SupplySide East 2007 Another Success

SECAUCUS, N.J.—More than 3,600 industry executives from dietary supplement, food/beverage, personal care/cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies gathered April 30 to May 2 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, N.J., for SupplySide East. Participation was up to 3,658, while the exhibit hall included 248 companies occupying more than 323 booths.

“SupplySide East continues to draw the highest quality of attendee from leading dietary supplement, food and cosmetic/personal care manufacturers and marketers,” said Peggy Jackson, director of publishing for the Health & Nutrition Division at Virgo Publishing. “Professionals from Aveda, Avon, Bayer Healthcare, Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup Co., Country Life, Estee Lauder, Hormel Foods, Kraft, L’Oreal, Mastertaste, Nature’s Way, NBTY, Nestlé, Pepsi, Philip Morris, Solgar, Dannon, Hershey, Unilever, Vitamin Shoppe, Wyeth and many more powerhouses attended the event.”

“For us in the personal care space, we have developed some of our best contacts through the SupplySide shows,” said Mindy Goldstein, executive director of R&D, Aveda Corp. “We can find compounds that cross over from oral to topical application, and we like to get the scientific data and look at that for use in skin care products. We found that there is uniqueness of these suppliers, as we don’t work with many of them, so SupplySide helps us find new and alternate suppliers of raw materials.”

SupplySide East kicked off on Monday, April 30 with the Golf Classic, co-sponsored by Marco HI-TECH and INSIDER, and a special workshop presented by The Natural Marketing Institute discussing trends and opportunities as they relate to specific nutritional ingredients, dietary supplements, foods/beverages, and personal care products.

The Education Program, sponsored by EPAX AS, also started on April 30, offering three days of scientific research, marketing strategies and regulatory updates. Monday’s Featured Speakers included FDA’s Vasilios H. Frankos, Ph.D., addressing dietary supplement GMPs and adverse event reporting; and Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., Tufts University, focusing on evidence-based nutrition and the problem of proof.

“Emphasizing the value of research and science is a top priority at EPAX,” said Gunilla Traberg, marketing manager, EPAX AS. “The education sessions at SupplySide East are more important now than ever as the industry experiences rapid growth and increasing interest from outside parties. These sessions serve a vital role in helping communicate the positive contributions of industry players and keeping everyone informed on top-of-mind issues.”

The exhibit hall opened on Tuesday at noon and held more than 3,600 participants, making it the largest SupplySide East to date. Thousands of executives walked the exhibit hall until 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and again from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

“SupplySide was a very successful show for us,” said Eric Anderson, brand manager, PL Thomas. “It gave us an opportunity to meet with customers and prospective customers from not only the Northeast but from international locations as well. Most notably, food and pharmaceutical companies were well-represented at the show. In addition, we found the educational program to be significantly rewarding, particularly the session on natural vitamin K2.”

Networking events offered participants additional opportunities to build new business relationships and meet with industry peers. More than 200 executives from around the world attended the International Welcome Reception, sponsored by OptiPure/Soft Gel Technologies. The Opening Reception, held in the exhibit hall from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 1, was co-sponsored by DSM, Kyowa Hakko and Unigen Pharmaceuticals. The Appreciation Party closed the three-day event with food and beverages on the exhibit floor Wednesday afternoon and was sponsored by Lonza, XSTO Solutions and INSIDER.

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