5 days of Gulfood in 2014

FOR THE first time, Gulfood will be a day longer, taking place from February 23-27. This makes Dubai’s popular food fair the world’s biggest annual food service, hospitality and food retail event. To wit, over 4,200 exhibitors, 3,864 competing chefs, and more than 77,000 visitors from 152 countries will be at the upcoming event, said organisers. Meanwhile, some 20,000 brands are now profiled in the Gulfood mobile app.

In the previous edition, exhibitors and visitors said they were impressed with the size of the show, which grew 13% from 2012. Amongst them was Hussain Shehab, CEO of Twelfth Avenue Restaurant, who was in Gulfood to look for new contacts for packaging. He said this year’s show was fruitful.

Puspa Narayan, senior brand executive at the Strategic World General Trading Services LLC, agreed, saying that she was able to meet more contacts and find more products. “We are a Dubai-based company and we have a leading Indian brand. We find that we can get better products here.”

In the coming year, organisers expect the attendance of even more international exporters seeking business not only in the Middle East, but in Africa and South Asia as well. Darko Glad, a visitor from Croatia, noted how Gulfood keeps expanding every year. He said his company, Glazir, a fruit filling business for bakeries, will be exhibiting in 2014 for the first time.

Established for nearly 26 years, Gulfood has come to be known as the region’s premier knowledge exchange on food trade where companies can gain insight into developments in the global food industry, acquire new training, participate in prestige competitions, and experience live events. In 2014, the show will cover beverage and beverage equipment, food and drink, food service and hospitality, and restaurants and cafés.

Five main programmes will be held concurrently with the exhibitions, including the Gulfood Awards (7 industry awards categories, including an industry achievement award); the Emirates Culinary Guild Salon Culinaire competition (22 categories and the Young Chef of the Year award); the Gulfood conferences; networking for the industry’s most senior professionals via the Gulfood Majlis Club; and the 4th Baking & Pastry Guild competition (16 categories).

Gulfood Awards

This will be the fifth year of the Gulfood Awards, which laud exemplary individuals and companies in the region’s food and drink industry. The Awards have gained a reputation for being a “prestigious endorsement” of one’s achievement. As an acknowledgment and celebration of excellence in 18 industry awards, the Awards champion innovation and the highest levels of service and standards. As an endorsement, it has likewise become a tool for enhancing the region’s international standing as a source of outstanding food and beverage products and services.

Eight awards categories (seven of which are industry awards categories) and 22 awards (including 18 industry awards, three exhibition awards and one industry achievement award) are being coveted. There is no limit to the number of categories or nominations the entrants can submit. Entries are open to products, services and initiatives launched in the Middle East since March 2013, and they will be judged by an international panel of independent industry experts.

The Emirates Culinary Guild Salon Culinaire

A series of practical and display-based culinary competitions, the ‘Emirates Culinary Guild Salon Culinaire’ gives professional chefs, pastry cAir Foamposite Max