Food and beverage trade shows are industry events where food, beverage, supplement and ingredient brands meet the buyers who carry their products. If you already exhibit at Natural Products Expo West, other food trade shows put you in front of convenience store buyers, food scientists and specialty retailers. Here are eight worth a booth in 2027, with the buyer each one brings and what your booth needs there.
How to Choose a Food Trade Show: Start With the Buyer You Need
Pick the show by the buyer you need in front of you, then test it against your budget and your booth plan. We ask the same three questions before recommending any booth:
What are you trying to accomplish? Getting into convenience stores points to NACS. Selling an ingredient to product developers points to IFT FIRST or SupplySide Global.
What is your budget? It decides how many shows you can do well, and whether you rent, build or combine the two.
How will you use the space? Sampling, demos, private meetings and showing several products each take room for your team and your visitors.
8 Food and Beverage Trade Shows Worth a Booth
NACS Show
The NACS Show brings snack, beverage and foodservice brands together with convenience store buyers. The next expo runs October 6–8, 2027, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, and the 2026 floor held 1,090 exhibitors, according to NACS. Plan the sampling counter first, then a place to sit down with buyers. Olipop's 20x20 island at NACS had a backlit reception counter, a separate sampling counter, a storage closet and a private meeting room. Javo Beverage's 10x20 custom inline at NACS centered on an L-shaped serving counter for demonstrating its cold brew machine.
IFT FIRST
IFT FIRST brings food scientists together with the ingredient, flavor and color suppliers who sell to them, across 1,000+ exhibitors. The next show runs July 11–14, 2027, at McCormick Place in Chicago, according to IFT. Your booth has to show the ingredient itself and leave room for technical conversations. Gold Coast Ingredients' 20x30 island at IFT used two oversized serving counters with backlit light-box graphics and cubbies for raw ingredients, plus a lounge.
SupplySide Global
SupplySide Global serves dietary supplement, food and beverage, pet health and personal care companies, with 1,600+ exhibiting companies. It runs in Las Vegas each fall, and the 2026 expo was at Mandalay Bay. The organizer hasn't posted 2027 dates yet. Ingredient buyers come with technical questions, so plan a meeting table or room next to your product display. Because the show is in Las Vegas, your exhibit can be built and staged close to the hall at our Las Vegas exhibit facility.
Winter FancyFaire and the Summer Fancy Food Show
The Specialty Food Association runs both shows for specialty food and beverage brands across 40+ categories. Winter FancyFaire runs January 17–19, 2027, at Moscone Center in San Francisco, with 1,000+ exhibitors. The Summer Fancy Food Show runs July 25–27, 2027, in New York, with 2,500+ exhibiting companies, according to the Specialty Food Association. Either booth needs a tasting counter and lit product shelves. With January close, a rental is the better fit for Winter FancyFaire if you're starting now. For San Francisco, our Cerritos shop in Southern California is the closer of our two facilities.
Sweets & Snacks Expo
The National Confectioners Association's Sweets & Snacks Expo connects candy and snack makers with retail buyers. It runs May 18–20, 2027, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, according to the organizer. Candy and snack lines tend to include many products, so plan lit product shelves to show the range, a sampling counter and a storage room for restocking.
IFPA Global Produce & Floral Show
Fresh produce and floral companies meet the buyers who source from them at this International Fresh Produce Association show. It runs October 20–22, 2027, in Atlanta, and returns to Anaheim October 18–20, 2028, according to IFPA. Fresh product has to stay fresh through show hours, so plan a refrigerated display and order the electrical to run it. The 10x20 inline we built for Sensei Farms included a Grab N Go refrigerated produce display.
IBIE
IBIE, The Baking Expo, covers baking ingredients, equipment, packaging and technology, with 1,000 exhibiting companies at the 2025 edition. It runs every three years in Las Vegas, and the next show is September 9–13, 2028, according to IBIE. Many exhibitors show large machinery, so an ingredient brand needs another way to get noticed from the aisle. Our 20x20 custom island for backaldrin at IBIE used arches braced to work from a single rigging point, two-tone wood grain and hand-painted faux brick, with real wheat stalks in planter boxes.
World of Coffee
World of Coffee is the Specialty Coffee Association's trade show, where roasters, café owners and coffee buyers meet. The next US edition runs April 9–11, 2027, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, according to World of Coffee. Plan brewing, water and power before the counter is drawn. Ipanema Coffees' 10x20 inline at the association's earlier SCAA expo carried a hand-stained wood lattice over from its larger booth and added three backlit headers. Café de Costa Rica's 20x30 island at SCAA had a sampling area, seating and a presentation area with clear window walls.
What a Food and Beverage Booth Needs That Other Booths Don't
A food or beverage booth is planned around its sampling counter: where the line forms, how product gets restocked and where the coolers plug in. Read the show's exhibitor manual before the counter is designed, since it sets the sampling rules and any fees.
