Where we're next.

For years, most of what we do has lived in briefing calls, kitchen prep lists and long WhatsApp threads with clients between halls. This journal is where we start writing some of it down.

You'll find three kinds of posts here. Fair diaries — short notes from the booths we're catering right now, with what worked and what we changed on the fly. Perspective pieces on the parts of exhibition hospitality that clients rarely see: menu planning around visitor peaks, alcohol logistics across borders, the difference between a hostess who greets and one who genuinely represents your brand. And practical guides for exhibitors preparing their next fair — the questions to ask, the mistakes we keep watching people make.

Everything here is written by the people running the service, not a marketing team. If a post is useful to you, that's the point. If you'd like us to write about something specific — a fair, a service, a country — send us a note and we'll add it to the list.

The economics of a trade fair are simple and unforgiving. A mid-sized booth at a major German fair costs six figures once you count space, build, travel, staff nights and shipping. Every conversation that happens on that stand is expensive. Every conversation that doesn't happen is more expensive still.

This is why food and drink on the booth is not decoration. It is the reason a serious buyer sits down for twenty minutes instead of walking past in two. It is what keeps your own sales team on their feet through day four. It is the first sensory impression a visitor has of your brand — before the pitch, before the product, before the deck.

Self-catering rarely works at this scale. Someone on your team ends up running to the supermarket at 07:00, someone else disappears into the back kitchen when a client arrives, and the last day is always the weakest because everyone is exhausted. Full-service catering removes that entire category of problem. A dedicated team arrives with the day's food and drinks, sets up before your first meeting, restocks continuously, handles alcohol licensing and waste, and leaves the booth clean each night.

The measurable difference is dwell time on the stand and the quality of conversations. The unmeasurable difference — but the one clients keep telling us about — is that their own team is calmer, more present, and better at their job for five days in a row.

Four to eight weeks before the fair, we run a pre-brief call with the exhibitor. We map out visitor expectations by day (buyers early, press mid-week, walk-ins on the last day), stand layout, meeting rooms, VIP moments, dietary requirements, and any brand rules that affect service — a colour palette to match, a house drink to feature, a language to greet guests in first.

Two weeks out we lock the menu, order alcohol under the correct import rules, book the local kitchen we're prepping from, and confirm service staff. One week out we finalise timings by day: breakfast between 08:30 and 10:00, canapés and finger food rolling from 11:00, warm lunch from 12:30, coffee peaks at 15:00, wind-down drinks from 17:00.

On show days our team is on the stand ninety minutes before opening. Coffee is running before the first visitor arrives. Every hour we restock, wipe surfaces, refresh water and clear plates. VIP arrivals get a dedicated welcome. When halls close, we clean the booth, take waste out, secure alcohol, and reset for the next morning.

The last day is the one we plan most carefully. Energy is lower, but so is exhibitor attention — which is exactly when the biggest lead of the fair sometimes walks in. Our team treats hour eight of day five the same as hour one of day one. That consistency is really what the client is paying for.