MILAN, Italy – The 41st edition of HostMilano opens today to October 22nd at fieramilano in Rho (Milan), Italy. This year there will be 2,249 exhibitors at the event, up 3.8% on 2017. Of these, 1,360 are Italian and 889 are from 55 foreign countries. In absolute terms, the top ten markets by presence are Germany, Spain, France, the USA, Turkey, the UK, the Netherlands, Greece, Switzerland and Portugal. The most notable companies represented for the first time are Albania, Argentina, Colombia, Latvia and Lebanon.
HostMilano will as usual be organised into three macro-areas
To encourage synergies between areas that are tending more and more to cross over with each other through hybrid formats. In terms of merchandise range, in the Bakery/Pizza/Pasta sector the number of exhibitors has grown by almost one fifth (+19%), while the macro-area that is also linked to Professional Foodservice is up by 8% overall. And there has also been an 8% increase on 2017 in the number of firms featured in the Gelato/Pastry area with Bars/Coffee-Making Machines/Coffee-Tea/Vending.
Professional Foodservice, together with Bakery/Pizza/Pasta, will be the most widely represented area (43.8% of the total number of companies), followed by Bars/Coffee-Making Machines/Coffee-Tea/Vending (37.6%) and Furnishings/Tableware (18.6%), with this latter area increasingly tending to be concerned with high-end lifestyle products.
As in previous editions of HostMilano, in addition to the professional visitors (who numbered 187,000 in 2017), over 1,500 hosted buyers will be coming to Milan from 80 countries (notably USA, Canada, the Middle East, the UAE, China and Russia), with a turnover of 80% and an ever more comprehensive typological mix thanks to collaboration with ICE Agenzia.
Over 100 international accredited journalists are also expected to attend, while the BeMyHost project will see the arrival of around 20 Host Ambassadors: important Italian and foreign influencers whose job it will be to pick up on the very latest hospitality trends during the days of the fair and then report back on them on their various social media channels.
The many forms of coffee come together at Host
Coffee, that most global, complex and ever more popular of beverages, will be presented from all angles – origins, extraction techniques, culture and geopolitics – in the SIC area of HostMilano, a well-established coffee fair and an ideal context, thanks to its international nature. All courtesy of the companies present (leaders, but also small, lively and innovative concerns) and a busy programme of events.
Particular attention will be paid, as ever, to training. There will certainly be much interest in To Coffee, organised by Andrej Godina and the Umami Area association (Hall 24 Stands V50 and Z49). Here, alongside the latest innovation scenarios and insights into the latest crossovers between different worlds and merchandise sectors, the focus will be on supply chain sustainability, a concept to communicate and present to consumers.
Meanwhile, Coffee Addition, run by Gianni Cocco, AICAF and ALTOGA, will use a travelling format and examine the subject of master classes (not something that can be taken for granted) and the relationship between the world of “mitigation” and the black bean.
And then, just to keep the adrenalin pumping, there will be displays by leading professionals, who will take part in a series of events to decide who qualifies as the “best of the best”.
The 6th Italian Café Grand Prix, organised by AICAF (the Italian Academy of Coffee Masters) and Altoga, the National Association of Coffee Roasters and Importers and Food Wholesalers will battle it out to determine the best Italian baristas from those selected during the year from across Italy.
The two associations are also the promoters of the World Latte Art Battle Championship, the contest in which the best latte artists from Italy and ten foreign countries (Hall 18 stand M98 M86) will take each other on. And this edition of Host will also see the third Milano Latte Art Challenge 2019 (19-21 October Hall 18 Stand M98 and M86), in which 12 baristas will take on challenges f increasing levels of difficulty, from which a winner will eventually emerge.
Another innovative showcase at HostMilano, finally, will be the stand designed for SCA (the Specialty Coffee Association) together with Fieramilano to present the best in special coffees in an interactive space where visitors will be able to network, attend seminars and lectures, and visit an exhibition devoted to the the latest developments in the field of specialty coffees (Hall 14 Stand L06 and M05).
The FIPE stand (the Italian Federation of Public Establishments) will be the stage where expert professionals will bring to life Flair&Mixology H24, a space in which a bar counter with different sections will offer a concrete demonstration of the different professional activities in the coffee industry (Hall 14 Stands M14, M20, N13 and N19).
And on the subject of that other aspect of bar life, mixology, the magazine Mixer, together with Planet One, will be present with The Aromas of Food&Beverage: a space that will demonstrate to bar managers and customers a new kind of consumption based on concepts of naturalness, well-being and awareness. The aim is to bring about a real “renaissance” in the concept of food&beverage (Hall 18 Stands L50 and N57).
