India Food Forum 2017: What it means for your business

India Food Forum is one of the most recognised food events in the industry. The upcoming chapter of the event will take place from January 31 to February 02 at Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, India
Established in association with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt. of India, and several pioneers in the food sector, India Food Forum is the only one of its kind food retail platform in the country where the entire community of food and grocery retailers and foodservice operators converge every year in January.
At a time when food market dynamics are changing dramatically and consumer behaviour is no longer generic, India’s food retail and restaurant sectors offer some of the largest opportunity areas for business. For a sector that is very dynamic but also extremely challenging to be successful in, India Food Forum analyses and researches consumer and market trends and every year it puts together the most comprehensive and concise capsule of themes and directions that affect the market and your business.
Objective
Offering unique opportunities for networking and business ideas, and for exploring growth opportunities in the dynamic world of food retail, the Forum is recognized as India’s most comprehensive knowledge sharing and networking platform for the food retail and foodservice sectors in India. Over the years, the Forum has become a unique platform for connecting all stakeholders of food and grocery and HoReCa businesses with their respective potential partners to collaborate for profitable growth, collectively work towards new category development, increase and upgrade consumption, share global best practices, establish new benchmarking standards, and serve customers efficiently.
“India Food Forum is the leading knowledge and business platform which, over its past editions, has created an immense goodwill in the marketplace. It is one of the only shows that provide an effective channel for dialogue and relevant solutions in the food and grocery retail space,” notes Head-Retail Strategy & Branding, Godrej Industries Ltd, Mohit Khattar.
Participants at Food Forum
With scores of interactive and focused panel sessions at the Forum, among the key thought leaders, industry stalwarts and business icons who engaged at India Food Forum 2016 included Kishore Biyani (Group CEO, Future Group), BS Nagesh (Founder, TRRAIN), Damodar Mall (CEO, Reliance Retail), Mohit Khattar (MD, Godrej Nature’s Basket Ltd), Devendra Chawla (Group President – Food and FMCG Brands, Future Group), Dev Amritesh (President and COO, Dunkin’ Donuts India), Vishak Kumar (CEO, Aditya Birla Retail), Sumanta Dutta (CBO, Coca-Cola) among others.
Among the International speakers was Drs Joost van der Laan (Founder, Retail Economics) who shared his knowledge and experience on a plethora of topics related to food retail. Some of the topics that he spoke on length were: how to discover the specific profit drivers of each product category and create focused commercial strategies leading to effective and efficient assortment tactics; how to reduce costs and improve margins by optimizing assortments and shelf-space allocation; improving productivity with the effective internal benchmarking techniques and on creating an effective Omnichannel integration between your website and your store.
Star Speakers at the Forum over the years have included country heads of global foodservice chains, including McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin’ Donuts, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Burger King, you name it. Alongside them have been founders and business heads of India’s established and new-age retail, FMCG and foodservice brands, including HUL, Nestle, Coca Cola, PepsiCo, GSKCH, Cafe Coffee Day, Olive restaurants, Indigo, Mainland China, Sagar Ratna, BigBasket, Spar, Big Bazaar, Godrej Nature’s Basket, Spencer’s, Tata Star Bazaar, Walmart, HyperCITY, just to name a few.
With the mission of accelerating food retailing excellence by generating ideas, insights, innovation and opportunities for profitable growth, and with the theme of boosting store profitability, optimising the food-tech ecosystem and customer experiences, Food Forum 2016 stood out for many achievements and impressive and inspiring on site events.
The Big Attractions
Set to host its 10th edition in January end, the Forum has emerged as the largest assembly of business captains from India and overseas – spanning the vast array of Food and Grocery and F&B business segments like Brands and Retail, Food Service (HoReCa), Concepts, Design and Support. Serving through its knowledge platforms – print and online publications, research, workshops, conventions and Food Council roundtables – the three-day annual Forum has carved its reputation on its four pillars that have come to be the widely recognized hallmarks of the Forum: Food and Grocery Forum India, India Food Service Forum, India Food Retail Tech, and the Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards.
