This guide covers what Expo West actually is, how to decide whether to attend or exhibit, what to prepare before the show, how to work the floor, and — critically — how to follow up in a way that turns conversations into commitments.
Key Takeaways
- Expo West draws 66,000+ attendees and 3,200+ exhibitors, making it the highest-concentration buyer access event in natural products
- Attend first if your brand isn't retail-ready; exhibiting requires solid packaging, production capacity, and clear distribution goals
- Booth fees alone start around $9,384 for a 10x10 — total costs run significantly higher
- Packaging is your most important salesperson on the show floor; a pre-show audit can reveal whether it's working
- Follow up within 48–72 hours — personalized, specific outreach outperforms generic emails every time
What Is Natural Products Expo West and Why It Matters
Natural Products Expo West, produced by New Hope Network and held annually at the Anaheim Convention Center in early March, is one of the largest trade shows in North America. The 2024 show drew more than 65,000 industry professionals and over 3,300 exhibiting companies; the 2026 edition grew to 66,000+ attendees and 3,200+ exhibitors.
For food brand founders, the value is the concentration. In three days, you can get face time with:
- Retail buyers from Whole Foods, Kroger, Target, Sprouts, Costco, and ALDI
- Regional distributors covering markets you're actively trying to enter
- Co-manufacturers and brokers who can move your production or placement forward
- Investors and trade press looking specifically for brands worth backing or covering
These conversations normally take months of outreach to arrange separately.
What sets Expo West apart from general trade shows is audience alignment. Every buyer, retailer, and distributor in the building is specifically there for natural, organic, and better-for-you products. That means fewer cold conversations and more time talking to people who are already primed to care about what you're selling.
Should You Attend or Exhibit?
The decision comes down to your brand's current stage, not ambition.
Attending Makes Sense When:
- Your product is pre-retail or still being refined
- You haven't yet built production capacity to fulfill a retailer order
- Budget is limited and you want to learn before committing
- You want to scout competitors, identify category trends, and build early industry relationships
Attending as a retailer or distributor costs $200 at the 2026 on-site rate — far less than exhibiting. It's a legitimate strategic choice, not a consolation prize.
Exhibiting Makes Sense When:
- You have existing retail distribution or are actively pursuing placement
- Production can scale to meet a meaningful purchase order
- Your packaging is shelf-ready and your brand story is clear
- You have sell sheets, samples, and a booth display ready to go
The Cost Reality
Official 2025 pricing for booth space:
| Configuration | Price |
|---|---|
| 5x10 | $4,692 |
| Inline 10x10 | $9,384 |
| Corner 10x10 | $10,929 |
Booth fees are only the starting point. Travel, hotel, sampling supplies, booth design, and printed collateral push the total well above the booth fee for most small brands. Book hotel through the official onPeak block early — rooms sell out fast.
Quick Decision Checklist
Ask yourself these five questions:
- Do I have retail distribution already, or am I actively ready to pursue it?
- Can I fulfill a meaningful reorder if a buyer says yes?
- Is my packaging shelf-ready — professional, differentiated, and clearly positioned?
- Do I have sell sheets, samples, and a rehearsed pitch ready?
- Is my total budget sufficient to exhibit without cutting corners on materials?
If you answered no to two or more, attend this year and exhibit next time.
How to Prepare Your Brand Before the Show
Pre-show preparation is where most founders leave value on the table. Showing up without polished materials and a rehearsed pitch is like opening a retail location without stocking the shelves.
Essential Materials Checklist
- Sell sheets — one per SKU or product line, with unit economics, case pack info, and clear consumer benefit
- Business cards — simple, clean, easy to hand over in a crowded aisle
- Product samples — must be distributed only within your contracted booth; plastic sampling vessels are prohibited under official Expo West sampling regulations (compostable, edible, or reusable alternatives are required)
- Brand pitch — a tight 30-second version that answers: what is it, who is it for, and why is it different
Packaging Is Your Silent Salesperson
Buyers walk the Expo West floor for three days and encounter hundreds of products. First impressions happen in seconds. If your packaging doesn't immediately communicate what the product is, who it's for, and why it's different, buyers move on — even if the product itself is exceptional.
Before you walk into a room full of competitors, it's worth an honest look at whether your packaging is pulling its weight. DePersico Creative's SWIFI visual perception assessment evaluates whether your design is genuinely compelling to buyers or just blending in — a pre-show gut check that's caught problems founders didn't see coming.
Logistics to Lock Down Early
- Register early — exhibitor applications and deadlines can be months in advance; booth sellouts are real
- Book your hotel immediately — onPeak is the official hotel provider; the room block fills quickly
- Use the Swapcard app — the official event app supports networking, floor navigation, and schedule personalization; use it before the show to identify target buyers and request connections
- Reach out on LinkedIn — don't wait for the show floor to make first contact with priority buyers
Set Specific Goals
Define 2–3 measurable outcomes before you arrive. For example:
- Have conversations with at least 8 buyers
- Meet with two specific regional grocery chains
- Introduce your brand to one national distributor
Specific targets keep you focused when the energy of the show floor makes everything feel urgent and equal.
How to Navigate the Show Floor and Network Strategically
The Expo West floor is massive. Without a plan, you'll spend half your time wandering.
Before You Walk In
Study the floor map in advance. The show spans multiple levels of the Anaheim Convention Center, including the North Halls and the outdoor Fresh Ideas Organic Marketplace. Identify the pavilions most relevant to your category and map out your priority stops — not a wish list, an actual sequence.
