IFE London 2027: how a food exporter should prepare

When and where

IFE, the International Food & Drink Event, runs from 5 to 7 April 2027 at ExCeL London. It is organised by Montgomery Group. The organiser describes it as a business event for food and drink product discovery, arranged in sectors by product category, and lists more than 25,000 verified trade visitors and more than 1,500 exhibitors on its home page, without saying which year those figures are from. Everything here was read on ife.co.uk in October 2026.

The shows in the same building

IFE does not run alone. Its home page lists co-located events including IFE Manufacturing, HRC (hospitality and catering), The Pub Show, Hospitality Tech360, International Salon Culinaire and the Speciality & Fine Food Fair. For a producer of premium or speciality food, that last one matters: the buyers you want may be walking a different hall from the one you planned for. Check the organiser’s site for which show is in which hall, and decide where your buyers are before you arrive.

How to register

The organiser’s visitor FAQ says registration opens in January 2027 and is free until 11:59 pm on Sunday 4 April 2027. From 5 April it costs £50 plus VAT. Online registration closes at 5 pm on Tuesday 6 April; after that you register at the desk at ExCeL and show proof of trade status.

It is a business-to-business event, and the organiser checks every visitor’s trade status against public information such as the company website, email domain and LinkedIn profile. Registering with a business email address makes that quicker. Nobody under 18 is admitted, and you should bring photo ID. Register early, both to stay free and to leave time for the check.

Four to six weeks before

Read the exhibitor list for UK importers and distributors. The organiser publishes exhibitor pages on ife.co.uk. You are looking for companies that bring products like yours into the UK, not for brands that compete with you.

Pick twenty companies and write to them before you travel. One line on why you fit, one saying you will be at ExCeL, and a request for fifteen minutes at their stand. With several shows in one building, name the hall and the time.

Prepare what a UK buyer will ask for. Spec sheets, certificates, shelf life, minimum order, and how you deliver into the UK. If you already hold stock in the UK, say so early: it changes the conversation.

Check your email arrives. A note in a spam folder looks exactly like a note that was ignored. Our guide on why buyer emails go to spam covers the three records to check.

During the show

Write on the back of every card that evening: what they asked, what you promised, and one detail that will remind them who you are.

Keep the price for the follow-up. A considered answer by email next week is better than a number guessed in the aisle.

After the show

Send what you promised in the first few days, then one short, personal note to everybody else, then one or two more over the following weeks, each with something new to say. Our trade show follow-up guide has the week-by-week plan and three short notes you can adapt.

The short version

IFE 2027 is 5 to 7 April at ExCeL London, alongside the Speciality & Fine Food Fair and other shows. Register free before 4 April with a business email, decide which halls your buyers are in, pick twenty companies, write to them first, and follow up within the week.

Next: How to follow up with buyers after a food trade show