Sampling counter: a surface that wipes down quickly, at a height your team can serve from all day.
Line space: room for people to wait in front of the counter without blocking the aisle or your meeting area.
Cooler and electrical drop: decide where each cooler sits, then order enough electrical to run it for the whole show.
Storage room: a closed space behind the counter for restocking. Olipop's island hid a storage closet behind its counters.
Product shelves: lit shelving that shows the full line from the aisle.
Floor position matters as much as the layout. A corner booth, an aisle intersection or a space near a major exhibitor draws more traffic than a booth at the back of the hall, so we design each exhibit for its specific spot, with traffic flow and sightlines in mind.
A 10x20 Can Carry a Food Brand
Sensei Farms' 10x20 at the Global Produce & Floral Show in Anaheim combined warm wood walls, backlit foliage cutouts, LED channel lighting, an illuminated logo, movable floating shelves, a refrigerated produce display and a 50-inch screen looping farm footage. Every element told the Sensei Farms story, so the 10x20 held its own at a show full of much larger exhibits.
Consider sizing up when your team is constantly crowded, you're turning visitors away because there's no room to meet, you're introducing several products or you're adding demonstrations. Our custom trade show exhibits are engineered to reconfigure, so a booth can change footprint as your show calendar grows.
What a Food Show Booth Costs
A mid-range custom exhibit typically falls between $150 and $200 per square foot. A high-end custom exhibit with premium finishes, immersive technology and custom architecture generally starts around $250 per square foot.
Beyond the exhibit, budget for shipping, installation and dismantle labor, electrical, internet, rigging, cleaning and drayage. Drayage is the fee the convention center or general contractor charges to move your exhibit from the truck to your booth, store the empty crates during the show and return everything to the dock. It's based primarily on the weight of your shipment.
Food brands also add electrical for coolers and any sampling fees listed in the exhibitor manual. Our proposals include estimated shipping and installation and dismantle costs, and we can estimate drayage and show services, so you can set the budget before the design starts.
Rent for a New Show, Build for the Shows You Repeat
Rent when you're testing a new market or exhibiting once or twice a year, and own when you exhibit several times a year with the same footprint and branding. Our rental exhibits combine reusable structure with your graphics, lighting and branding, so a rental typically requires a lower upfront investment and saves you the cost of storing and maintaining a booth.
Ownership pays off when renting year after year would cost more than owning the exhibit. If you're somewhere in between, a hybrid combines custom-owned pieces, such as a sampling counter you'll use at every show, with rental structure sized to each floor.
Building Food Show Booths From Las Vegas and Southern California
Our Las Vegas facility is 22,000 square feet and sits minutes from the city's major convention centers, a short trip for SupplySide Global and IBIE. Our Cerritos shop in Southern California is 37,000 square feet. Before any exhibit ships, we complete a full pre-build in our facility, with every wall, graphic and light fixture assembled as it will appear on the show floor.
For most custom exhibits, start about six months before the show, and nine months or more for larger projects. For a July show like IFT FIRST, that means starting in January.
Food and Beverage Trade Show FAQs
Which food trade shows are held in Las Vegas?
SupplySide Global runs in Las Vegas each fall, and it's the annual option for supplement, ingredient and food and beverage companies. IBIE, the baking industry's show, also runs in Las Vegas, but only every three years, with the next edition in September 2028.
How much does a food trade show booth cost?
The cost depends on your footprint, whether you rent or build, the finishes and technology you choose, and show services such as electrical and drayage. Food brands should also budget for the electrical that coolers need and any sampling fees in the exhibitor manual. Set the overall budget first, then design to it.
Can you serve samples at a trade show booth?
Usually, but each show sets its own sampling rules and fees. Read the exhibitor manual for your show before the counter is designed, because the rules can affect where the counter goes, what you need to order and what your team can hand out.
Should a food brand rent or buy a booth for a new show?
Rent for a new show, especially if you're testing the market or exhibit once or twice a year. A rental lets you try the show without a large capital investment. Consider owning once you return several times a year with the same footprint and branding.
How far ahead should you plan a food show booth?
Start about six months before the show for most custom exhibits, and nine months or more for larger projects. That leaves time for design, engineering, fabrication and a full pre-build without rush charges. If your timeline is shorter, we can often still accommodate it, and a rental usually moves faster.
Which show reaches convenience store buyers?
The NACS Show is the convenience retail industry's trade show, where snack, beverage and foodservice brands meet c-store buyers. The next expo runs October 6–8, 2027, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Plan a sampling counter and a private place to meet with buyers.
Plan Your 2027 Food Show Booth
Tell us which shows you're weighing, your footprint and what you plan to sample, and we'll map the booth and the budget with you. Call 866.780.1555 or plan your 2027 food show booth.
About the author. Rena Patton is co-founder and owner of Exhibit Options, a veteran-owned and woman-owned and operated exhibit house founded in 2005, with design and fabrication facilities in Cerritos, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada.
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