The Launch Pad (located in the Arena area) is specifically where first-time exhibitors and emerging brands present new concepts. If you're an early-stage brand exhibiting for the first time, or if you're attending as a buyer looking for what's new, this is a high-value zone. Retail scouts and trend-hunters make a point of going there.
How to Talk to Buyers
Don't lead with a features list. Buyers aren't evaluating whether your product tastes good — they're evaluating whether it fills a gap on their shelves and moves at a velocity that justifies the slot.
Frame every conversation around four things buyers actually care about:
- Consumer demand: Who's buying this and why now?
- Velocity potential: What does your sell-through look like in current accounts?
- Margin: What's the retailer margin at your suggested retail price?
- Turn rate: How quickly does this move relative to category competition?
Lead with the consumer problem your product solves. The product details follow from there.
Networking Beyond the Booth
Some of the most useful conversations at Expo West don't happen on the show floor. People talk more honestly away from booths and badge lanyards. Build at least one or two of these into your week:
- Hotel lobbies and bar areas after show hours
- Evening receptions hosted by brokers, investors, or trade media
- Satellite events and brand dinners running alongside the main show
- Early morning coffee meetups organized through industry Slack groups or LinkedIn
Don't schedule every evening as downtime — the unstructured hours often produce the best leads.
Key Events and Sessions Not to Miss
Naturally Network Power-Up Kick-Off Party
The Naturally Network Expo West kick-off event is designed specifically for early-stage brands to connect with buyers, investors, and industry veterans in an informal setting. The 2025 edition ran March 4 at the Hilton Anaheim. It historically fills up — register as early as possible.
Education Sessions Worth Attending
The 2026 agenda features several tracks directly relevant to food brand founders:
- "Founders: Building Brand Community" (March 3, 2026) — brand-building strategy for emerging companies
- "Future of Retail" — retail strategy and buyer trends
- CPG Innovation Summit — a focused one-day program on scaling brands and new product innovation
Venable's regulatory content also runs alongside the show for brands navigating FDA and compliance questions.
NEXTY Awards
The NEXTY Awards cover 37 categories across food, beverage, supplements, and personal care. Entries are judged on three criteria:
- Innovation — novel concepts and formulations
- Inspiration — meaningful brand mission and storytelling
- Integrity — transparency, sustainability, and ethics
Even if you're not nominated, reviewing the finalists and winners is one of the fastest ways to spot what's resonating with buyers and winning shelf space this cycle.
How to Follow Up After Expo West
The follow-up is where most founders lose the deals they thought they'd made.
Buyers leave Expo West having spoken with dozens — sometimes hundreds — of brands. If your follow-up email arrives a week later with no specific reference to your conversation and a generic attachment, you're gone. The window is 48 to 72 hours after the show closes.
What an Effective Follow-Up Looks Like
- Reference the specific conversation — mention what you discussed, not just "great meeting you"
- Include the right assets — sell sheet, product samples if requested, and any retailer-specific data they asked about
- Make a clear ask — a formal buyer meeting, a line review, or a product trial; don't leave it open-ended
- Keep it short — buyers are drowning in post-show email; get to the point in the first two sentences
If your packaging didn't get the reaction you hoped for at the show — if buyers seemed unmoved or unclear about what they were looking at — that's feedback worth acting on before the next buyer conversation. Post-show is the right moment for a packaging audit, not after you've already lost the reorder.
We produce the full range of post-show assets that support buyer follow-up: sell sheets, follow-up emailers, retail buyer presentation decks, and professional food photography — each piece built from the same visual system so buyers see a consistent, polished brand at every touchpoint. Reach us at paul@depersico.com or (484) 454-3844.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Natural Products Expo?
Natural Products Expo is produced by New Hope Network and encompasses Expo West (held annually in Anaheim, CA) as the flagship event in the natural, organic, and better-for-you products industry. Note that Expo East ended its final run in 2023; New Hope launched Newtopia Now in 2024 as its successor event.
Who can attend Natural Products Expo West?
Expo West is a trade-only event — not open to the general public. Approved attendee categories include retailers, distributors, health practitioners, foodservice professionals, manufacturers, suppliers, investors, and qualified press. Badge type determines access level and registration cost.
How much does it cost to attend Natural Products Expo West?
2026 on-site badge pricing ranged from $200 (retailers, distributors, health practitioners) to $5,000 (manufacturers and suppliers). Early Bird rates, which ended December 31, 2025, were lower — register early for the next show to reduce costs.
How much does it cost to exhibit at Natural Products Expo West?
Official 2025 booth pricing started at $4,692 for a 5x10 and $9,384 for an inline 10x10. Total exhibiting costs — including travel, hotel, samples, booth design, and printed collateral — routinely run two to three times the booth fee.
What should food brands bring to Natural Products Expo West?
The essentials: product samples (compostable or reusable vessels only — plastic is prohibited), sell sheets, business cards, and a rehearsed 30-second brand pitch. Your booth display needs to communicate brand positioning and shelf appeal the moment a buyer walks past.
Is Natural Products Expo West worth it for small or emerging food brands?
Attending is worthwhile — the buyer access and competitive intelligence alone justify the cost. Exhibiting makes the most sense once your packaging is retail-ready, production can handle real orders, and you have a clear retail strategy. Going in underprepared is expensive and rarely productive.
