Fira de Barcelona will be the greatest showcase for hotel and catering equipment, food and packaging

Fira de Barcelona will become an important showcase and great commercial platform in the industry of food, hotel and catering equipment and packaging with the upcoming celebration of four major events that are among the best in Europe and cover the entire value chain. Alimentaria and Hostelco and Hispack and FoodTech Barcelona, leading shows in Spain in their respective sectors will be taking place only three weeks apart in the Gran Via venue, attracting 6,500 exhibiting companies, 25% of them from abroad, and more than 185,000 professionals from 150 countries to the Catalan capital.

From raw materials and ingredients to the menu served in the restaurant, including equipment and technology, processing, production, packaging, logistics, distribution, retail, consumers, food outside the home, the hotel and restaurant industry. This is the global vision of the life cycle of the food product that these fairs will offer. First, Alimentaria and Hostelco from April 16 to 19 and, a few weeks later, Hispack and Foodtech Barcelona, from May 8 to 11, with the presence of the most important companies and key professionals in these areas.

The director of Self-Own Business of the Fira de Barcelona, Salvador Tasqué, says that: “With these four major events, Fira becomes a strategic partner for relevant sectors of the Catalan and Spanish economy, such as food, equipment for the hotel and restaurant industry, packaging, and food production process technologies by generating initiatives, spaces and opportunities to boost growth, business, the internationalization of companies and networking. Tasqué recalls that with “the joint celebration of showrooms such as Alimentaria and Hostelco and Hispack and Foodtech Barcelona generates synergies that increase the value of each event separately and turns the fairground into a reference platform for the entire food product ecosystem”.

Productive Economy

In this sense, in these four showrooms organized by Fira de Barcelona the participation of 6,500 companies from 70 countries and the occupation of 155,000 net m2 for exhibitions in the Gran Via site is planned. It is expected to hold more than 14,000 business meetings with invited buyers and celebrate more than 400 technical and networking activities. Decision making professionals in the commercial, production, distribution or R&D areas will walk around these showrooms in the span of one month.

The importance of the four productive sectors represented in Alimentaria, Hostelco, Hispack and FoodTech Barcelona for the Spanish economy is evident since, together, they bring into the industry more than 120,000 million euros in turnover; 30,000 companies; 590,000 employees, and 32,000 million in exports.

Alimentaria, the international key event for food and beverages will celebrate the largest edition in recent years with Hostelco, a trade show for the hotel and catering equipment industry. From 16 to 19 April, on a surface of 100,000 net m2 of the Gran Via venue, this great exhibition platform will show both to distributers and the Horeca channel the most complete and transversal offer of the entire value chain of the industry of food, restaurant, and gastronomy. Both shows are expected to attract 150,000 visitors and 4,500 exhibiting companies, 27% of which will be from overseas.

Alimentaria brings together the biggest companies in the sector around six different showrooms: Intervin, Intercarn and Restaurama, for the wine, meat and Food Service sectors respectively; Expoconser (food preserves and semi-preserves); Interlact (dairy products and derivatives) and Multiple Foods (oriented to large consumption, new categories of products and regional and international participations, among others). On the other hand, Hostelco will show the latest innovations in equipment and machinery for hotels, tableware, technology, coffee, textiles, interior design, laundry, vending, spa and accessories.

From 8 to 11 May, Hispack will coordinate in the Gran Via venue the largest ecosystem on packaging in the Iberian market, and will add process and logistics to its offer and activities. With the participation of more than 1,400 companies, the show will cover the entire packaging life cycle, attracting professionals from multiple sectors using packaging and packing solutions. In this edition, marked by a steady growth and the good performance of the Spanish packaging industry, Hispack will focus on sustainability, the experience of the use of packaging, the automation of the packaging industry and the interaction of the packaging industry with the supply chain.

On the same dates and venue, Foodtech Barcelona will present, together with more than 600 exhibiting companies, machinery, technology and innovations for food production, from the ingredients to the manufacturing process, going through issues such as traceability, hygiene systems, quality and safety, industrial refrigeration, logistics or waste management). Together, Hispack & FoodTech Barcelona will receive 35,000 visiting professionals.

Fira de Barcelona is the leading trade fair organization in the Spanish market and one of the most important in Europe, especially for professional and industrial showrooms. Every year, it hosts more than 140 showrooms, conventions and corporate events, it gathers more than 30,000 direct and represented companies, and receives more than 2 million visitors from all over the world.

Barcelona,12th April 2018