Messe Stuttgart welcomed 35,384 visitors who visited südback over four days, similar attendance figures to the previous show, held in 2019. Around 600 exhibitors occupied five halls, reporting strong interest in investments from visitors, despite current challenges. Energy efficiency was one of the hot topics throughout the show, but all trends and areas pertaining to baking were covered at the exhibition stands, from technology to ingredients, shop fixtures and accessories. Live demonstrations and on-stand baking were familiar crowd favorites.
A trade fair for decision-makers
Visitors joined the fair from German speaking countries and well beyond, from countries including Brazil, South Korea, Argentina, Greece, among others. In spite of the current challenges, the trade visitors – 18% of whom were from abroad – expressed an intention to invest, Messe Stuttgart reports: around one third of the visitors were definitely intending to make purchases or investments, while 46% said they may make purchases or investments in the near future. About 30% of the visitors also mentioned higher investment volumes, with values starting from EUR 50,000. Trade show figures also show that 69% of the visitors were involved in purchasing and procurement decisions in their company; and 23% said that they were actually responsible for these decisions.
The new gelato area powered by GELATISSIMO was held as a one-off event during südback 2022, featuring trends and ideas relating to the artisan production of gelato.
“südback more than affirmed its role in the bakery and confectionery trades, and clearly indicated its importance. In spite of many challenges now facing the industry, the trade visitors came to südback with the intention to make investments. The trade fair therefore set its sights on the future and provided guidance,” said Stefan Lohnert, President of Messe Stuttgart, at the end of südback 2022.
Klaus Vollmer, Regional Guild Master of the Baden-Württemberg Regional Association of Confectioners’ Guilds is also looking forward to the next event: “As the Regional Association of Confectioners’ Guilds, we are delighted to have matched the success from 2019. We would therefore like to thank everyone involved. The following now applies: after the trade fair is before the trade fair.”
The südback Trend Award – public favorites
The Bakers’ Trend Forum, the Confectioners’ Trend Forum and the südback Trend Award were among the popular events of the exhibition, along with the Forum talks and baking demonstrations. The ‘Public favorite’ award category made its debut, which saw AMG Reichenbach GmbH win the Award for its CO2 monitoring with AMG MasterKonzept 4.0. This is an innovation that helps to regulate excessive CO2 concentrations in production during fermentation, baking, cooling and storage. The winner in the Technology” category was Va-Q-tec AG with its ‘va-Q-tray – A va-Q-tec TempChain Solution’, a reusable thermal system box. Thanks to their special insulation with high temperature stability, these trays ensure temperature-controlled transport of dough products or other baked goods.
Keil Konzepte won in the ‘Marketing, sales and organization’ category, with its ‘Mini Böxle – the world’s smallest and fully functioning bakery branch’, a transportable, sustainable and flexible sales unit. It comes equipped with everything a miniature shop needs, including a store room and sanitary facilities.
Boiron Frères from France was the winner in the ‘Raw materials & convenience’ category with its new AMBIENT FRUIT PURÉES, which do not contain any added sugar, aroma additives or preservatives. However, these fruit purées have to not be cooled, for easier processing.
Positive feedback
Südback’s supporting organizations also concluded the fair with positive reports. Gunter Hahn, Managing Director of the BÄKO Head Office, said: “Saturday, the first day of the trade fair, was fantastic. We noticed that the visitors possessed a great deal of expertise. The exhibitors brought along numerous innovations which had a long time to mature. südback is an encouraging signal for the industry and has the positive effect which the bakery trade needs.” Exhibitors were also satisfied with the trade show participation, with some saying that it exceeded their expectations.
Martin Reinhardt, Regional Guild Master of the Regional Association of Guilds of Württemberg Bakers, also observed the positive atmosphere in the exhibition halls: “We saw exhibitors and visitors laughing on every day of the trade fair, and did not feel we were in the middle of a crisis. It is great to see that südback has a positive effect on the industry: we are now ready to take off.”
Photo: Peter Hauk, Member of the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament and Minister for Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection of the State of Baden-Württemberg, during the opening tour of südback. Copyright: Landesmesse Stuttgart GmbH
