Photo: CTI

The great day has arrived: today (Saturday 18th January) the curtain rises on Sigep and A. B. Tech Expo 2020. It will be Italy’s Minister for Cultural Assets, Activities and Tourism, Dario Franceschini, who inaugurates the two huge shows organized by Italian Exhibition Group, at 4:00 pm in the Gelato Arena (South Foyer) of the Rimini Expo Centre. With him, participants will include Emilia Romagna Regional Councillor for budget matters, institutional reorganization, human resources and equal opportunities, Emma Petitti, Rimini’s Mayor Andrea Gnassi, the President of the ITA Agency Carlo Ferro and IEG President Lorenzo Cagnoni.

Photo: CTI

But the expos will already be open from the morning, with the debut of the Vision Plaza, a new area in which discussions will be held on how consumers’ tastes are changing and the latest trends in Out-of-Home food service.

Things got under way at 11:00 am with the talk show “Future is now! The new global values of sweet food service: experience, quality and sustainability”: a real face-off between experts of the global eating out market and consumer and brand dynamics to understand the challenges of sweet food service and identify future opportunities for growth and development. The speakers discussed the “values” of consumers eating out, such as experience, food and environment quality and sustainability. Consumers’ increasingly eco-friendly choices, which set the agenda of the strategic decisions of companies trading in this sector. Data and reports on emerging trends were proposed at the meeting. Following the introductory greetings of IEG CEO, Corrado Peraboni, speeches from Bob O’Brien, Global Senior Vice President Foodservice of NPD Group, Caterina Schiavon, expert in Social Semiotics and partner with KKienn Turin and Francesco Buschi – strategy director of Future Brand.

Photo: CTI

It will therefore be a great Sigep (International Trade Show of Artisan Gelato, Pastry, Bakery and the Coffee World, now at its 41st edition), not only full of business, internationality and competitions – as it already is – but also of professional updates, looking to the future, and will be perfectly complemented by being held simultaneously with A. B. Tech Expo (6th International Exhibition of Technologies and Products for Bakery, Pastry and Confectionery). A simultaneous staging that will completely fill the 129,000 square metres of the Rimini expo centre, with the participation of approximately 1,250 companies and foreign brands arriving from over 30 countries. 1,300 events are scheduled, with innovation, trends, training and internationality with across-the-board topics running through all the appointments.

Photo: CTI

2020’S TOP EVENTS
From Sunday, the Gelato Arena will host the Gelato World Cup, the world’s most important artisan gelato competition, now at its ninth edition, with 11 teams competing from all over the world.

In the Pastry Arena, on Saturday, there will be The Star of Sugar (with tests on sugar sculpture and take-away sweets), the Italian Pastry Championships and SIGEP Giovani, a contest of excellence between training schools. The Coffee Arena will host seven Italian Barista Championships dedicated to coffee, all valid for access to the world championships of the prestigious World Coffee Events circuit, whereas the Bakery Arena will concentrate on the “Bread in the City” International Bread Baking Contest.

THE PARTNERSHIP

SIGEP is also supports its client companies with partnerships with sweet food service associations: among the many, there are those with Acomag and UIF-Gruppo Prodotti per gelato, Fipe Confcommercio, Fiepet-Confesercenti, CNA Alimentare, Fiepet-Confesercenti, Association of Italian Gelato Makers, Gelato&Cultura and Artglace for gelato; with Cast Alimenti, Academy of Italian Master Pastry Chefs, Conpait and Relais Dessert for pastry; with Richemont Club, Italmopa, Aibi-Assitol, Assipan and Consorzio Sipan for bakery; with the SCA-Specialty Coffee Association for coffee and with the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting for chocolate.