Meet The Buyer 2026

Meet The Buyer is TickEat’s annual sourcing event designed to make doing business in travel and leisure simpler, faster and more effective for both buyers and suppliers. Working with TickEat opens doors for suppliers and enables them to achieve far greater operational efficiency than approaching these complex sectors independently.

Across two days, the event brings together up to 70 carefully selected food and drink suppliers with senior buyers from airlines, rail operators, cruise lines, travel retail and leisure businesses. Every element of the event is curated to ensure relevance, quality and commercial value for all attendees.

Unlike traditional exhibitions, Meet The Buyer is built around structured one to one meetings, supported by targeted networking and expert guidance. This ensures every conversation is purposeful and aligned to real sourcing needs.

✔ Show Guide Feature and Advertisement
Your company will be featured in the official show guide, including a full spread and advert, ensuring maximum visibility to all attendees during and after the event.

✔ Guaranteed Buyer Connections
TickEat ensures that every attendee meets at least 10 targeted buyers, matched to their brand’s specific offerings, using our advanced ‘matchmaker’ portal. Each meeting is geared toward creating opportunities that matter.

✔ Unmatched Networking Opportunities
Beyond your scheduled meetings, you’ll have exclusive access to network with industry leaders over drinks, dinner, and during the event breaks, setting the foundation for meaningful connections that go beyond the event

✔ Comprehensive Support
Our support doesn’t end at the event! TickEat provides tailored guidance before, during, and after, including one-on-one preparation with Heerum, to ensure you’re ready to make the most of your meetings and leave a lasting impression

✔ Efficient Sourcing in One Place
Meet 70 forward-thinking suppliers in one day, helping you identify new products and partners quickly without the time drain of individual outreach.

✔ Discover Scalable and Compliant Solutions
Find suppliers offering clearly labelled, consistent and compliant SPML products that work across airline, rail, cruise and travel retail requirements.

✔ Pre Scheduled Meetings with Relevant Suppliers
Take part in structured 20 minute meetings with suppliers of your choice, making every conversation more relevant and productive.

✔ Reduce Procurement Complexity
Streamline sourcing by meeting multiple suppliers face to face, comparing solutions side by side and moving faster from trial to listing.

✔ Designed by Buyers, for Buyers: With over 20+ years of F&B buying experience, we ensure every exhibitor is relevant to the travel and leisure sectors. We also carry out all due diligence, so suppliers are good to go.

✔ High-Quality Matches Catering to Your Buying Needs: Buyers can pre-select who they wish to meet, or let our matchmaking portal align your needs with the right suppliers.

“This is a well-organised and focused event with relevant meetings that are better than any other show that, as a supplier, we have attended in the past”. – Enterprise Brands Ltd

“TickEat’s Meet the Buyer event has been a fantastic success for Barista Cup. We’ve gained clients, boosted our brand awareness, and forged valuable networking relationships. We would definitely take part again and would highly recommend it to others!” – Barista Cup

“Meet The Buyer is a great event. The ability to meet with suppliers on a one to one basis under one roof is invaluable. It saves so much time and gives both buyers and suppliers the chance to explore new opportunities in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. The whole event was very professional and well organised. Highly recommended.” – Cavendish Ship Stores 

“The recent TickEat Meet The Buyer event was fantastic. We love attending these events to meet both current and new suppliers who are well set up for industry. The TickEat team take great care of everything meaning we can focus on our meetings with suppliers.” – TransPennine Express