HRC

At HRC (Hotel, Restaurant & Catering) you can source food and drink, kitchen equipment, hospitality technology, furniture and tableware in one visit to Excel London. HRC is a trade show for the hospitality and foodservice industry, held there each year as one of the events that make up Food, Drink & Hospitality Week. It is run by Montgomery Group and traces its roots to the Hotel, Restaurant & Catering Exhibition first staged at Olympia in 1935.

HRC 2027 dates and opening times

The next edition gives you three days, from Monday 5 to Wednesday 7 April 2027. Doors open at 10:00 each day, closing at 17:00 on Monday and Tuesday and at 16:00 on Wednesday. If you come later in the week, from Tuesday registration is onsite only, and on Wednesday it stops at 14:00, with last entry at 15:00.

Who can attend

You are among fellow professionals, as entry is limited to professionals and buyers in food and drink manufacturing, supply and distribution, foodservice, catering and hospitality, and each registration is checked for trade status. Registering in advance is free, whereas for the 2026 show visitors who registered on the day were charged £50 plus VAT. Students are not admitted, and nobody under 18 may enter apart from babes in arms, for whom a waiver is signed at the Organisers Office. In 2026 a pass covered every event in the week on all three days; our guide explains what a co-located exhibition ticket actually covers.

Sections and features

You can compare equipment, sample food and hear free seminars. The 2026 floor was split into an Equipment section for professional kitchen and light equipment, a Food section with sampling, a Furniture, Interiors & Tableware section for front of house, a new Street Food section and an expanded Bar area run with The Pub Show. Chef HQ, run with Chef Publishing, combined a live demo kitchen, stage and networking area, and its new offshoot Pastry HQ focused on desserts, chocolate and patisserie. Competitions included the Specialty Coffee Association UK Cup Tasters Championship.

The free seminar programme ran across the Vision Stage, the Future of Drinks Stage, Chef HQ, Pastry HQ and the Street Food Stage, the last of these presented with NCASS. Speakers in 2026 included Adam Handling MBE, Will Beckett of Hawksmoor and Michael Kill of the Night Time Industries Association.

Co-located shows

You can meet suppliers from several shows, as for 2027 Food, Drink & Hospitality Week brings HRC together with IFE Manufacturing, IFE, The Pub Show, Hospitality Tech360, Speciality & Fine Food Fair and International Salon Culinaire. The organiser quotes 25,000+ verified trade visitors and around 1,500 suppliers across the week.

History and past editions

You can see how the show has changed since 1935. It took the name Hotelympia in 1952, moved to Earls Court in 1994 and to Excel London in 2004, and was rebranded HRC in March 2020.

Year	Dates	Venue	Published figures
1935	Six days	Olympia	30,000 people
1948	Nine days	Olympia	Over 70,000 attendees, 220 exhibitors
2020	3 to 5 March	Excel London	First edition as HRC
2022		Excel London	25,000 visitors with co-located shows
2023	20 to 22 March	Excel London	Over 27,000 professionals with co-located shows
2024		Excel London	Over 30,000 visitors and 1,500+ suppliers across the week
2026	30 March to 1 April	Excel London
2027	5 to 7 April	Excel London

Exhibiting at HRC

If you exhibit, the organiser says 75% of visitors have direct purchasing power, and its marketing reaches a database of more than 60,000. You apply through an enquiry form, and suppliers of hospitality technology use a separate form. Sponsorship is also sold. Both shell scheme and space only stands are offered. Sampling on your stand needs a Health & Safety Declaration. In 2027 breakdown starts at 16:00 on 7 April, with space only stands allowed until 16:00 on Thursday 8 April.

Getting to Excel London

You can reach the venue by public transport, and the show site suggests the Elizabeth line to Custom House, or the Jubilee line to Canning Town then the DLR to Prince Regent. Drivers are asked to book parking in advance, and Excel London sits inside the ULEZ. The organiser counts 16 hotels with 3,299 bedrooms near the venue.

Related shows

You can find related dates under events and hospitality and trade shows in London. Also at Excel London are The European Pizza Show from 18 November 2026 and International Confex from 3 March 2027, and ScotHot runs at SEC Glasgow from 24 February 2027.

Source: hrc.co.uk, hrc.co.uk/faqs, hrc.co.uk/whats-on, hrc.co.uk/hrc-history