The Great Brand Exchange has joined forces with Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2023, taking place on 11-12 September at Olympia London, to give food & drink brands the opportunity to pitch live to senior industry buyers and secure a unique prize.  

Pitch Live, taking place on day one of the Fair at 13.45 in the Trends Theatre, will see four innovative producers pitching their business to an esteemed panel of industry judges and a live audience.  

The judges include Matt Hopkins, Founder of The Great Brand Exchange, Emma Issimdar, Buyer Gift Food at John Lewis & Partners, and Stefano Cuomo, CEO of Macknade’s. 

The winning brand will have the exciting opportunity to take part in a pop up at a John Lewis store for one week, getting their business in front of thousands of potential customers, plus a month of free access to The Great Brand Exchange ‘Found Here’ Directory.  

Matthew Hopkins, Founder of The Great Brand Exchange, says: "At The Great Brand Exchange we believe small brands are good for retail and we are always on the hunt for the next BIG thing so I am thrilled to be a panellist for Pitch Live and really looking forward to unearthing some new and inspiring brands!" 

The Great Brand Exchange was founded in 2014 with two goals in mind. The first was to help small businesses grow and scale by giving them a route into retail. And the second was to bring exciting, unique, local products to major retailers enabling them to offer something different alongside their big-name brands. 

Since its inception, the business has generated an incredible £50 million in revenue for small businesses, shipped three million packages, managed 5,000 pop-up events and created an active network of 12,000 emerging brands.  

It has also recently launched 'Found Here' which is a Membership platform where brands can have a listing on a retailer directory, helping them to be 'found' by buyers more easily. Via the membership brands can also access recommended suppliers and access a library of live webinars by industry experts to help grow their business. 

Nicola Woods, Event Manager for Speciality & Fine Food Fair, comments: “This is a fantastic chance for younger brands to get in front of a diverse consumer audience, receive invaluable feedback from senior industry buyers and stand out from the crowd in the incredibly busy food & drink marketplace.” 

To find out more about this year’s edition of Pitch Live, in partnership with The Great Brand Exchange, visit specialityandfinefoodfairs.co.uk/pitch-live. Entrants must be exhibiting at Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2023 and have been trading for under three years at the time of the event on 11-12 September.