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The Representation Audit: Ten Questions for the Expo Floor
CULTURETECHLENS · "Culture, Clearly Seen." · Black Cultural Intelligence
Cite as: CultureTechLens, "The Representation Audit: Ten Questions for the Expo Floor," September 30, 2026. Source: CultureTechLens · culturetechlens.com
Dek: CultureTechLens is going to the Great Food Expo with a notebook, not just an appetite. Here is exactly what we will be counting — and why we will not guess before we get there.
A note on method first, because it matters. Third-party event listings estimate roughly 265 exhibitors and around 24,200 attendees for the Chicago Great Food Expo — but those are estimates, not official figures, and the 2026 exhibitor list has not been published. We will not claim to know the demographics of the floor before we walk it. Anyone who tells you they already know is selling something.
What we will do is a structured observation — a representation audit — and publish what we find. Here are the ten questions in our notebook:
1. How many exhibitors are identifiably Black-owned? Counted by signage, founder presence, and self-identification — not by guessing from product categories. 2. Where are they placed? Corner booths and main aisles versus back rows. Placement is a proxy for what the show values. 3. Which Black food traditions are present as products? Hot sauce, smoked meats, baked goods, beverages — and which are absent? 4. Who is on the cooking stage, and who is in the audience for them? Stage time is the show's editorial voice. 5. How do vendors describe their own food? "Soul food," "Southern," "artisanal," "ethnic" — the words on the banner tell you who the intended customer is. 6. How many Black-owned brands are in the wine, spirits, and mixology sections? The highest-margin categories are the real test of inclusion. 7. Are Black vendors selling heritage, or are non-Black vendors selling Black heritage? Both happen. Only one of them is a problem. 8. What does the crowd look like versus the exhibitor base? A diverse crowd buying from a homogenous vendor list is its own finding. 9. Which vendors have distribution beyond the expo? Grocery placement, wholesale, online — the booth is a snapshot; the business is the story. 10. What did the organizers do to recruit diverse exhibitors? We will ask them directly.
We will publish the results with photographs, counts, and named vendors who consent to be named — and we will publish the methodology alongside the findings, so anyone can check our work. That is what cultural intelligence means: not vibes, but evidence.
Sources
- Great Food Expo, "Chicago – Great Food Expo," official event page (dates, venue, programming). https://greatfoodexpo.com/chicago - 10Times, "GFE (Oct 2026), Great Food Expo, Rosemont USA": estimated 20,000–50,000 visitors, ~265 exhibitors, based on previous editions (third-party estimates, not official figures). https://10times.com/gfe
Chicago-style citation: CultureTechLens, "The Representation Audit: Ten Questions for the Expo Floor," September 30, 2026, culturetechlens.com.
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