Biggest Food & Hospitality Oman exhibition to be held in October

MUSCAT: Omanexpo’s signature food and hospitality trade event and Oman’s biggest event of its kind, Food & Hospitality Exhibition & Conference, is set to be held from October 15 to 17 at the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre.

For three days, the world-class venue will be the centre of about 500 local and international brands from the food and beverage, ingredients and seasoning, food processing technology, agriculture and fisheries, kitchen and catering equipment, packaging systems, HORECA furniture, resort and spa facilities, hotel décor, hotel and hospitality technologies segments.

The annual trade show, recognised as the landmark food and hospitality event in Oman and now celebrating its 13th edition, will showcase the industry’s continuous development and expansion through a comprehensive networking, education, businessto-business platform, reflecting the emerging opportunities that current and pipelined milliondollar tourism infrastructure projects have to offer.

Ammar Ahmad, exhibition manager for Food & Hospitality Oman, said, “Most of the industry’s important segments, such as food supplies, which spur the requirement for food packaging, value and luxury retail outlets, shopping malls, new hotels, and hypermarkets, are in great demand especially at this time. The industry is full of business opportunities and this is what we are offering to the trade.”

“The business-to-business meetings, which is also part of the show offering, is a way for us to provide companies with opportunities to increase their contacts in the local and international markets,” he added.

The last edition, held from the 16th to the 18th of October 2017, saw a good number of international exhibitors representing 18 countries, international buyers from UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, professionals from leading hotels and catering companies, importers, distributors and buyers from leading supermarkets and hypermarkets, and about 6,000 trade visitors.

Highlighting the exhibition were the Omani Products Pavilion and the India Pavilion, which showcased 40 companies. A concurrent feature was the Food Safety Oman Conference, which covered current relevant issues as Food Safety Culture and Environment, Regulatory Environment, Food Handlers Training, Food Inspection, Supply Chain, Logistics and Packaging and New Technologies. Speakers also presented best-practice case studies to help and identify how to tackle critical issues in food safety.

This year, apart from the pavilions and conference, the show will once again present the traditional Professional Chefs Competition organised in association with Oman Chefs Guild. The competition will put more than 50 of the country’s best professional chefs from 4 and 5-star hotels, restaurants, catering companies and bakeries, to a test of skill, technique and style in five categories: Three-Tier Wedding Cake, Tapas, Petit Fours, Live Cooking Mystery Box, and FiveCourse Gourmet Dinner.

The sought-after Oman Barista Competition will also be another crowd-drawer after successfully making its mark in the coffee scene after five editions. “The competition will pave the way for similar talent and skill platforms and will also be vital to the advancement of the hospitality sector, as we are bringing in opportunities to food and coffee producers, manufacturers, distributors, importers, and retailers,” Ahmad remarked.

To keep the show more exciting, Omanexpo has partnered with McCain Foods to bring the firstever Battle of the Burgers, a competition among grilling experts for the best burger in Oman.

Food & Hospitality Oman is anticipated to be the biggest edition to date with the participation of more local and international companies, more country pavilions, widely participated competitions, and business-to-business meetings, lending testimony to a wellestablished show that has enjoyed its “UFI-approved event” status since 2010.

It is recognised as the international flagship event for the food and hospitality sectors in the Sultanate, pioneering, as with Omanexpo’s trade shows, all other food and hotel-related events that have sprung up in the last two years.