simmons, Senior Marketing Manager, Cognis Nutrition & Health
A three-day VendorWorks program gave participants their choice of more than 40 presentations of ingredient science, manufacturing information, formulations and much more. Two concurrent presentations were held on Thursday and Friday during exhibit hall hours.
On Friday, Virgo Publishing presented the SupplySide Scientific Excellence Awards to PureCircle USA and PepsiCo. for Zero-calorie SoBe Lifewater; Ganeden Biotech and Red Mango for the retailer’s iced teas fortified with probiotics; and OmniActive Health Technologies and GNC for the beadlet technology used in WELLbeING™ be-ENERGIZED™-Calorie Burning Formula.
More than 300 professionals attended the “Stevia: Trends, Product Development and Regulatory Update” workshop and “Probiotics: Market Opportunities and Consumer Trends” workshop, developed with the International Probiotics Association (IPA), on Saturday, Nov. 14.
New for SupplySide West 2009, all participants received the SupplySide eDaily with show announcements, news and events. All eDaily posts will be available at http://edaily.supplysideshow.com/ for one month. To follow SupplySide news year round, join 3,500 professionals in the LinkedIn group, become a Facebook fan, or follow us on Twitter.
SupplySide East 2010 is scheduled for April 26 to 28 in Secaucus, N.J., and SupplySide West 2010 will take place October 20 to 22 in Las Vegas. Visit www.supplysideshow.com or call (800) 454-5760 for more information. The Focus on the Future Trends & Strategy Forum is set for Feb. 16 to 19, 2010, in Scottsdale, AZ. Details are available at www.focusonthefuture.net.
Virgo Publishing produces the SupplySide Trade Shows and Conferences, the Focus on the Future Executive Conference and Retreat, Nutrilearn.com and InsideCosmeceuticals.com; and publishes Natural Products INSIDER, Natural Products Marketplace and Food Product Design magazines. Virgo Publishing also publishes CULINOLOGY for the Research Chefs Association.