Catering to a Tough Economy

LAS VEGAS—In this challenging economic climate, tradeshows not only have to market harder, but also more creatively. The largest event for the catering and events industries is trying to prove that strong marketing to a healthy industry can result in a successful show.

The Catersource Conference & Tradeshow took place Feb. 24-25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with a conference Feb. 22-26 at the neighboring Las Vegas Hilton.

While many shows have experienced dramatic drops in attendance, number of exhibiting companies and square footage, this year’s event only saw minor shrinkage, according to Catersource CEO Pauline Hoogmoed, with approximately 5,000 attendees and 435 exhibitors spanning 98,000 net square feet of space, compared with last year’s event that had 6,200 attendees, 455 exhibitors and 99,000 net sq. ft. The show also boasted 75 new exhibitors this year, she added.

How is this possible? By offering 150 cutting-edge educational sessions, working with the Las Vegas Hilton to make room rates more competitive, bumping up pre-show marketing and advertising and introducing a deferred payment program that made the event financially accessible, Hoogmoed said.

The latter effort especially was successful in boosting attendance: A program allowing attendees participating in the full conference to make a $50 initial deposit and then defer the remainder of their registration fee until Aug. 15, a date right in the middle of the industry’s busiest season.

“A lot of caterers might not see a lot of revenue until June because winter is slow (for the industry) in most of the country,” Hoogmoed said. “After (we announced the deferred payment program), we had a big surge in registration and a lot of on-site registration, much more than normal.”

This effort didn’t go unnoticed. Although some attendees said they were aware of the payment program but didn’t take advantage of it, others said it was the final push they needed to get them to the show.

“The deferred tuition payment was fabulous,” said attendee Cassie Bobbitt, owner of Global Event Group. “August is in the middle of our season, so it was perfect. We don’t know if we would have been able to come without it. We hope they continue it.”

Aside from focused efforts to drive participation, it doesn’t hurt that the event is also the largest of its kind in the catering industry, with few competitors to steal away business, Hoogmoed said.

“We’re a very niche market,” she said. “There isn’t another catering tradeshow or conference. There are a lot of food shows, but they’re more restaurant or food service (oriented).”

Despite the economy’s impact on the food and beverage industries, catering is holding its own, according to Carl Sacks, director of consulting for Catersource. While the Natl. Restaurant Assn. expects its industry to be down about 5 percent this year, the catering industry predicts a mere 2-percent drop, he said, with many companies seeing substantial increases in business.

That is thanks to a lot of weddings, funerals, birthdays and bar mitzvahs, Sacks added.

Although corporate meeting business has declined, companies that historically have gone to hotels for regional or national conferences instead are staying in their local markets, and that kind of business typically is handled by caterers, Sacks said. Groups want to save on travel costs, but they still need to have meetings, he added, and, whenever you have meetings, you have to have food and beverage.

Many exhibitors agreed that people still are holding events, and, as long as they do, they intend to take advantage.

Exhibitor Jim Cali, vice president of sales and marketing for Market Forge Industries, said his business was strong, despite the economic climate.

“I say perception becomes reality,” he added. “You have to have more visibility, market more and be more aggressive (in this economy).”