PHOENIX—Industry executives from dietary supplement, food and beverage, cosmetic and personal care, and pharmaceutical companies gathered April 27 to 29 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, N.J., for SupplySide East. More than 3,000 professionals participated, including teams from Bayer HealthCare, Carlson Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Coty, Estēe Lauder, Kraft Foods, Mars Chocolate, McNeil Nutritionals, NBTY, Nature’s Way, Solgar, The Vitamin Shoppe, Unilever and many additional companies.
“With the current economic climate, many industries are reporting declining participation at their events. We are pleased that SupplySide East 2009 drew so many industry giants, many of them first-time attendees, in search of ingredients, services, ideas and education. Exhibitors agree that this event delivers value, as the exhibit hall for SupplySide East 2010 is nearly 70% sold out already.”
-- Peggy Jackson, Director of Publishing, Health & Nutrition Division, Virgo Publishing
“My job is to look for new product opportunities in the future for my company. So, this is absolutely exactly what I needed to do to get new ideas and connect to suppliers who can help me bring those to the company.”
-- Barbara Wolf, Ph.D., Executive Director, New Ventures, Estēe Lauder
“Overall, this has been a very great show. We had the opportunity to meet suppliers that we deal with normally face-to-face as well as meet new suppliers to generate some new ideas.”
-- Damani Parran, Senior Research Scientist, Colgate-Palmolive Company
The two-day exhibit hall, open April 28 and 29, featured hundreds of companies offering cutting-edge ingredients and technologies with food, beverage, cosmetic, personal care and dietary supplement applications. Vitamins, herbs, flavors, branded ingredients, sweeteners, probiotics, omega 3s and many more ingredients were available.
“We come to SupplySide East and West every year to find suppliers, ingredients and new products. We find some really interesting things every time we come.”
-- Carilyn Anderson, Sales & Marketing Executive, Carlson Labs
“Kyowa Hakko usually has a uniquely productive show at SupplySide East. We find that many prospective and current clients will stop by and have specific goals to accomplish in Secaucus. It’s a business show where we get a lot of things done, and some new things started.”
-- Neil Sullivan, Director of Sales, Kyowa Hakko
Food/beverage and cosmeceutical tracks, sponsored by Sabinsa and AAK respectively, were added to the education program this year, bringing the number of sessions to 30. The two nutrition tracks were sponsored by EPAX. Presenters from American Dairy Queen Corp., American Herbal Products Association, Council for Responsible Nutrition, Datamonitor, Estēe Lauder, Euromonitor International, The Hartman Group, Harvard University Medical School, Mintel, Natural Products Association, Red Bull North America and many more companies and associations spoke during the program spanning April 27 to 29. Bradford Williams, manager of the Division of Dietary Supplement Programs in the Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements in CFSAN at FDA was the featured speaker on Wednesday, April 29, drawing an audience of hundreds when he discussed GMPs, the adverse event reporting (AER) system, and New Dietary Ingredients.
The SupplySide East Golf Classic, co-sponsored by Marco HI-Tech and INSIDER, was held on Monday, April 27, at the members-only private golf course, the Green Brook Country Club. Trophies were awarded to the top three teams, as well as for the longest drive and closest-to-the-pin. Also on Monday and new for 2009, the SupplySide Happy Hour drew participants for appetizers and networking. The SupplySide LinkedIn group met during the event for an in-person meet and greet. The Opening Reception was held Tuesday, April 28, in the exhibit hall during the last hour and a half of exhibit hall hours. Participants enjoyed cocktails and complimentary food. On the last day of the show, the Appreciation Reception, co-sponsored by Kyowa and insidecosmeceuticals.com, offered a hosted bar and food stations on the exhibit floor.
More than 25 leading companies sponsored the SupplySide East event, including major sponsors Blue California, EPAX AS, Lesaffre Human Care and National Enzyme Company.
For more information on SupplySide East 2010, scheduled for April 26 to 28 in Secaucus, N.J., or SupplySide West 2009, which will take place Nov. 11 to 13 in Las Vegas, visit supplysideshow.com or call (800) 454-5760.
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.
