SIRHA Budapest 2024 was successful in every respect

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/5

“The food industry is one of the most innovative sectors, the fastest to react to changes, and also a strategic sector together with agriculture”, Minister of Agriculture and chief patron of the exhibition Dr István Nagy said at the opening ceremony. This year’s SIRHA Budapest confirmed the minister’s words: all the big sectors of the industry – bakery, confectionery, food, hotel, restaurant and catering, coffee and beverages, packaging and kitchen technology – brought their latest innovations

An innovative sector

The award ceremony for the sixth SIRHA Budapest Innovation Product Competition followed the opening ceremony. Hungexpo and Trade magazin were the organisers and seeing the 33 superb entries, the jury decided to open an additional category and awarded first, second and third prizes in 6 different categories – 19 winners were announced in total. There were many registrations in the latest programme of Trade magazin and its partners, called the Startup Island. Ten start-ups were selected by a professional jury, who could introduce themselves at the stand – the most promising businesses to have entered the FMCG sector in the last 3 years.

The awards of the sixth SIRHA Budapest Innovation Product Competition were presented by Dr. István Nagy, minister of agriculture, Gábor Ganczer, CEO of Hungexpo and Zsuzsanna Hermann, managing director of Trade magazin to the best in six categories

Knowledge base for the trade

SIRHA Budapest also hosted a number of professional conferences and roundtable discussions. The Pannon Gastronomy Academy (PGA) organised a conference, and there was a joint professional programme by the Hungarian Association of Packaging and Materials Handling (CSAOSZ) and EUROFINS Food and Feed Testing Budapest, Gyula Laboratories, on the new EU food safety and environmental regulations for packaging.

After the awards ceremony, dr. István Nagy visited the Future Store stand

In the afternoon of the first day the Guild of Hungarian Restaurateurs (MVI) hosted the “From crises to a successful return – Hospitality 2024 in the light of challenges and solutions” conference, while the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih) organised a conference about their No Leftovers programme.

The finals of the KÖSZ Public Catering Cooking Competition took place for 3 days in the purpose-built competition settings

Skills and great results

This year artisan ice cream took centre stage at SIRHA Budapest. The first ever Gelato World Masters Festival in Hungary also took place at the trade show, the winners of which will represent the country in Bologna. Balázs Damniczki of Damniczki Confectionery in Székesfehérvár won the competition, with his ice cream “Burrata alla Frutta”. Also for the first time, the Hungarian qualifying round of the World Pizza Championship was held at SIRHA Budapest, giving pizza chefs from Hungary and neighbouring countries the opportunity to compete. Zoltán Bednár proved to be the best, so he will represent Hungary at the 2025 World Championships in Parma.

Three days of non-stop ice cream tasting and competition

In 2024 Trondheim (Norway) will host the European finals of the Bocuse d’Or. Teams from 20 countries will compete and 10 teams will qualify for the final in Lyon. There was a press conference about the competition in the METRO Bistro at SIRHA Budapest, and the Hungarian team – chef Roland Kelemen, commis Noel Fodor and coach László Szabó – were there in person.

The Hungarian team, which came sixth in the Bocuse d’Or Europe competition a few days later, had presented itself at the METRO stand

Sinergies

Barista championship and other coffee-themed events awaited the professionals

Hungexpo Zrt., the Agricultural Marketing Centre and CED Central European Economic Development Network joined in as co-organisers. The international B2B event was a great opportunity for companies interested in the food and HoReCa sector, looking for potential business opportunities and planning to market their products and services abroad. There were 208 registrations for the event and participants sat down for nearly 100 meetings. //

Successful and spectacular Future Store

Future Store proved to be the exhibition’s most exciting part this year, too

Marketing Special Award for Exhibitors of the Hungarian Marketing Association (MMSZ)

Nearly 1,500 guests visited the Future Store in the form of guided tours, which was a record number. Once again, the Future Store stand won the Marketing Special Award for Exhibitors of the Hungarian Marketing Association (MMSZ). Trade magazin’s Future Store will return in 2026! //

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POPAI Hungary movement for the student competition

On the opening day the international meeting of the global in-store communication organisation POPAI took place, where participants discussed the possibilities of expanding the student design competition locally and globally, and the dimensions of the way forward.

Their mission is to lend a helping hand anyone to get involved in the student competition movement