Food and Grocery Forum India (FGFI) is the only business event in India featuring food and grocery retailers, manufacturers, marketers and distributors converge to develop and share business insights and product innovation under one forum. FGFI is India’s most comprehensive platform for food retailers and grocers from across India to identify new trends, discuss new ideas, witness latest product innovations specific to the industry to together drive consumption and stay ahead of future consumer trends. At FGFI, all functionaries and stakeholders of the food retail value chain — from ingredient suppliers, processed food manufacturers to policy makers, distributors, supply chain specialists, food technology giants and retailers — gather through an innovative format of Conference, Exhibition and Awards.
“As a first time exhibitor, we are extremely satisfied with the kind of response, enquiries and feedback we received during the event. The best part is that the venue was filled up with the right people – retailers, manufacturers, distributors. The conference and masterclass sessions were very enriching. We look forward to being part of this event next year,” says GM – Marketing, Double Horse, Sunil P Krishnan.
The FGFI Exhibition is committed to delivering business contacts that create value for every customer. Through buyer clubs, appointment setting systems etc, and online visitor planning services, we closely match the needs of buyers to suppliers’ offers. From generating sales leads and launching new products, to brand building, maintaining customer relations and appointing new agents, FGFI offers a wealth of business opportunities in India’s largest consumption category. At FGFI, buyers can see, taste, touch and try products for themselves through live demonstrations and one-on-one discussions with suppliers and marketers.
Indian Food Service Forum (IFSF) is a must attend knowledge event for all connected with India’s rapidly evolving foodservice industry to address the challenges and opportunities defining the fast growing restaurant and catering industry in India. IFSF comprises several high-impact conference sessions and product demonstrations conducted by some of the country’s finest cuisine specialists, food manufacturers and foodservice chains. The skill development and knowledge workshops is the perfect place for meeting industry leaders, hear remarkable case studies on outstanding restaurant concepts, and master your understanding of future foodservice trends.
The workshops help you to answer diverse questions related to marketing and branding, social media optimisation, cuisine selection and innovation, operational efficiencies and more. There are also the Expert Chef Sessions at the show where top culinary artists share their knowledge and ideas about food and menu innovation. MasterChefs take attendees through the complex sociological, environmental and cultural factors that are driving menu innovation and gastronomy.
“IFSF is a well-organised show with an exciting assortment of food and drinks on display. As a guest speaker at the Drinks Theatre, I was glad to witness a special focus on wine and luxury beverages,” says Divisional Wine and Beverage Specialist, ITC Ltd- Hotels Division, Sonal Holland.
Last but not least, it has exhibitions/ demonstrations for handpicked opportunities, which allows you to sample outstanding products and future innovations at exclusive exhibition zones, along with the drinks theatre, where leading sommeliers decode the art and science of beverage creation, consumption and marketing.
In recent times, the food industry has been revolutionised via the integration of technology. Food-tech is currently the top ‘disruptor’ in the start-up ecosystem. However, too much focus on customer acquisition without enough of the same on innovation is beginning to show up; several food startups have already started rolling back operations, while some others have already made quiet exits.
India Food Retail Tech (IFRT) helps one to understand technology and how it is possibly the biggest influencer of consumer behaviour in the modern world. From molecular gastronomy to online ordering, technology has dramatically impacted not just how food ingredients are sourced and used, but also how grocery is retailed through online and mobile interfaces, and how the consumer is displaying altogether new shopping behaviours.
