MILAN – To open the dances of the International Digital Food Services Expo 2021 powered by Internorga – finished on 17 march after three days based in Hamburg – we report the presentation speech by the CEO Oliver Kastalio and the President Global Professional Coffee Business of the WMF Group Jan Van Riet of Wmf, the German company producing professional coffee machines, owned by the French Groupe SEB. Together digitally, to discuss what future prospects the coffee industry may have. The coffee machine manufacturer focuses on an innovative, digital interpretation of its brand promise “Designed to Perform”.
Wmf, discovering the future of coffee business
International Digital Food Services Expo / Welcome Speech Oliver Kastalio & Johan Van Riet
Oliver Kastalio: “Welcome to the WMF digital exhibition stand. I would like to send my warmest greetings to
all the trade fair visitors at their screens. I have the honour to have this company, the WMF Group, now the second year as ceo and I remember very well last year the Internorga had to be cancelled on short notice because of the pandemic. This year, I was really looking
forward to meeting you all, dear customers and visitors in Hamburg at the Internorga.
Yet regretfully, as we all know, it is again the pandemic preventing us from having a face to face meeting. But at the same time, I am quite impressed and grateful for the digital possibilities that Internorga is providing for us here. These tools allow us to communicate with each other, share information with each other, talk about innovations and even be able to ensure active interaction in this manner.
2020 was a catastrophic year for the entire out-of-house market. And even now, the
pandemic is still ruling our personal and professional lives. You, many of our business
partners in the professional coffee machine sector have been hit particularly hard. It is our key concern as the WMF Group to support you in the best possible way with our products and services of our brands WMF, Schaerer and Curtis.
2021 will still be a tough year
But coffee is a global and long-term trend. We at Groupe SEB are confident that the markets will soon be boosted once again as a result of this trend and our consumers are waiting for enjoying the coffee again out of home, together with their colleagues and friends. And that we will be allowed to witness a dynamic market. I am a person who is rather optimistic, for me the glass is always half full. I strongly believe that the
latest after Easter, the hotel and restaurant sector will reopen, and that will stimulate the
markets. Which means that for the rest of the year, we will be able to note positive market development.
I am also optimistic that by next year 2022, we will be able to meet in person at Internorga and get to know each other. But for now, I wish you a great time, interesting presentations and insights at our digital exhibition stand. And now I’d like to hand you over to Johan Van Riet. Thank you very much and stay healthy.”
Jan Van Riet
“Dear Visitors, Also from my side a warm welcome to this year’s International Digital Food Services Expo – this year in a new digital setting. I would have liked to rather shake hands with you all personally, but obviously the Corona pandemic still does not allow us to meet in person – now for the second year since the last time in 2019. Even more so I like to take this opportunity to thank the Messe Hamburg. As the organisers, you have made it possible to present a new digital trade fair this year, which allows us to meet despite the pandemic, safely and conveniently from the comfort of your home or office. This gives us now the opportunity to present to you, dear visitors, our innovative new products and to discuss their potentials and our joint future together.
We are all not going through easy times at the moment, but I stay optimistic about the future
We continue to be convinced that the out-of-home coffee consumption will present also in
future again a growing and attractive global business opportunity. Now I like to give you a brief insight into what you can expect at IDX and on our digital exhibition stands. As a Gold Partner of the IDX, we present the portfolio of our three brands
WMF, Schaerer and Curtis in the field of professional coffee machines. We have put
together an interesting and extensive programme, which includes an exciting selection of live presentations. The focus here is particularly on our new products and trend topics. On this year’s Main Stage at the trade fair, you can expect an interesting theme presentation by WMF about the question: “Which digital and innovative trends are going to have a lasting impact on the coffee industry”.
I am also particularly pleased to present our latest digital project to you for the first time: our virtual showroom of the WMF brand, which presents the complete product portfolio in 3D and provides interesting insights into the world of coffee. At WMF we also present the revolutionary, fully automatic cleaning system WMF AutoClean and our new compact, fully automatic coffee machine WMF 1300 S. You can also experience what’s new about our digital solution WMF CoffeeConnect and about our service solutions, and what benefits the WMF espresso offers.
At Schaerer you can expect a presentation on the Main Stage as well, where we would like
to introduce the Schaerer AG and its extraordinary flexibility in providing customer specific solutions in more detail. At the Schaerer stand, we will be presenting the latest news on fully automatic coffee machines under the brand Schaerer, i.e. the Coffee Soul 10 & 12, as well as the products from our brand Curtis, which became part of our family of brands in 2019, now under the roof of the SEB Professional, a product division of Groupe SEB. You can also look forward to a presentation on our digital solution Schaerer Coffee Link and our services solutions. In the presentation by the Schaerer Coffee Competence Center, you will also learn everything about the perfect coffee setting for your machine.
Now I wish you a lot of fun and interesting discussions at this year’s IDX and I hope to be
able to welcome you back in person in Hamburg next year.
Thank you!
