Special Report: PLMA Takeaways

The Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) hosted its 2025 Annual Private Label Trade Show from November 16-18 in Chicago, reaffirming its position as the leading B2B event in the industry.

The premier event for the private label industry, the PLMA tradeshow brings together private label professionals from the US and around the globe to mold the future of store brands in all retail formats, including online.

This year’s event showcased a broad array of products, including hundreds of thousands of food and non-food items, with 3,000 booths and more than 1,900 exhibitors from 63 countries.

“The Show is built entirely around advancing the business goals of both retailers and PLMA manufacturer members,” said PLMA President Peggy Davies. “By bringing thousands of innovative products, suppliers and category experts together in one place, it creates the most efficient environment for discovery, sourcing and strategic planning. Retailers gain a firsthand look at emerging trends and new product concepts, while exhibitors benefit from meaningful conversations with decision-makers who can move opportunities forward. The result is faster collaboration, stronger partnerships and a direct path from new ideas to new opportunities on the shelf. The Show helps businesses shorten timelines, reduce guesswork and accelerate their private brand strategies.”

The event gathered approximately 14,000 industry stakeholders, including retailers, exhibitors, visitors and professionals from across the private label and retail sectors. The tradeshow floor provided one-stop-sourcing of new and innovative foods and nonfoods. “We want participants to leave energized and inspired,” Davies explained. “Whether it’s identifying a new supplier, discovering a standout product, strengthening a relationship or gaining clarity about where the industry is headed, we hope everyone walks away with something they can immediately apply. Ultimately, we want attendees and exhibitors to feel the Show helped them advance their goals and left them better positioned for success in the year ahead.”

Tradeshow organizers go to great lengths to not only understand the goals and concerns of attendees, but they also make sure exhibitors and attendees are in front of their target audience. “We pride ourselves on the number of retail buyers who attend our Show and the diversity of the outlets they represent,” Davies elaborated. “We’re the only Show of our size and scope solely dedicated to store brands. PLMA’s Director of Retail Relations builds and maintains strong partnerships with retailers to keep PLMA closely connected with strategic leaders and their teams at major outlets. We also stay current on retail trends and outlets that show potential for creating an own brands program. We are active listeners to our membership and committees who are boots on the ground with their retail customers.”

Each year the PLMA ensures the appropriate retailers and manufacturers attend the Show to create an environment that is conducive to networking and driving business forward. “All of our exhibitors and visitors are verified to make sure they’re truly connected to the private label world and the media who attend are trusted voices that report on what matters most to our market,” Davies said. “The Show brings everyone together for great business discussions and networking both on and off the floor. What sets it apart is the quality of participation—that’s what keeps it so impactful year after year.”

Exhibitors showcased products from a broad range of categories including wine and spirits, refrigerated and frozen foods, sustainable packaging, functional beverages, snack items, baby products, pet care, kitchenware, convenience foods and grab-and-go items, vegan, organic and specialty products.

Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods had a strong presence at this year’s event. “It served as the ideal platform to connect with current customers, introduce our newest innovations in hommus and Mediterranean dips and engage prospective customers looking to introduce or expand their category assortment,” said Joe Balzano, EVP of Sales. “We successfully met our goals of showcasing the breadth of our capabilities, strengthening relationships and generating meaningful interest in both branded and private label opportunities.”

“This year’s PLMA was a big success for Catania Oils,” said Mark Coleman, SVP Global Sales. “We had high level customer annual strategy meetings as well as engage with potential new opportunities.”

After stopping at the Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods booth, the team is counting on attendees to realize several key characteristics about the company. “Cedar’s Foods is a trusted manufacturer and category leader across natural, organic and conventional channels,” Balzano said. “We are innovative, nimble and deeply experienced in private label and co-manufacturing partnerships. Our capabilities span hommus, dips, salads, and snacking/convenience solutions, giving customers a wide array of options. We maintain SQF Level 3 certification with industry-leading food safety practices and dairy-level sanitation standards. Overall, we hope visitors left confident in Cedar’s as a reliable partner with strong expertise, high standards, and a forward-thinking approach to growth.”

“The take-away for visitors was one of assurance,” Coleman said. “Assurance that Catania Oils can handle the opportunities discussed.”

Balzano pointed to several notable accomplishments that Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods experienced during the show. “Retailers responded very positively to both the packaging and the wide range of products Cedar’s spotlighted,” he elaborated. “The event validated both Cedar’s current strategy and its opportunity to keep expanding with confident, consumer-driven innovation heading into next year.”

During the show, Catania Oils highlighted its new PET gallon bottles and PET 96-oz bottles for vegetable oils and olive oils. “We are seeing retailers look to switch from the traditional HDPE bottling to the more elegant clear PET plastic packaging,” Coleman explained.

“PLMA allows us to strengthen existing relationships, establish new ones and showcase innovations that support growth in the hommus and dips category,” Balzano said of how the PLMA Show directly impacts Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods’ business objectives. “The show directly contributes to our sales pipeline, private-label discussions and long-term visibility as a leading partner in the space.”

For Catania Oils, the show’s influence on the company’s goals was instantaneous. “We feel a high impact already since the show with great interest in our capabilities,” Coleman explained. “Catania Oils is a one-stop shop in the plant based oil segment of the food business.”

For the Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods team, the PLMA Show reinforced that consumers and retailers alike are looking for inventive, high-quality flavors supported by strong fundamentals in food safety and manufacturing, Balzano said. “It also highlighted continued excitement around Cedar’s core products and the growth potential of new innovation,” he said. “We will use these insights to refine our flavor pipeline, evaluate opportunities for new formats and pack sizes, and continue building on the trust and enthusiasm that retailers expressed. Overall, the event affirmed that Cedar’s is well-positioned for continued growth heading into 2025 and beyond.”

For those who weren’t in attendance at this year’s show, “they missed the industry’s most comprehensive Store Brands Marketplace—a gathering you truly can’t replicate anywhere else,” Davies said. “That includes face-to-face access to manufacturers and suppliers from around the world, exposure to tens of thousands of products and the latest insights shared in our educational sessions. They also missed the kind of high-value networking that sparks partnerships, solves challenges and leads directly to business development. The momentum created at PLMA’s Show is unique and much of its value happens in the conversations, connections and discoveries you can only experience in person.”

Tradeshows, specifically the PLMA Show, play a vital role in driving industries forward. Industry stakeholders can begin planning for next year’s show, which is scheduled for Nov. 15-17, 2026, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago.