- Foreign visitors from 160 countries up 26%, the highest ever
- Foodservice excellence represented by 1,300 exhibiting brands from 33 countries
- The “Guest Country” initiative with Saudi Arabia a total success
Rimini (Italy), 22nd January 2025 – “The internationality challenge has been won”. This is how Corrado Peraboni, CEO of Italian Exhibition Group, commented on the SIGEP World edition that just came to a close at Rimini Expo Centre. “The strategy of developing our leading products abroad and investing in buyer delegations has also proved successful in increasing foreign visitation to our flagship events in Italy, such as SIGEP World.”
This year also saw the start of the experimental run of direct Munich – Rimini flights organised in collaboration with Luxwing and Fellini Airport, flights that brought Sigep closer to the main world markets. “From Germany in particular,” adds Peraboni, “we had a +68% increase in visitors, but all the most strategic markets for foodservice that we represent show a double-digit growth.”
Indeed, the event, with a total +14% attendances, of which +26% from abroad, (the highest number of visitations ever), confirmed its position as a reference point for the foodservice industry, offering increasingly cutting-edge and technological challenges. A unique business appointment that, with Rimini, a name synonymous with hospitality, has found a winning combination.
SAUDI ARABIA GUEST COUNTRY
A distinctive feature of this edition was the presence of Saudi Arabia thanks to the new “Guest Country” initiative. The country, which will host Expo 2030, is emerging as a strategic market in the hospitality and catering sector. For this reason, and thanks to its economic growth and the demand for innovative technologies, SIGEP World offered exhibiting companies a unique opportunity to build partnerships with key entrepreneurs from the Saudi market.
A delegation consisted of institutional representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture and the Culinary Arts Commission and commercial operators represented by importers, restaurant chains and luxury hotels, thus opening new perspectives for the global foodservice industry.
SIGEP 2025
THE NUMBERS OF A GREAT EDITION
SIGEP World – The World Expo for Foodservice Excellence, an event organised by Italian Exhibition Group (IEG) now at its 46th edition, therefore confirmed its role as the international reference point on the Gelato, Pastry, Chocolate, Coffee, Bakery and, new to this edition, Pizza supply chain exhibition scene with 1,300 exhibiting brands, 30 halls and 138,000 square metres of exhibition space.
In addition to confirmation of absolute leadership on the Gelato market, SIGEP World 2025 also grew in the Coffee sector with a +30% increase in espresso and super-automatic machine companies, and an increase of 50 companies in the Pizza section, primarily technologies such as dough mixers, ovens, flours, toppings and frozen bases.
The excellent results of the last edition were exceeded with visitors arriving from 160 countries.
Among the countries of reference for Sigep, German attendance grew by 68%, followed by Spain at +21% and then Romania, France, Greece and Poland, all with double-digit growth. More generally, the Top 10 for increases included the United States at +64%. The Middle East grew by 38% with the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iraq the most represented countries.
Africa also registered +30%, not only with the northern countries of the continent (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria), but also with South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal among the most represented. Even Latin America attendances were up 10%, driven by Brazil at +48%. As far as Asia is concerned, India’s significant +34% increase is worth noting. Among the many countries from all corners of the world, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Mauritius, the Faroe Islands and Cape Verde also deserve a mention.
A packed programme of events characterised the five-day event with no less than four international competitions (Gelato Europe Cup, Gelato Festival World Masters, Bread in the City, World Pizza Champion Games).
More than 5,500 business meetings took place at exhibitor stands with 545 top buyers from 79 countries around the world and 3,300 European buyers participating in the Premium Programme, thanks to the valuable collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Italian Trade Agency and IEG’s network of regional advisors. As many as 40 international events, with over 60 speakers from abroad, took place.
KEYWORDS: TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE
SIGEP World 2025, inaugurated by the Minister for Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, was appreciated for its considerable focus on new trends in foodservice, presenting a comprehensive exhibition offer of the industry’s main supply chains with attention to technologies, equipment and ingredients.
Thanks to SIGEP Vision, IEG’s foodservice sector Observatory, the event has become an important trend incubator and acts as a global observatory on trends throughout the year, as well as a privileged vantage point for sector operators, companies and professionals. The prestigious collaborations initiated with major foodservice research companies have been important in this regard.
Circana presented two very specific emerging trends for restaurants: ‘green’, as 44% of consumers said they were more loyal to establishments that invest in sustainability, and innovation, considering that 66% of consumers in Europe are increasingly looking for restaurants that offer unique experiences. The numbers are positive: spending in the foodservice sector, at European level (Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the UK), is back above pre-Covid levels, rising from 309 billion euros in 2019 to the current €336 billion (+9%).
The main new entries at SIGEP World included the development of the coffee and chocolate sector with the Sustainability District, a new area dedicated to promoting virtuous practices in the coffee and cocoa supply chains with three vertical projects: the Micro Roaster Village, where micro-roasters presented their unique blends, revealing the latest trends to visitors.
The coffee chain area also featured Fully Automatic Coffee Machines, in other words, super-automatic coffee machines that represent the future of the sector, in the name of sustainability. Lastly, for the chocolate supply chain, Bean To Bar, to immerse oneself in the world of technology and personally experience all the stages of artisan chocolate processing.
Another proposal that met with great success was the Taste of Tomorrow installation, a project that celebrated innovation in the gelato world, thus defining the new frontiers of the gelato industry of the future.
The gelato of the future will be increasingly organic, sustainable and functional. Classic, but also innovative: new flavours inspired by the herbs of an Alpine landscape processed with microalgae were presented in the area, confirming that innovation and experimentation are the basis of master gelato makers’ work.
Not to be forgotten is the great emphasis on pizza, the most exported food product in the world and symbol par excellence of Italian tradition, a key player at SIGEP World where every aspect of pizza was highlighted. From the best solutions in terms of equipment, technologies and innovative formats, to ingredients – such as selected flours, tomato preserves, oils, top quality dairy products – passing through fillings and arriving at the most innovative technologies. Media interest was captured by sweet pizzas: from simple fried dough with chocolate, to recent creations that see pizza chefs experimenting with doughs and ingredients to create truly innovative desserts.
The spotlights were also on the innovation award for companies and start-ups, named after Lorenzo Cagnoni and specifically for the sector’s most innovative start-ups and solutions, presented to exhibitors with a focus on categories such as Digital Innovation, Sustainability and Packaging. The Lorenzo Cagnoni Award is an important recognition for companies and start-ups that are driving change in the foodservice sector with creative and sustainable products and technological solutions.
FOCUS ON THE NEW GENERATIONS OF PROFESSIONALS
The last day of Sigep saw the participation of 3,300 students from 60 hotel and catering schools and professional institutes for an educational tour that combined practical training and interaction with companies. The initiative is part of the Sigep Academy project that incorporates Sigep Giovani and Sigep for schools.
SIGEP, MEDIA AND ONLINE SUCCESS
A trade show with enormous visibility: both in the media and on the social networks. To date, total media contacts exceed 488 million with 737 accredited journalists, of which 57 from abroad with the top of the trade press from the event’s focus countries but also with major international media such as the French TV, Télevision francaise 1, or Germany’s leading private TV, Kabel Eins.
On social media, Sigep saw a community of 161,000 professionals with over 2 million viewings on the renewed Sigep.it digital ecosystem, designed to inform and create business opportunities, as demonstrated by the thousands of professional contacts created on the App, and employment opportunities (one example is the success of the “Job Offers” function dedicated to matching supply and demand, especially for young people).
THE NEXT APPOINTMENTS
Italian Exhibition Group’s next appointment with Sigep World 2026 will be from 23rd to 27th January (with new days scheduled from Friday to Tuesday), again at Rimini Expo Centre, while it is preparing for Sigep China, from 24th to 26th April in Shenzhen and Sigep Asia, scheduled in Singapore from 16th to 18th July. In the meantime, another IEG-branded Food & Beverage event is just around the corner: from 16th to 18th February, Rimini Expo Centre will be hosting Beer&Food Attraction.
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