SIGEP 2024 Brings the Dolce Foodservice Community to Rimini
The Italian masters of artisan gelato. The elegance and creativity of international pastry. Chocolate, from the raw material to the very best workmanship. Leavened products and all the variants of bread. The aroma of coffee, from espresso to the most meditative specialty coffees. And competitions, talks, internationality, young people and the sector´s most important innovations. All this is Sigep -The World Dolce Expo, organised by the Italian Exhibition Group, whose 45th edition will be held from 20th to 24th January 2024 at Rimini Expo Centre. The event, a reference point for the dolce foodservice world, will showcase the very best of everything linked to artisan gelato, pastry, bakery, coffee and chocolate supply chains. The halls will include numerous sector innovations accompanied by the latest trends in terms of consumption and new formats for venues.
Sigep´s supply chains will occupy the Expo Centre´s 28 halls with a new and functional layout for buyers and operators and more than 1,200 exhibitor brands occupying the 129,000 square meters of exhibition space, 90% of which is already sold out.
Thanks to collaboration with the sector´s artisan and trade associations, national and global Master gelato, pastry chef, baker, barista and coffee specialist associations, SIGEP 2024 will favor new business and networking opportunities and provide in-depth information on foreign markets. Everything from new products within the various sectors, the latest trends from packaging to technologies related to machinery and systems, with special focus on current issues involving company and staff management. Ample space will be given to the topics of sustainability, product culture and marketing development, through to digital innovation.
Sigep´s international launch is escalating rapidly: the recent expansion towards Asian markets with the strategic opening on the Chinese market with SIGEP China, in the city of Shenzhen, and the launch of Sigep Asia in Singapore, are the proof.
The continuing and deployed support of ITA . Italian Trade Agency – for the promotion and internationalization of Italian companies abroad, will exponentially enhance the already large representation of buyers expected to arrive in Rimini in January, where they will be greeted with a specific and full programme for meeting the sector´s top companies that have always featured at Sigep. Internationality will also be spotlighted in the ´Vision Plaza´ where scheduled talks will provide information on the most competitive aspects of the international artisan dolce foodservice business, as well as the most pressing topical issues: sustainable development, training and technology. Events, promoted by associations and media partners are planned throughout the show with something like one hundred talks involving 200 speakers, 50 of them international. More than a thousand events will be organized by the exhibitors themselves.
International championships are one of the event´s driving forces, a unique opportunity also for young recruits to meet the great masters and learn technical skills, creativity and innovation.
The six specialized ´Arenas´ will host international competitions, workshops and demos.
The Gelato Arena will once again be staging the Gelato World Cup, the world´s most eagerly awaited and important international competition that includes trials in gelato making, pastry and chocolate making, catering and ice sculpting, with 12 teams taking part. The competition will decide the winning team for the title of Gelato World Champion 2024. Moreover, Sigep Gelato D´Oro will award the best Italian gelato and pastry professionals, who will compete in the second edition of the Gelato Europe Cup, scheduled to take place at Sigep 2025.
Competitions in the Pastry Arena will include: the Junior Pastry World Cup, JPWC, which enhances the talents of young under-23s with12 teams competing on the theme ´Myths and Legends´; the Senior and Junior Italian Pastry Championships will be held on the themes ´Travelling to the East´ and ´A Sustainable Future´ respectively.
The very youngest pastry chefs will be competing in the SIGEP Giovani training project, in collaboration with ´Pasticceria Internazionale´, Sigep exhibiting companies and hotel and catering schools from all over Italy, in order to put into practice the knowledge and skills learnt at school.
Attention will once again be paid to young people in the Bakery Arena with Young Ideas, the competition aimed at bakery talents from Italian hotel and catering schools and professional training organisations, whose efforts will be judged by expert bakers.
Last but not least, no less than seven championships related to the world of coffee will also be held: the Italian Coffee Barista Championship (CIBC), the Italian Latte Art Championship (CILA), the Brewers Cup, the Italian Coffee in Good Spirits Championship (CIGS), the Italian Cup Tasters Championship, the Italian Coffee Roasting Championship and the Italian IBRIK Championship.
More than 24 competitions are planned, 3 of which international, with the participation of competitors from 25 countries.