RIMINI, Italy – SIGEP is heading for a historical edition and, after having reached the record figure of over 187,000 visitors (38,000 from abroad) in January, at less than five months from the 2016 edition, it is proceeding with an increase of 45% (compared with the average of the last two years) in exhibit space sold.
Forecasts for the world´s leading expo of artisan gelato, pastry and bread production are for over a thousand companies filling all 16 halls of the expo centre but, above all, ensuring trade members the best edition in the history of SIGEP as far as completeness of the product range and value of exhibiting companies are concerned, with all the leaders of the various sectors taking part.
One of the prioritary objectives of SIGEP 2016 is to further increase the expo´s international profile, which already currently exceeds 20%.
This result is also rising considerably following the world tour held in recent months on the most receptive markets and which, as well as the world dates of the Gelato World Tour project, in coming weeks will involve presentations in Cologne, Tokyo, Monaco, Dubai, Zagreb, Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul.
In this perspective, a draft calendar is has already be drawn up for international activities to be carried out in 2016, which will target in particular the American market in Chicago and Las Vegas (but with dates also in Dubai, Paris, Stuttgart, Moscow, Tokyo, Singapore, Dublin, Shanghai and Seoul).
Following up on this, the exploit of the large competitions, which have had a very high number of qualified applications from every continent, has been so great as to have led the organizers to further extend the number of countries taking part.
As far as the seventh edition of the Gelato World Cup is concerned, 14 teams are officially taking part, a record number for the event, with new entries from Chile, Uruguay and Singapore. Alongside them, there will be: Argentina, Australia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Morocco, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.
All the teams will arrive ready fight it out for the title and, after having passed the selections in their respective countries, will compete on seven tests from 23rd to 25th January in the South Foyer of Rimini Fiera. Each team will be made up of a gelato maker, a pastry chef, a chef and an ice sculptor and will be led by a team manager, a highly qualified professional who will be a member of the panel of technical judges.
Pastry Queen, the world pastry championship for ladies only, has met with the same success, with 10 countries taking part. Participants will arrive from: Japan, Brazil, Australia, Belarus, Peru, France, the Balkans, Taiwan, India and Italy, with selections being held in the last five of these countries, due to the large number of applicants. From now on, selections in the countries of origin will be a fundamental requisite for participation.
The Star of Chocolate contest, reserved for the most qualified chocolatiers, is also assuming an international profile. Participants already entered will arrive from: Belarus, India, Japan, Brazil and Italy, but by November, other entries are awaited, and participation will double.
For bread baking, Bread in The City (international contest for the bakery world) will feature 8 teams competing, who will be decided at the end of October from a total of 15 candidate nations.
Rimini Fiera business unit manager Patrizia Cecchi comments: ´as well as its acknowledged leadership, the success and attention that SIGEP has met with is due to a unique attention for what product knowledge really represents, which is then transmitted in the events and special projects.
At SIGEP, the companies are key players, but so is the culture of knowledge of the origins of the products and raw materials, the highlighting of traditions, quality and trade members´ professionalism. This cultural role makes SIGEP unique at world level.´
But that´s not all: SIGEP plays an all-round media role on the artisan confectionery market. One example of this authoritative position is the initiative organized with Forum Agenti, a network for finding agents throughout Italy.
Following the great success achieved at the last edition, the agreement has been further extended and, from a month before the expo, SIGEP exhibitors will be able to enter their request for sale staff on the Web site www.agenti.it for the whole of Italy.
Alongside the next edition of SIGEP there will be RHEX, Rimini Horeca Expo, which will host products and technology for catering and food service in Halls B7 and D7.
- SIGEP 2016 AT A GLANCE
Dates: 23 – 27 January 2016; - Organizers: Rimini Fiera SpA;
- Edition: 37th;
- Frequency: annual;
- Classification:
- Admittance: trade members only;
- Hours: 9:30 am – 6:00 pm, last day 9:30 am – 3:00 pm (3:00 – 5:00 pm only with online tickets);
