Hospitality expo gears up
By Katherine Nichols
Advertiser Staff Writer
As the state's hospitality and lodging industry begins its annual expo today at the Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall, the sold-out booth space and the high energy and positive outlook among exhibitors reflects tourism's determined path toward recovery.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
More than 100 businesses are joining the eighth annual Hawaii Lodging, Hospitality and Foodservice Expo this year, and in all, 330 companies — about 89 from the Mainland — occupy 526 booth spaces. Attendees come from hotel and restaurant businesses, and extend to airline catering, prison food service, cruise ships and freighters, colleges and government agencies.
Michelle Jim, Sobel Westex account manager, dresses a mannequin for her booth display at the eighth annual Hawaii Lodging, Hospitality and Foodservice Expo at Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall. The two-day event opens today.
But many of the still-struggling businesses also serve as reminders of the powerful ripple effect the decline in tourism had after Sept. 11.
"You couldn't give space away in November," said exposition director Ken Kanter. "But momentum has been building for the industry since March."
Kanter estimates the number of buyers attending the show this year will be equal to or larger than the 4,634 who registered last year. Because people register once and attend both days — purchasing from different booths each day — Kanter said the floor traffic is the equivalent to 6,000.
The expo provides a marketplace for hoteliers to get decorating ideas, for restaurants to see the latest dinner plates or custom-designed bread baskets, and bars to sample the newest mixed drinks. Mainland companies can look for local representatives, local companies can take on new lines, and exhibitors can market to one another.
"(The expo) is critical," said Kristen Wren, president and chief executive officer of the Phoenix-based company The Wren Collection, which sells fabrics to designers and architects who work with hotels and restaurants. "It's a way to see everyone in one shot."
• The expo is today and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It's free, but is strictly a trade event open only to people in lodging, food-service or hospitality-related industries.
Barbara Sheehan, director of marketing and senior vice president of The Wren Collection, said many hotels and restaurants have postponed major capital expenditures until next year. Instead, most are relying on quick, inexpensive fixes till business improves.
For trade industry only
But the second-year exhibitors agreed that the expo was a good time for them to solidify relationships for future business.
Wesley Nakamura, co-owner of a Honolulu-based, family-owned industrial cleaning supply and equipment business, is a first-time attendee who also plans to get a head start for next year.
Nakamura said sales for his company, Lamers Enterprise Inc., dropped 30 percent to 40 percent after Sept. 11 because hotels and government agencies were no longer making large purchases.
With sales improving steadily but still down 15 percent, Nakamura said that he attended the show last year and was impressed with the attendance. So he decided to invest in a booth and lay groundwork. "You have to be out there and advertise, and when everyone has the money, they'll buy," said Nakamura, who emphasized the link between businesses like his and the tourism industry. "It is very tightly intertwined," he said.
Peter Pao of Oahu Restaurant Supply said sales fell at least 40 percent after Sept. 11 when mid-sized restaurants essentially stopped purchasing equipment, small wares and tabletop items.
Though business is still down 20 percent to 25 percent, he expects the year to finish strong as restaurants plan for holiday parties and budget for next year's capital improvements.
He hopes to make a mark at the expo, where competition for buyers is fierce. The scent of roast beef and fresh bread emanating from Pao's mock kitchen will lure many to his booth. "You've basically got about eight seconds to get them to stop," he said.
Not all exhibitors, however, have trudged the long road back from dismal sales after the terrorist attacks wreaked havoc on the industry as a whole.
Harvey Engelberg, owner of the Montreal-based custom metal products manufacturer Bluebird MFG Co., said he has not experienced a slump, and his high-end products have sold well to the Hyatt and Sheraton brands in Hawai'i.
Indeed, Engelberg said that Jeff Wind, the Hyatt Regency Waikiki's executive chef, requested a custom-made item and ended up inspiring a new conical design for bread baskets.
Engelberg thinks that part of the continued success of his 25-year-old company is because the market for limited numbers of high-quality items has not diminished. But he also admits that an order for his products doesn't represent the capital improvement expenditure that a remodeling project does.
Still, he expects the two-day expo to yield more than sales. "We'll probably end up with more new ideas than we imagined," he said.
