Arlington, VA (Tuesday, February 13) – The National Grocers Association (NGA) and Clarion Events today announced a new joint venture as Clarion Events plans to take an equity stake in the NGA Show, assuring many years of future growth and success for what has become one of the top trade shows in the food industry. The partnership will add significant resources that will enable new growth within the NGA Show, while at the same time ensuring the NGA Show will continue to be the place “where independents gather.”
The partnership, approved by NGA’s Board of Directors, will be a seamless transition with NGA remaining an active owner in the new venture, including working closely with the NGA Show team to ensure attendees continue to enjoy all of the great educational programming and popular events that have come to define the NGA Show, while harnessing the new resources, technologies, and expertise from Clarion Events, including expanding the size and offerings for attendees on the EXPO floor.
“Over the past five years the NGA Show has seen record breaking growth thanks to strong educational programming, best in class networking opportunities, and sold out EXPO floor that have made attending the NGA Show one of the best value propositions around,” said Peter Larkin president and CEO, NGA. “With Clarion Event’s investment in the NGA Show we have the opportunity to increase that value proposition, particularly on the EXPO floor, while continuing to maintain the special experience that we have created for NGA members and attendees. We’re thrilled to bring the food industry to San Diego in 2019 for a world class food industry event that retailers and suppliers can’t afford to miss,” said Larkin.
“We value the association partnerships we have formed in our event portfolio. Our approach is focused on building strong, long lasting relationships with our association partners to provide strategic support and fuel growth for their events,” said Greg Topalian, CEO, Clarion UX. “Our collaborative approach combined with our extensive team experience have created both successful and productive business results. We look forward to delivering new opportunities for growth for NGA and their members in this dynamic market.”
The NGA Show will become one of a growing number of association partnership events for Clarion UX and joins the growing portfolio of Food events. Other events in the Clarion UX portfolio that are produced with association partnership or sponsorship include: PlayFair (Toy Industry Association), The International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York (NY Restaurant Association), Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show (Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association), Western Foodservice Show (California Restaurant Association) and Halloween & Party Expo (Halloween Industry Association). Clarion UX also manages the Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Mid-Year Conference for the National Indian Gaming Association.
Clarion, the largest independent event organizer in the UK, operates over 200 events in 20 countries. It entered the US market in 2015 through acquiring majority ownership of the Georgia-based Urban Expositions, now known as Clarion UX. To view the entire portfolio of Foodservice, Retail and other Leftfield Media and Clarion UX events visit www.urban-expo.com
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