The international industry event for foodservice and hospitality will welcome visitors and exhibitors to Madrid this month
By now a well-established fixture in the global hospitality calendar, the unique proposition of Hospitality Innovation Planet (HIP) is to combine a trade show in the exhibition area with a comprehensive learning program in the congress.
This year, 45,000 visitors are expected to gather at Madrid’s IFEMA exhibition centre along with 650 exhibiting firms and 700 international experts. Panel discussions, presentations and workshops will be held on the 12 stages of the congress, bringing together chefs, entrepreneurs, designers, architects, technology experts and creatives.
Learning and networking
During the three days, players from a number of industry segments, including hotel and accommodation, catering, automated catering, bar, cafeteria, delivery and take-away and leisure, will showcase new trends and changes. “Visitors will discover the innovations, concepts and solutions that will enable entrepreneurs to advance the optimization, efficiency and differentiation of their respective businesses,” promises event director Manel Bueno.
Those attending will also benefit from networking opportunities at initiatives such as The Horeca New Business Awards, the leadership summit and lunch events to meet with industry leaders and authorities.
Globally recognized brands attending this year’s event include hospitality giants such as Burger King and Melia Hotels Internationals while Ferran Adriá and Paco Morales are among the chefs to slated to address the congress.
Novelties
As in previous years organizers have introduced several new elements to the event. “One of the great novelties of the 2024 edition are the very practical workshops where professionals can discover working methodologies and tools to achieve more sales, more profitability, customers and better positioning,” says Bueno.
He highlights a special focus on automated catering during the show with a dedicated space called Automated Foodservice Expo. “This segment, which is undergoing a complete transformation to become more experiential, personalized and of high quality, is gaining market share and is being introduced in countless spaces and hospitality businesses as a response to challenges such as lack of staff,” says Bueno. “HIP will be the summit that will have an exhibition and debate space with this focus”
Other new initiatives include a Nightlife summit to reflect on the opportunities in that segment; a Bakery and Gelato summit; and an AI summit, which will explore the revolution that artificial intelligence has brought to the hotel and catering industry. The Executive Chef Club, meanwhile will highlight the profile of executive chefs and examine their role within a business.
“Hospitality 4.0 Congress is the largest international forum for trends and new hospitality concepts, so I’m looking forward to learning from what this three-day masterclass and the professionals who will share their inspiring vision to mark the steps of the Horeca of the coming years, which needs to be more efficient, sustainable, digitized and experiential,” concludes Bueno.
Hospitality Innovation Planet will take place at IFEMA Exhibition Centre, Madrid, on 19-21 February 2024. For more information, please visit: www.expohip.com
Tina Nielsen
