Running alongside IFFE 2006, the Convenience Retailing Show gives forecourt operators the chance to discover the latest product innovations for the whole convenience market.

More than 200 companies will be promoting bakery products, confectionery, food-to-go, hot beverages, snacks, soft drinks and sandwiches, plus much more.

== Food2Go ==

Food-to-go is a huge growth area for c-stores, which is why it gets its own dedicated section at CRS. As switched-on retailers make their food-to-go offers more time-specific, offering croissants and bacon baps in the morning, baguettes and hot pies at lunchtime, and hot chickens and pizza in the evenings, so the CRS Food2Go area will change throughout each day. So come along in the morning to sample all the latest breakfast bites, come back at lunchtime for a super sarnie and return in the afternoon for some pre-dinner snacks.

Apart from the extensive sampling, Food2Go will be chock-full of workshops and demonstrations to inspire you to take your takeaway food offer to the next level. Stand F111

== Ideas to Take Away ==

Back by popular demand is Ideas to Take Away, sponsored by Cadbury Trebor Bassett, and it’s bigger and better than ever before. Instead of the usual 10 retailers, there are 15 this year. The Ideas to Take Away film will be shown throughout the show so make sure you take a look. The simple philosophy behind it is to give you, the retailer, ideas that you could replicate in your store. Many of them are low cost to implement but deliver a high return on investment.

For instance, there is the petrol forecourt retailer who was so serious about food-to-go that he employed his own chef. The result? Consumers travel to his store for a mouth-watering range of hot food. Sunday roast dinners are a particular success and queues snake round the store for these. Yes, the chef costs the retailer but the profits from the hot food more than cover his wages.

There is also the retailer who, upon realising he had many OAPs living locally, introduced a pensioners’ discount day. The result? It’s hugely popular and Discount Day (Tuesday) is now one of the busiest days of the week for him.

These are just two examples of the ideas we have for you -- the other 13 are just as good but if you want to hear the retailers involved explaining them first-hand then you’ll have to visit CRS. Stand D80

== Shop Project ==

This popular feature also returns for 2006. Leading suppliers help retailers turn nominated categories around. For 2006 there’s Bernard Matthews for chilled meat and savouries; Pfizer for over-the-counter medicines; Bel UK for cheese; Nestlé Rowntree for confectionery; Burton’s for biscuits; Britvic for soft drinks; and Redbridge Holdings for fresh fruit and vegetables. The two retailers involved are Stuart Adam, who has a Key Store in Blandford Forum, Dorset, and independent retailer Rajah Ajitkumar, from Ashurst Wood, near East Grinstead, West Sussex.

Each supplier does a mini-makeover of their category in the two stores, adjusting the range to suit the location and applying the latest category management techniques. The results? They’re good but you’ll have to visit CRS to see just how good. Stand B20

== Pampers Sleep Like A Baby Experience ==

Have you ever wondered exactly what is going on behind a baby’s closed eyes when he nods off to sleep? Well, now you can find out because the Pampers Sleep Like A Baby tour will be visiting CRS 2006.

Come along to experience a night’s sleep through the eyes of a baby, as he journeys through the different stages of sleep during a 12-hour period. The different stages of the Pampers Sleep Like A Baby experience allow you to see, feel and hear how a baby’s mind uses sleep to process all that he’s learnt during the day. Outside Hall 17.

== C-Store Live! ==

Such was the success of Forecourt Live! at last year’s IFFE that CRS is getting in on the act. Forecourt Live! delivered up seminars and panel discussions for visitors on some of the most controversial subjects in the business. In a similar way, C-Store Live! will cover hot topics in the convenience industry.

Journalists from Convenience Store magazine will chair panel sessions, with the panels made up of retailers and specialists. They will take questions from the floor and open up the whole subject for debate. Subjects to be covered include crime, responsible retailing and employment law.

== What’s new at CRS 2006? ==