A B2B event with an international flair

According to the trade fair, the visitors included food retail purchasers, importers, wholesalers and representatives from the food service sector. Around 2,500 exhibitors from 40 countries provided them with information about their products.

+The 7th TUTTOFOOD B2B trade fair took place in Milan, Italy, from 6th to 9th May 2019. This food fair attracted chiefly Italian visitors. However, the trade fair company’s primary aim is to make the exhibition better known, mainly abroad. The fair is on the right road in this respect: 82,551 visitors from all over the world made the journey to the trade fair grounds in Milan. According to the organizer’s report, a total of 21% of the visitors were from abroad, most of them from the USA, Spain, France, Germany, England, China, Canada, the Benelux countries and Japan, as well as from Russia.

The halls are divided into various areas such as kosher, halal, wines, oils, fish, meat, cheese, pasta, frozen products and baked goods. However, exhibitors from the “bakery” area are distributed among various halls. This leads to a mix of various different food producers, so potentially interested buyers needed to work through the various halls, for example they had to look for dough piece suppliers in the frozen foods hall. On the other hand, cookie and panettone manufacturers, for example, were all together in the “Sweet” area. A great diversity of panettone manufacturers showed a wide variety of creations of this specialty Milan cake on their trade fair stands. In addition to classic baked goods made with candied fruits and raisins, panettone producers show these wheat baked products in a variety of sizes (from 100 g to 1 kg) and with various fillings, e.g. with zabaglione, pistachio or grappa crème.

The growth of frozen products

Visitors were able to find frozen baked product manufacturers, e.g. Wolf ButterBack, in the other halls. Beldessert from Belgium, a private label producer of muffins, cheesecake and other desserts, was also represented. The Italian producer Unigel was noticed in the frozen area with schiocco, a combination of a croissant and a bread roll. This baked product is said to promise the enjoyment of a cake and the calories of a roll. A schiocco has a crisp crust and a soft crumb. The schiocco has already been produced and marketed in Italy since 2011, and demand is growing. Unigel now wants to increase exports of this frozen baked product, which is why the bakery participated as an exhibitor at the TUTTOFOOD trade fair. The pastries are offered in various sizes (35, 65 or 100 g) and with different flavors, e.g. with olives, garlic or rosemary.

The Bäckerei Lemayr bakery from South Tyrol was represented. A group of experts is available here to develop individually customized solutions for major customers. The bakery exhibited various pizza snacks, small frozen baked products and breads.

In the fine pastries area, RICOCREM COZZO s.r.l. offered frozen goat’s cream cheese to fill cannoli. This ricotta is already prepacked (1 kg) in a disposable piping bag, but the filling is also available in packages holding between 1 kg and 21 kg in pistachio, chocolate and natural flavors, and with chocolate pieces.

Cupiello, a producer of frozen baked goods in Naples, focuses on “vegan” and “organic” trends. Its trade fair presentation centers on various croissants and cakes.

The trade fair is suitable for buyers and product developers in the baked goods sector, and due to its international orientation could also be a springboard for suppliers of dough pieces, for example. However, the majority of both visitors and exhibitors are from Italy. Visitors will gain an insight into the Italian food producers’ market. It was also slightly difficult for visitors to the trade fair to converse with exhibitors from Italy, since many of the catalogues were not translated, and none of the staff spoke sufficient English.

Baking sector exhibitors are also scattered across the entire trade fair grounds, which means long walking distances. This can mean that one is more likely to “stumble” on an interesting manufacturer at random. Altogether a B2B event with an international flair. The eighth TUTTOFOOD event will take place from 17th to 20th May 2021. +++

++ Unigel, a producer of frozen baked goods, wants to make its schiocco (Italian flaky bun) better known. The pastries are offered in various sizes (35, 65 or 100 g) and with different flavors, e.g. with olives, garlic or rosemary