Sweets & Snacks Expo 2017 to Host Sell-Out Crowd

CHICAGO — With only weeks to go until the 2017 Sweets & Snacks Expo, the annual trade show floor has sold out and created a wait list for the fifth consecutive year.

Hosted by the National Confectioners Association, this year's Expo will take place May 23-25 at Chicago's McCormick Place. It will welcome more than 17,000 attendees from 90 different countries. Nearly 800 exhibitors will display innovative products from the confectionery, snack and specialty categories.

The 2017 Expo will offer nearly 20 educational sessions ranging from consumer insights to the latest industry trends. New features this year include:

• "Eye Opener" Morning Knowledge Building Sessions;
• The launch of the Small Business Innovator Award as part of the 2017 Most Innovative New Products Program, which highlights companies with net sales of $500,000 or less; and
• The debut of Destination Retail, which encompasses the Merchandising Gallery of Success, as well as new technology pods demonstrating in-store advances from leading companies.

Because of its continued success, Trade Show Executive magazine named the Sweets & Snacks Expo to its "Fastest 50" list, recognizing the fastest-growing trade shows worldwide. The Expo picked up a total of three honors: named to the Fastest 50 list, a "Next 50" award for net square feet of exhibit space, and a "Next 50" award for total attendance.

"We are honored to receive such a distinction from Trade Show Executive magazine as proof that the industry recognizes the Sweets & Snacks Expo as the destination where retailers and exhibitors go to grow their businesses," said Barry Rosenbaum, Expo chairman and president of Nassau Candy Distributors Inc. "The 2017 Expo promises to be no different as we continually seek to solidify our stature as the must-attend event for the candy, snack and specialty categories."

Hosted by BZ Media LLC, the Fastest 50 award is given to the nation's fastest growing organizational events that exceed industry benchmarks. The Sweets & Snacks Expo outpaced industry benchmarks by more than 10 times in number of exhibiting companies, and more than five times in net square feet of exhibit space and attendance. This is the third time the Sweets & Snacks Expo has received a Fastest 50 award, having been first named to the list in 2011 for number of exhibitors and then again in 2013 for attendance.