NEW YORK—On May 10, VIRGO's Health & Nutrition Network concluded its first-ever SupplySide event in New York City—SupplySide MarketPlace. By all accounts, the event was a raving success, bringing together more than 3,500 health and nutrition industry professionals for three days of education and business exchange on its 80,000-sq.-ft. tradeshow floor.
"Our move to Javits and the introduction of SupplySide MarketPlace proved to be a big step for the industry and for the SupplySide brand in connecting the buyers and sellers of ingredients for the food, beverage, cosmetic and supplement markets," said John Siefert, VIRGO's CEO. "Our strategy, through our events, websites, community and on-demand store, is to create an environment where our audience can explore and discover their next innovation to bring to market—this was happening throughout the buzzing marketplace show floor where CPG, pharma and food companies alike were finding the newest ingredients from around the world."
Prior to the event, a host of prominent industry professionals gathered at Crystal Springs Golf Resort in Hamburg, N.J., for the 3rd Annual Vitamin Angels Golf Tournament, helping raise nearly $400,000 for the organization's efforts to eradicate global disease and malnutrition resulting from vitamin deficiencies. "There is nothing better than gathering with friends and colleagues for a day of networking and fun on the golf course," said Jim Wagner, director of sales and business development for VIRGO's Health & Nutrition Network. "What's even better is that our 'fun' is making such an impact on children around the world. We were all honored to be a part of such a fantastic event."
SupplySide MarketPlace got underway in New York's Javits Center on Tuesday, May 8, with a regulatory update from Dan Fabricant, Ph.D., the director of dietary supplement programs at FDA. In his remarks, Fabricant shared the agency's ongoing commitment to enforcing the current laws that protect consumers from adulterated products. VIRGO demonstrated its commitment to ensuring the integrity of the industry unveiling its newest endeavor—the SupplySide Compliance Program. "Everyone has a role to play in ensuring industry compliance with regulations, and the SupplySide Compliance Program introduced at SupplySide MarketPlace is our latest commitment in this area," commented Jon Benninger, vice president of VIRGO's Health & Nutrition Network. "We visited every booth prior to the show's opening, and in the small number of cases that required attention, we had the exhibitors modify or remove their messaging. We also introduced a Compliance Reporting Tool on our MarketPlace mobile app, which enables anyone to anonymously report a compliance issue to us in real-time. As our attendees explore and discover the opportunities for innovation in the SupplySide exhibit hall, they must have confidence that they can bring these ideas to market in full compliance."
VIRGO also introduced The SupplySide Global Experience at this spring's show. "One thing that we know for sure is that we have an extremely engaged audience of ingredient buyers from myriad market segments—cosmetics, sports nutrition and food, to name a few—and all of them had an opportunity to explore a new area of the show we created for 2012, called SupplySide Global Experience," said Kristin Ringdahl, SupplySide's managing director. "The 'Experience' area featured the SupplySide Store, SupplySide Community, SupplySide R&D Insights, our media brands such as Food Product Design, and our INSIDER Ingredient Buying Center, all in an interactive environment where attendees could engage with these innovations."
With its double-digit growth in 2012, SupplySide MarketPlace is already planning for another record year in 2013, as it expands, once again, to an additional hall inside Javits Center.
SupplySide continues to deliver education and insight into ingredient and food science beginning on June 12 with a series of stops for its SupplySide Science Tour. These one-day events feature brief presentations from a hand-picked group of top ingredient suppliers bringing the latest in innovative ingredient science to finished product manufacturers in select U.S. geographic regions.
For more information about SupplySide, including what you may have missed at SupplySide MarketPlace, visit supplysideshow.com.
