Milan, 3 May 2016 – Where is the restaurant trade headed? This is a difficult question, to which there are many and various answers, since we are dealing with an industry that is on the move.
Amidst all the change, one thing stays constant: Host, the trade fair event for the restaurant and catering business.
It is unrivalled as the main event on the Hotel, Restaurant and Catering (Ho.Re.Ca) calendar, and is the reference point also for food-service, retail and large-scale distribution (supermarket) companies and, indeed, for any company that puts the delivery of professional gourmet and quality food at the heart of its business.
Host’s expertise in this area is recognized around the world.
Every two years, the top players come together at Fiera Milano (the Milan Trade Fair Centre) to show off the latest developments in the sector and point the way towards the evolution of the restaurant trade and catering business in the coming years. The coming fair will provide more of the same.
Over a traditional five-day run from 20 to 24 October 2017, the exhibition will include displays, events, show-cooking demos and a full spectrum of educational and training sessions.Host, the International Hospitality Exhibition, has always been guided and inspired by two watchwords: quality and innovation.
Amid the fragrance of roasts and Mediterranean and Oriental spices, the visual impact of superb dishes plated up to perfection, Host is home, every two years, to Food service equipment and Bread, Pizza, Pasta area, a rich and sumptuous celebration of haute cuisine and live cooking that includes tasting sessions and lessons in techniques.
This area complements and dovetails with the other two macro-areas of the exhibition: Furniture and Tableware; and Coffee, Tea and Bars, Coffee machines, Vending, Gelato/Pastry.
Together, these areas make up an industry that is constantly expanding its range of products and services, including, for example, in the area of desserts where certain particularly enlightened restaurants are leading the way.It is here, in this variety and range, that uniqueness and strength of Host resides.
It brings together in the one place, the Milan Trade Fair Centre, everything of possible interest to those in the food-service industry, whether as operators of small-scale or large, commercial, independent or co-operatively managed restaurants, hotel operators or catering firms.
The kitchen is the cook’s laboratory, workshop and operating theatre, and cooks at Host can find every imaginable tool of their trade here.
Whether he or she needs utensils for cutting or equipment for preserving or cooking food, whether he or she needs extraction fans and appliances for the kitchen, machines and materials for wrapping and packaging, professional implements or measuring scales, they are all to be found at Host.
Host is the place to be for those interested in any and all of the utensils and appliances that are such a necessary part of the restaurant and catering businesses today.
The exhibition also comprises an area dedicated to Laundry and all the related accessories and appliances, such as washing machines designed for tablecloths and napkins, and dishwashers for professional kitchens.
In the area of food conservation, the appliances at Host include refrigerators, refrigerated retail shelves and freezers.As regards the refrigeration segment, Assofoodtec/ANIMA, recently released the preliminary results for 2015, which indicate a production value of €945 million (+2.5% on 2014), of which 56% destined for sale abroad.
In 2016, production is expected to rise to €955 million euro, an increase of 1.1% , and R&D spending is forecast to total €25 million euro.As we already saw at Host 2015, the trend in innovation now is towards the production of eco-friendly and energy-saving units.
In short, everything is under one roof, making Host the go-to place for anyone operating in the Ho.Re.Ca sector.
The formula is such a success that a number of major companies, delighted with the results of the October 2015 edition, have already reconfirmed their bookings for Host 2017.
The companies include Angelo Po Grandi Cucine, Gruppo Ali, Hobart, Hoshizaki Europe, Imesa, Lacor Menaje Profesional, Mkn Maschinenfabrik Kurt Neubauer, Noaw, Rivacold, Taylor Company, Tecnoeka and True Food International and many others.
As in the past, the event will involve partnerships with some of the most important associations and stakeholders in the sector, which will disclose the latest facts and figures for the sector, organize major events of considerable importance involving trade professionals, and provide accurate and up-to-date intelligence on national and international industry trends.
Everything the trendiest eatery or bar could need
With the aisles packed with industry professionals, from pizza-store managers to restaurateurs and, increasingly, the owners and managers of bakeries, ice-cream parlour and supermarkets — as well as book sellers, fishmongers and other shopkeepers who have decided to set up a bar or restaurant on their premises — it is patently clear that in today’s Ho.Re.Ca. world an operator needs training and instruction as much as he needs market intelligence and information.
At Host, the training and instruction is provided above all by the companies. Visitors to the exhibition have a chance not just to view the latest technologies and developments in, say, mixers and coolers, but also to see them in action, test them first-hand and, most important of all, sign up to short training courses on their use and maintenance.
Host is also the place to meet celebrity chefs, take cooking lessons from them and learn some of their secrets. Operators need to understand the trends in their industry, spot tendencies in the trade and anticipate the tastes of customers; for, in this trade, today’s haute cuisine is tomorrow’s industry standard.
Without question, the restaurant trade could not exist at any level today were it not for technology.
Consider one of the more in-vogue tendencies of today: the focus on healthful eating and vegetable-based original ingredients.
To meet the demands of today’s consumer for lighter foods, kitchens need coolers and airtight sealing machines, such as were on display at Host 2015.
These, of course, are far from the only pieces of kitchen equipment to be found. Host showcases combination cookers and stoves, temperature-control ovens that are capable of cooking to just the right amount of humidity depending on the quantity and type of food being prepared.
Cold-press juicers, for instance, prevent the loss of the goodness of the raw ingredients.
Countertop appliances, too, are changing. Blenders are more powerful, capable of chopping and grinding not only spices but also seeds, nuts and dried fruits (one of the diktats of the healthy and natural cooking is to use foods rich in Omega 3, protein and minerals).
They are also more silent, so as not to disturb the customer.Open-counter and table top food preparationis a trend in restaurants that has now caught on also in supermarkets, and so greater attention is being paid to the aesthetics of slicers and cookers that until recently would have remained hidden away in the kitchen.
Now the machines are often on open display in the name of transparency, and are integral to the customer experience.
