Announcing Two New Show Features to Debut at Specialty Coffee Expo
Specialty Coffee Expo (Expo) North America’s largest B2B event for the specialty coffee industry will debut two new features at the trade show and conference taking place for the first time at McCormick Place in Chicago from Friday, April 12 – Sunday, April 14. The Green Coffee Connect program, sponsored by Barista Attitude, will offer interactive programming for anyone selling or buying green coffee. In addition, the coffee industry retail buyers who attend from around the world have an opportunity to gain access to a new Retail Buyers Lounge designed to provide a dynamic opportunity for retail buyers to network, conduct meetings, and explore potential business partnerships with exhibitors. The trade show and conference are owned and operated by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).
The Retail Buyers Lounge will act as a designated space for skill-sharing, learning, and networking amongst global coffee retail industry professionals in attendance at Expo. Invited guests will have access to a comfortable lounge space off the show floor where they can connect over coffee and learn about the latest trends impacting the industry from industry experts with a series of short talks, pitches, and panels taking place each day. Companies interested in sponsoring the Retail Buyers Lounge and attendees interested in submitting an application for consideration to participate, can find information at coffeeexpo.org/retail-buyers-lounge.
“Green Coffee Connect is a hub of activity designed for anyone interested in buying or selling green coffee. For the first time since this feature was introduced as the Green Coffee Buyers and Sellers program, the green coffee community will have the opportunity to hear from experts about topics like post-harvest processing trends, as well as to build their networks and make new business contacts. We thank Barista Attitude for supporting our efforts and sponsoring Green Coffee Connect,” said Kim Elena Ionescu, Chief Sustainability and Knowledge Development Officer, SCA. For information about sponsorship and participation opportunities visit coffeeexpo.org/green-coffee-connect.
Green Coffee Summit (now Green Coffee Connect) and Coffee Retail Summit (now the Retail Buyers Lounge) were online events created in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support two particularly vulnerable sectors of the specialty coffee industry. Both event websites acted as resources for both the events and curated resources from and for each industry and will remain active for these sectors to provide resources and information about future events and activations.