22,743 VISITS (+10% UP FROM 2017)  TO RIMINI EXPO CENTRE

FOR IEG’S KEY TRADE FAIRS FOR BEER & FOOD FOR THE HORECA MARKET

Rimini, 20th February 2018 – Italian-style agri-food, after having reached the top worldwide with food, takes further root at international level thanks to the expansion of the beer chain. And Italian Exhibition Group, with the two trade parallel fairs Beer Attraction and BB Tech Expo, which ended today at Rimini expo centre, reconfirms its key role on the foodservice market, dominating the solid beer & food market.

In fact, the great Rimini event ended after 22,743 visits (10% more than 2017), 100 international hosted buyers from 18 countries, European, as well as United States, Israel and Australia, who joined the world formed by exhibitors, competition contestants and judges, conference guests and participants in the event areas. 215 accredited journalists and bloggers – from Italy and abroad – ensured extraordinary visibility on the main media and social networks.

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The IEG appointment is therefore the only B2B event at which quality food meets excellent beer, and where the Italian production of special and craft beer, which really highlights and exploits the areas of origin, successfully meets national and international trade members.

The Beer Attraction project, incorporated in a structural and organic manner in the calendar of IEG trade fairs dedicated to food service, stands out for its particular vocation for innovation, high quality and international horizon. Consequently, the product chains represented are exalted by new impetus and business relations, in Italy and throughout the world.

The widespread satisfaction among all the exhibitors confirmed the plan’s strategic quality.

In a few years, Beer Attraction, now at its 4th edition, has become the key business appointment for the sector: on show the main Italian and foreign special and craft beers matched with excellent food, thanks to the special Food Attraction section. The expo’s strategic partners were UNIONBIRRAI, FIC – Italian Federation of Chefs, ICE – Italian Trade Agency and Italgrob. Visitors included all the members of the food service trade, from beer and beverage wholesalers to food distributors.

The 2018 edition hosted the debut of BBTech Expo, the trade fair dedicated to technology, equipment and accessories for beer and beverage production & packaging, with the latest innovations in terms of processing, packaging and end-of-line products.

The areas occupied by the 505 exhibiting companies, of which 398 were for Beer Attraction and 107 BBTech Expo, were enriched by an extraordinary schedule of events concentrating on innovation, international business and training.

The 13th Beer of the Year competition, organized by UNIONBIRRAI in collaboration with IEG, featured 279 participating breweries, with 1,650 beers competing (20% more than the 2017 edition), the jury, made up of 84 expert tasters from all over the world. In particular experts from Holland, Spain, USA, France, Canada and Belgium, declared the Cr/Ak Brewery from Campodarsego (in the province of Padua) as the winner.

For the second consecutive year, the Food Attraction section hosted the Championships of Italian Cuisine, organized by the Italian Federation of Chefs, which drew 1,500 professionals to Rimini and 500 competing chefs. Among the new features, the Grand Prix of Mediterranean Cuisine, a contest with an international slant between teams from three foreign countries (Cyprus, Spain and Slovenia), the last of which won first prize, followed by Cyprus and Spain. The event’s partners included: Cast Alimenti, NIP, Pizza and Pasta.

The Italian style beer chain in the international spotlight thanks to innovation, craftsmanship and quality

In the BEER NEXT area, the focus was on innovation: in collaboration with Seeds&Chips, a worldwide reference point in the Food Innovation field. An Innovation HUB was set up to host 10 start-ups, where the best innovations for beer, food and technology for the beer & beverage sectors were concentrated. This was the site of the “Hack Beer Attraction”, a hackathon on innovative projects on the issue of beer & food. The 32 participants were from 11 countries (Belgium, China, Colombia, the Philippines, France, Jordan, India, Italy, South Africa, U.S.A. and Hungary). The topics included: traceability and blockchains in street food and food trucks, the sharing economy and experiences connected with gourmet food trucks, craft beer and wine. Social inclusion projects were presented for optimizing vendors’ resources, new forms of innovative packaging, marketplaces and franchising in the food truck context. A great deal of innovative technology was proposed, such as apps and new platforms.

The BBTECH LAB was the core of the BBTECH events, with seminars and workshops in collaboration with Unionbirrai and with the most prestigious academic institutes, such as the Department of Agri-food Science of the University of Udine, CERB – Italian Brewing Research Centre of the  University of Perugia and DIEFFE
– Jobs Academy.

All the 2018 Beer Attraction press releases can be downloaded from the media room on the Web site

The next appointment by Italian Exhibition Group in the Food & Beverage sector is Golositalia, from 24th to 27th February at Centro Fiera del Garda in Montichiari (Brescia). Golositalia is the key event for the whole of Northern Italy for the food sector’s trade members and fans.

From 24th to 26th February, at Fiera di Vicenza, IEG is holding PESCARE SHOW, the International angling and leisure craft show.