October 14 to 16, 2026. Orange County Convention Center, Orlando.
Three days. Nearly 70 countries. More than 1,050 exhibiting companies. One very long walk from citrus to cut flowers and back. Here is what we saw, who stood out, and what fresh is carrying into 2027.
The Show
The Global Produce & Floral Show is the International Fresh Produce Association's flagship event and the biggest annual room in fresh. Growers, packers, shippers, retailers, wholesalers, importers, foodservice operators, and the tech, logistics and packaging companies that keep it all moving. The expo floor is organized into four neighborhoods: produce, floral, complementary products and business solutions.
This year the show set up in the West Building of the Orange County Convention Center. Day one belonged to the general sessions, the State of the Industry address and the Education Festival. Days two and three belonged to the floor.
Two changes mattered. The show ran midweek for the first time, Wednesday through Friday, because members asked for it. And floral moved back onto the main floor after a year in its own building. Both made the aisles busier and the walks shorter.
400+ banners. Buyers came from more than 400 retail and wholesale banners.
1 in 9. The buyer-to-attendee ratio landed near 1 to 9. That is a lot of decision makers per square foot.
Up 10 percent. Participation from retailers based outside the U.S. rose 10 percent.
235 new ideas. The Fresh Ideas Showcase featured 235 new innovations.
What Orlando Told Us
Every show has a mood. This one was optimistic and practical. Nobody is pretending costs are down or that shoppers are easy. Everyone was building for them anyway.
Snack-sized everything. Convenience and healthy snacking owned the floor. Snacking tomatoes, cucumber and cheese kits, dried mango. Less prep, more grab.
The GLP-1 shopper has arrived. Roughly a third of U.S. households have someone on or considering a GLP-1. Eating occasions are getting smaller, and packaging is calling out fiber and digestive health to meet them.
Value means more than price. Households pay about 37 percent more per food item than a few years ago. They are still buying. They want flavor, quality and dinner on the table in under 15 minutes.
Trust is the currency. After the summer recall headlines, 83 percent of primary shoppers said they changed their habits. Gen Z spends heavily on produce, yet only 16 percent call the industry trustworthy. Food safety and traceability ran through IFPA's whole program.
Packaging got serious. Extended Producer Responsibility was a headline topic. IFPA committed $5 million in grants to its Packaging Innovation Program, and Stemilt took Best Sustainable Packaging for a compostable PLU.
Floral is the quiet growth story. Floral is a $10.5 billion department and still growing in units, led by shoppers under 45 who buy flowers as monthly self-care. Tariffs reshuffled supply, with a 50 percent U.S. tariff on Canadian flowers in place since August.
The channel map keeps moving. Traditional supermarkets have given up five points of fresh produce share since 2022. Walmart, Aldi and club are gaining. E-commerce is now 10 percent of U.S. produce sales.
AI went to work. IFPA expanded the food safety and consumer insight tools in its Global Intelligence Engine. Fewer keynote promises. More dashboards people will use on Monday.
Naturipe: The Veteran
Naturipe has owned real estate at this show for years. Big footprint. Big team. A calendar stacked with buyer meetings from open to close. The lineup highlights this year: Berry Scary and Berry & Bright holiday editions, Berry Buddies and SnackBites, and refreshed packaging for Mighty Blues, Mighty Reds and Sweet Selections.
When a brand is that established, the work is sharpening. Our role covered additional booth elements, strategic guidance, social media and media relations. The job was to carry the story past the booth walls and into the feeds and trade coverage buyers read before they ever shake a hand.
Thank you to the Naturipe team for the trust, again. They show up like a category leader because they are one.
SnapDragon: The Debut
SnapDragon usually shows up at IFPA through its distribution partners. This year it showed up as itself. Booth #2065. A first.
We designed and built the 10x10 from the ground up, then ran it for the full show. Small footprint. Loud presence. The walls carried the brand's numbers: 63 percent volume growth in five years, sales up 18 percent last season, winning at retail coast to coast.
The SnapDragon 10x10: designed, built and run by Merrick.
Getting buyers there was its own campaign. Advertising and floor clings pulled traffic across the hall to #2065. Once there, visitors sampled SnapDragon with four flavors: Caramel, Chocolate, Balsamic and Hot Honey. Then they rated the pairing on Rate Your Adventure, an app we built for the show. Every tap is a data point SnapDragon keeps.
Floor clings, four sauces and one very social dragon.
Then there was the dragon. The SnapDragon mascot worked the aisles, posed for photos and cheered on the runners at the IFPA 5K. It is hard to ignore a red dragon in a Hawaiian shirt. Nobody tried.
Race day with Snappy.
Big credit to the SnapDragon team for taking the leap. First booth, first try, full aisle.
Merrick on the Floor
We came to work and we came bearing cans. Our team walked the show delivering energy drinks up, down and across the aisles, booth to booth, to the people who keep a show running. Trade shows run on caffeine and conversation. We brought both.
Thank you to every exhibitor who took a can and gave us a few minutes. Those few minutes are the point. And yes, to those wondering, our Chief Creative Officer was well over his 30,000 step challenge our team gave him.
Booths Worth the Walk
Every booth on that floor took months. Island booths and inline booths. Teams of forty and teams of two. The craft showed everywhere we looked, and the people inside the booths were even better than the builds. A few that stopped us in our tracks:
Chiquita brought the color and the crowd.
Avocados From Mexico turned its booth into a stadium. Turf included.
Duda marked 100 years with a timber-framed showpiece.
Floral is back on the main floor, and dos gringos made sure everyone noticed.
Peelz built a two-story shipping container. Orange, obviously.
Earthbound Farm went full farmstand.
Spice World had Chef Penny Kay!
Kandy and Earth Fresh rolled in polished Airstreams.
Pinnacle Fresh served the best adult beverages.
Grimmway showed the product up close.
Oasis Dates, a booth that so perfectly aligns with a name.
Pabellón de México and Melissa's, two very different ways to make an entrance.
Congratulations as well to IFPA's official Expo Award winners, including ESU for Best First-Time Exhibitor, Altar Produce and North Shore Greenhouses in produce, and Passion Growers and Charme Flowers in floral.
Best in Show: Sunkist
We have a favorite. Two, actually, but Naturipe and SnapDragon recuse themselves. We are biased and proud of it.
Setting our own clients aside, the nod goes to Sunkist. Their booth was completely recyclable and still one of the best-executed builds on the floor. That is the hard version. Sustainable booths usually trade away some polish. This one gave up nothing. Booth #2443 showcased the new Sunkist Produce Academy, organic citrus in new packaging, holiday programs and live demos on Thursday and Friday.
Sunkist, Booth #2443. Recyclable, top to bottom.
The whole industry spent the week talking about Extended Producer Responsibility. Sunkist built it.
Next Stop: Atlanta
The Global Produce & Floral Show heads to Atlanta, October 20 to 22, 2027. Same mission, new city. We will be there with fresh ideas, a few more cans, and probably a dragon.
