The competitive global sourcing platform will welcome the world’s leading industry players to set the food agenda for 2021 and beyond.
Dubai will once again welcome the great and the good of the global Food and Beverage (F&B) industry when Gulfood returns to the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) for its 26th edition this month. The show will provide a crucial, unmissable platform for industry players to make up for lost time, strengthen current partnerships, capitalise on new business opportunities and accelerate the future of food following one of the most challenging years ever for the sector.
Running from February 21-25, Gulfood, the most competitive global F&B sourcing platform, is the first major in-person trade event since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Local, regional, and global F&B powerhouses have acknowledged the opportunities available across 20 exhibition halls at DWTC – with participants from 85 countries bringing latest product innovations and insights to meet ever-changing consumer demands and behaviour.
Alongside new business opportunities, participants will discover innovative products and technologies designed to address massively changing trends towards organic, natural, and healthy products, contactless F&B transactions, plant-based protein, sophisticated and proven providence ingredients, as well as convenience meal kits and environmentally friendly packaging.
With so much changing over the past 12 months, Gulfood 2021 represents a watershed moment for the F&B sector, where exhibitors can expect to meet with buyers eager to place orders and kickstart the new normal for F&B.
Furthermore, Gulfood 2021 will underline the show’s endearing appeal for setting the global agenda with more than 70 high-profile industry thought leaders set to address the latest sector shifts and provide precious insights at the much-anticipated Gulfood Innovation Summit. Running from February 22-24, the Summit will attempt to unpack the way forward for the industry from east to west, north to south, through a series of panel discussions and presentations.
With the challenges of the past 12 months accelerating food security to the top of government and consumer agendas, Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, the UAE Minister of State for Food Security, will highlight the importance of the topic when she addresses the Summit on February 22. The Minister will outline the UAE National Food Security Strategy that visualises the country ranking among the top 10 of the Global Food Security Index
Product innovation at Gulfood 2021 will be matched by innovation in the kitchen as the popular Tastes of the World returns – an opportunity to engage renowned chefs and distinguished food change-makers who are revolutionising cuisines through new-age techniques and a drive for zero waste. Some of the leading lights that will be showcasing their skills include Gal Ben-Moshe, Israel’s only Michelin Star chef, Gregoire Berger, head chef at Ossiano, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai; Matthijs Stinnissen, head chef, BOCA, Dubai; and Saradhi Dakara, group executive chef, New England Brasserie Company, among others.
Coffee aficionados are in for a treat with the Brewers Cup Championship giving visitors insights into the secrets of brewing filter coffee by hand and raising awareness of manual coffee brewing.
Innovation is at the core of Gulfood and so it is fitting that the Gulfood Innovation Awards return to celebrate initiative and excellence across brands, products, and solutions. With over 500 entries already having been received, the judging panel, comprising of industry leaders will reward the winners. New industry innovators will showcase proprietary solutions at the Gulfood Startup Programme, which provides a platform to entrepreneurs to demonstrate the impact their breakthroughs are likely to have for the wider F&B industry.
The Future Zone will bring together the Middle East’s most innovative products and foods of the future, allowing visitors to learn more about, network, and explore business opportunities with exhibiting enterprises, SMEs, and start-ups.
The show is a trade event open strictly to business and trade visitors only. Gulfood 2021 doors will open from 11am-7pm. For more information, visit www.gulfood.com.
