The recently concluded Food Hospitality World 2015 trade exhibition achieved a significant milestone in its journey as it completed its 24th edition. The exhibition offered a golden opportunity to exhibitors coming from different segments of the food and hospitality industry to showcase their products and network for business By Rituparna Chatterjee
To mark the celebration of its 24th edition, Food Hospitality World (FHW) 2015, a B2B trade exhibition for the food and hospitality industry in India, organised by Global Fairs & Media – a joint venture between Hannover Milano Fairs India and The Indian Express, created the perfect platform for industry professionals to connect, network and celebrate this year. Apart from providing an opportunity for buyer-seller meets, FHW 2015 hosted an interesting line-up of panel discussions, presentations and competitions. Held at the MMRDA grounds of Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai from January 22-24, 2015, this year’s trade show was inaugurated by Bharat Malkani, president, Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) along with other dignitaries including A K Singh, principal/ secretary, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai; Bhuvan G M, professor and principal, Apeejay Institute of Hospitality; Ravi Rawat, general manager, The Park, Navi Mumbai; Chef Vernon Coelho, president, WICA and head of department- food production, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai; Arvind Shetty, past president, Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR); Dr Sudhanshu, deputy general manager, Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA); Mohan Deshpande, chairman, Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum; Thomas Zachariah, vice president, The Indian Express; and Mehul Lanvers Shah, managing director, Hannover Milano Fairs India.
Speaking at the inauguration, Malkani, stated, “This year’s FHW exhibition is larger and well organised than the previous year. We have high expectations from the new government for the hospitality sector. HRAWI has made representations to the local, state and the central government. Last year wasn’t beneficial for the hospitality industry. This year HRAWI will be focusing on three key areas – education, dealing with the issue of multiple licencing and policy reform on taxes.”
Reiterating the same thought, Rawat, stated, “The new government should address the issue of multiple licensing, also there needs to be a single-window platform for securing permissions. However, the future of the hospitality industry looks bright and there seems to be a lot of scope for development and growth.” Giving his view on the exhibition, Singh opined, “FHW is the right platform for buyers and suppliers to meet, interact and learn from each other about the latest developments in the hospitality industry. I think ARRs in the hospitality industry needs to increase since it has been constant since the past few years; once ARRs go up, hotels will be able to adapt more technology. Under the Hunar-Se-Rozgar-Tak scheme, the ministry of tourism, Government of India, is planning to train 90,000 students at IHMs and state tourism corporations for entry level jobs.”
Post the inauguration, the first panel discussion for the day was the Hospitality Think Tank: The GM’s Conclave, which was held on the topic of ‘Effective People Management – Mentoring and Skill Development’ in the hospitality sector. This discussion witnessed participation from general managers of leading hotels in Mumbai who shared their insights on mentoring, team building, manpower shortage, skill development, to name a few. Moderated by Dominic Costabir, director, HTI India, the panelists for the discussion included – Ashish Kumar Rai, general manager, The Leela Mumbai; Biswajit Chakraborty, general manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC; Gayle Henriques, general manager, Waterstones Hotel; Sumit Kant, general manager, Four Points by Sheraton Navi Mumbai, Vashi; Manish Kakkar, general manager, Keys Hotel Nestor; Ravi Rawat, general manager, The Park, Navi Mumbai and Suraj Kumar Jha, general manager, Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport.
The second day of the exhibition witnessed a series of power packed discussions. The first discussion, ‘Hospitality Knowledge Exchange: Serving up in Style’, focused on the importance of striking a balance between food presentation and aesthetics along with maintaining hygiene and food safety standards. Apart from this, the session also covered topics on the emerging trends in the cutlery, crockery and tableware scene. The panelists for the session included K S Narayanan, CEO, Pan India Foods; Celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani; Manoj Patkar, HOD (food production), Apeejay Institute of Hospitality; Chef Gregory D’Sa, sous chef, Pizza by the Bay, Mars Enterprises; Chef Aungshuman, executive chef, The Lalit Mumbai; Vipul Dalal, managing director, Polymech International and Geeta Wadhwa, proprietor, Aura Essentials. Another highlight of the second day was an F&B session powered by Pause Wines, wherein the company organised a wine tasting session for F&B managers of hotels and restaurants.
The second day also witnessed a presentation on the topic ‘Bio Food Made in Italy’ which was done by Dr Lorenzo Boni, project manager assistant, Bioagri co-op. Further, V Rajagopal, chief executive officer, the Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-bip) also made a brief presentation on the Kerala B2B Meet 2015 which would be held from February 26-28, 2015 at Galfar International Convention Centre, Le Meridien Kochi for SMEs from seven sectors. Speaking about the meet, Rajagopal said, “We have been strict in selecting the buyers who would be coming for the meet. Till now we have registered more than 210 buyers among which 28 are international.”
The Power of Purchase organised by the Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum saw well-known purchase managers from the hospitality industry elaborate on the role of procurement, its growth, and present and future trends. The session was moderated by Reema Lokesh, editor, Food & Hospitality World, and the panel members included Anthony Barretto, purchase manager, Palladium Hotel; Harvey Rodrigues, director purchase, Meluha The Fern; Mukund Vichare, director procurement, JSM Corporation; Mahendra Shinde, purchase manager, The Resort Madh-Marve and Kaustubh Jhadav from KA Hospitality. The session focused on the way forward for 2015.
On the sidelines of the three-day event, FHW 2015 also hosted the ninth edition of the Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC). The Culinary Forum of Goa had extended support to the GICC. This year the competition received participation from around 200 chefs working with various leading hotels and hotel management institutes. GICC is supported by the Western India Culinary Association (WICA). GICC is a food preparation competition involving senior and apprentice chefs across India and provides a professional platform to them to showcase their individual and collective skills, learn, share experiences, partner and network in a competitive environment.
The last day of the FHW 2015 exhibition witnessed a conference on the topic – ‘Technological Innovations & Social Media presence in Hospitality Industry – A Must or a Myth’, which was organised by AHAR. The other show highlight was the Cornitos Food Bloggers Meet Season 4 organised by Cornitos. The contest was judged by Celebrity Chef Shipra Khanna, where contestants were challenged to showcase innovative preparations, toppings and decorations with Cornitos (nachos and decorations provided at the venue).
Spread across 10,000 sq m of the MMRDA grounds, the trade show hosted approximately 200 national and international participants this time. The trade show aims at providing solutions to various industry-related problems faced by hoteliers, restaurateurs, facility managers, prospective students and distributors.
