More than 300 speakers, 700 brands and companies convene at the biggest B2B food intelligence event of the year. A sneak peek at what’s on the menu this year…

New Delhi: The 16th edition of the much-anticipated India Food Forum by IMAGES Group is set to take place on 30 November and 1 December at The Westin Mumbai Powai Lake. This year, the country’s most powerful food B2B intelligence event will be themed ‘Aisles to Plates: Decoding the Playbook for Scale.’

The 2-day mega business event powered by Smart Bazaar aims to enable the advancement of food innovation, grocery retail and food service sectors in India, the latest trends and developments and the aspirations for the future. The forum will witness active participation from industry experts engaging in engrossing panel discussions and presentations, leaving audiences with a deep understanding of the diverse aspects of the food industry.

Led by Damodar Mall, CEO, Grocery, Reliance Retail as Chair – Retail and Anurag Katriar, Founder & MD, Indigo Hospitality as Chair – HoReCa, the event will host more than 100 exhibitors, over 300 industry experts and over 700 brands for two days of powerful debates, panel discussions, talks and conversations.

“India Food Forum 2023 will present a powerful, immersive atmosphere of product innovation showcases, and extraordinary conference sessions featuring outstanding insights and success stories from across India, all dominated by an environment designed to enable market intelligence and business growth for all stakeholders in the business of food in India,” Nikhil Behl, CEO, Food Business, IMAGES Group said.

Discussions on relevant topics

The event will witness discussions on key topics in food retail, including:

• Decoding the ingredients for a retailer to maintain consistency in customer loyalty and satisfaction, amidst the ever-evolving customer demand trends and preferences.
• The growing consumption of FMCG goods in semi-urban cities and the mindfulness of customers when opting for FMCG food, personal care and home care products.
• Exploring the strategies for brands to strengthen the position of regional/local grocers, assisting them in matching offerings of large national chains/e-market places.
• Challenges faced by grocers, supermarket chains and FMCG majors
• India’s vast HoReCa industry. The segment on Day 2 will feature panel discussions and conclaves by WICA (Western India Culinary Association) & ICF (Indian Culinary Forum), HPMF (Hospitality Purchase Managers Forum), FHRAI (Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India), AHAR (Indian Hotel & Restaurant Association), among others.

Felicitations

• Star Progressive Grocers felicitation ceremony by India Food Forum and TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers and Retail Associates of India) will honour 50 grocers from across India, who have displayed transformation with innovation, effective tech implementation and streamlining operations with proper systems and processes in place.

Awards

The event will also feature India’s most prestigious awards ceremonies for food retail and food service businesses. These include: The Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards 2023 on 30 November

The Pepsi IMAGES Food Service Awards 2023 on 1 December.

Who’ll be there?

Retailers at the forum include Reliance Retail, Trent (Star Bazaar), More Retail, Spar, Spencer’s Retail, Nature’s Basket, JioMart, BigBasket, Freshtohome, LeMarche, Modern Bazaar and over 100 progressive grocers and supermarket chains from across India.

Restaurant chains and food service operators at the HoReCa Convention on 1 November include McDonald’s, Yum! Brands (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell), Jubilant FoodWorks Limited (Domino’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Popeyes, Hong’s Kitchen, ChefBoss & Ekdum!), Coffee Day, Mad Over Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, Aditya Birla New Age Hospitality, Impresario Handmade Restaurants, Indigo Hospitality and many more.

Celebrity chefs at the conference include Chef Varun Inamdar, Chef Harsh Kedia, Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi, and Chef Shantanu Gupte, among many others.

Food and FMCG brands and companies exhibiting and participating include Hindustan Unilever Ltd, DS Group, ITC Limited, Godrej, Dabur, The Hershey Company, Kellanova, and Britannia, among scores of others.

For details on who’s speaking at the India Food Forum 2023, visit: https://www.indiafoodforum.com/speakers-2023/

India Food Forum is the country’s largest food B2B intelligence and exhibition platform with a unique combination of wide-ranging product displays, two-day conference and masterclasses, networking and business development opportunities, food D2C, tech & solutions showcases and India’s most prestigious awards for food & grocery retail and food service sectors.