More than 30 Indian companies are participating in the 2014 essay of Food&HotelAsia (FHA) and Wine&Spirits Asia (WSA), which would be organised by Singapore Exhibition Services (SES) and is slated to take place at Singapore Expo’s ten exhibition halls and Max Atria between April 8 and 11, 2014.
These include Allansons Limited, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Mitora Machinex Pvt Ltd, Pentair Water India and AKR Industry. This edition of the event - which was incepted 37 years ago - would cover an area of 1,00,000sq m (an eight per cent increase compared to the 2012 essay).
About 2,800 exhibitors from 70 countries/regions are expected to showcase their offerings at FSA’s 19th essay, which would feature 54 group pavilions. The products on display include food products, bar and kitchen equipment and supplies, food processing equipment, hotel amenities, tableware, hospitality technology, etc.
Stephen Tan, SES’ chief executive officer, stated, “As industry pioneers, we wanted to create a platform where local and regional food and hospitality businesses could benefit from what was available in the global marketplace, as it was not easily accessible back then.”
“Over the years, FHA has grown with the development of the region’s hotel and food and beverage industry to become its top sourcing platform and pinnacle trade event. This year is a milestone for FHA and WSA, which have maximised the available exhibition space of Singapore’s largest exhibition venue,” he added.
“Moving forward, the event would only continue to grow as new markets in the region become more developed and demand increases,” Tan said. It would have five specialised shows - namely FoodAsia, HotelAsia, Bakery&Pastry, HospitalityStyleAsia and HospitalityTechnology.
The 19th edition of FHA would see the launch of the sixth specialty show, SpecialityCoffee&Tea. Set against the backdrop of a booming café culture in Asia, SpecialityCoffee&Tea will integrate all aspects of the industry in a single platform featuring a comprehensive range of equipment, coffee beans, tea leaves and accessories from across the globe.
The prominent international exhibitors at the show include renowned Bunn-O-Matic, Bravilor, Cimbali, Diedrich, Dilmah, Ebenezer, Empire Tea, Expolanka Teas, Giesen, illycaffé, La Marzocco, Nestlé, Rancilio, Santino Coffee, Santos and many more.
The FHA Barista Challenge and first-ever FHA Latte Art Challenge would also take place alongside the event this year, alongside a number of courses, workshops and fringe activities.
FHA & WSA attract global audience
FHA is a perfect platform for local manufacturers and distributors to expand their regional client base. With the internationality of the show, FHA sees visitors from more than 100 countries/regions each edition.
The 2012 edition welcomed a record total of more than 42,000 trade visitors, an increase of 10.4 per cent over 2010. Notably, overseas visitors increased by 14.5 per cent and made up 41.6 per cent of the total visitors.
All-rounded experience at FHA and WSA
In April 2014, a combination of the shows’ exhibition, conference, competitions and fringe activities will deliver a holistic experience to all attendees.
Competitions
The FHA Culinary Challenge (FCC) would see 856 chefs from all over the world battle it out in the Individual Challenge, Dream Team Challenge and Gourmet Team Challenge.
Returning this year to the FCC is the National Team Challenge, which takes place every four years. Eleven national teams would compete, but only the top three would qualify for the Battle of the Lion, with one emerging victorious.
SpecialityCoffee&Tea would play host to the FHA Barista Challenge and the first FHA Latte Art Challenge, while the Asian Pastry Cup will be held in conjunction with Bakery&Pastry.
Competitions at WSA include the RIPE-WSA Cocktail Challenge and the WSA Wine Challenge. Entries from across the globe will be judged by a panel of Asia’s top wine buyers and writers for the WSA Wine Challenge.
Awards for the winning wines will be presented at the first Magnum Night, an exclusive wine networking event, on April 8, 2014. The winning labels will also be displayed at an exclusive tasting lounge at WSA.
Conference
This year’s FHA International Conference would have 90 speakers and would focus on key issues currently affecting the industry (paramount among which is the manpower crunch) and ways to ease it.
In view of this, the conference would feature a plenary session and an in-depth master-class to provide the industry with practical solutions on how to deal with the manpower shortage.
Other topics that would be covered include managing hotel operations and revenue optimisation strategies; managing F&B operations and food concepts; latest technologies for the hotel and F&B; food safety (covering the latest food regulations), contamination detection methods and food product innovation and development.
“Overall, FHA and WSA deliver a comprehensive, holistic and meaningful event for the whole industry,” said Tan.
“Providing businesses with the latest innovations, new food products and unique amenities to choose from, as well as sharing ideas, knowledge and best practices would, in turn, translate into an enhanced experience for the consumer,” he added.
