Organiser of Food & Hotel Asia, Informa Markets, successfully held its inaugural virtual event, Food & Hotel Digital Week, from May 25-29, 2020, as well as launched Saladplate, an online-to-offline marketplace for the food and hospitality industries.
Ian Roberts, managing director-hospitality, food & beverage, Informa Markets, shared that the first Food & Hotel Digital Week, brought home the importance of digital platforms and tools, particularly in the current Covid-19 business climate.
He added that digital events “are here to stay”, and will complement face-to-face events in aiding the recovery and growth of businesses after the pandemic.
The five-day event, which comprised of 12 webinar sessions and eight online product showcases, featured items from more than 300 suppliers worldwide, and registered an attendance of more than 5,000 industry players.
Of the 1,500 attendees – hailing from more than 20 countries and regions – who participated in the industry webinar series on May 28, more than 250 tuned into for five hours or more consecutively.
Tailored towards the needs of the industry amid the business and supply chain disruptions due to Covid-19, the webinars focused on areas such as food security and sustainability, food technology, and business intelligence.
Meanwhile, the Live Webinar Day on May 29 was attended by 428 industry professionals. Guest speakers from Google Hong Kong, the World Association of Chef’s Societies and the Malaysian Association of Hotels shared about buying food stock online, digital marketing for the F&B industry, and provided updates on tourism and hospitality in Malaysia.
There was also a Country Pavilion online product showcases featuring countries like France and Malaysia, which hotel buyers seemed the most engaged in. It was also found that many attendees were on the lookout for food-tech related products and disposables. There were also exhibitions on the Top 100 Foods and Top 100 Drinks, which seemed to appeal mostly to distributors.
A bi-monthly online event, the next Food & Hotel Digital Week is set for July 13-17, 2020.