India Food Retail Tech is the latest addition and another chapter to the prestigious platform. The impact of technology on human lives is everywhere including what consumers choose to put on their plates. Not just because it’s changed the way they cook or what they eat, but even more because it’s changed who they are, how they think, what they want and why. The explosion of e-commerce destinations and digital media has created an incredibly urgent need to monitor shopper behaviour in real time. Insights need
to be drawn as events happen, and executed before the next lost sale or an out-of-stock situation happens. Wherever they may choose to transact today — physical or online spaces — consumers leave ‘footprints’, in the form of in-store behaviour, page views, abandoned carts, social media chatter, among a thousand other tiny tell-tales.
“From tech-savvy millennials to aging boomers, the ways in which consumers gather information in their path to purchase are multiple, but they can be mined. And optimised to deliver ‘WOW’ experiences, which is what India Food Retail Tech helps you to achieve,” observes Chief Convenor, India Food Forum and CMD, IMAGES Group, organisers of the Food Forum, Amitabh Taneja.
India Food Retail Tech is a focused and one of its kind forum for business leaders, CTOs, CIOs and technology majors operating in the food retail and Foodservice spaces. The Forum will showcase end-to-end solutions for these sectors — from supply chain all the way to customer analytics and online retail models. A tailored platform for technology solution providers to showcase the latest products, innovations, services, tools and solutions, IFRT is also the perfect environment for delegates/ attendees to discover insights and the most innovative products and solutions to optimise the massive opportunity in the Indian food sector.
The Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards is the concluding highlight of the Forum every year. It is the most coveted industry accolade that recognises the achievements of India’s most innovative and successful food retailers, foodservice chains and companies for their outstanding performance. Launched in the year 2008 to acknowledge the rising importance of modern food and grocery retail, and its crucial role in the evolution of effective marketing and distribution of food and grocery brands in the country, the Award, given away for excellence in different categories of Food Retail, is recognised as India’s most prestigious honour for food and foodservice retailers. The Coca-Cola Golden Spoon
Excellence Awards are presented to brands, personalities and concepts; for exceptional initiative, outstanding/ focused performance, setting efficiency benchmarks, innovation, and broader impact to industry. It honours 25 of India’s most innovative, successful and revered brands and professionals across food retailing and restaurant categories.
Food Forum’s Initiatives over the Years
Since its inception in 2007, the Forum has been taking up a series of support initiatives for the Indian Food Business – it has been hosting every year the country’s finest gathering of Indian and international experts in the domains of grocery retail, foodservice and HoReCa sectors. From CEOs and business heads of India’s leading grocery retail and foodservice companies to some of the country’s most important food and FMCG manufacturers, the Forum is a power packed three-day jamboree featuring wide-ranging exhibitions, conference and knowledge series workshops. The objective of India Food Forum is to build the roadmap for food and grocery retail and foodservice sector by connecting people, sharing knowledge, best practices, building innovative technology concepts for profitable, successful and sustainable growth of modern food retail and delighting the new age consumers with a WOW experience.
The Forum’s other stellar initiatives include the launch of India editions of ‘Progressive Grocer’ and ‘Foodservice’, the largest read magazines in their respective segments worldwide, and also the Food Council of India that organises round table meets inviting brands, retailers and restaurateurs in major cities of India to identify areas of possible cooperation for working together. The Forum’s privilege membership provides its members with instant access to a broad network of top-level decision makers and business owners across the broad spectrum of the Indian food, FMCG and HoReCa industry – a truly a remarkable business tool. As a national platform that brings together industry leaders to deliberate and discuss an array of issues before the industry and offer their insights on the new opportunities and trends opening out before them, the annual congregation of India Food Forum 2017 will once again see participation from a cross-section of industry leaders, established businesses and an equally large share of start-ups and young entrepreneurs who want to showcase their products and services before informed and discerning audience and get valuable feedback from the industry experts.
With the ongoing and rapid shifts taking place in the food retail industry, the undercurrents and trends will once again get visited and brainstormed at India Food Forum 2017, in the presence of a powerpacked theatre featuring the top CEOs and business heads of India’s largest food retail and restaurant businesses. Block your date for Food Forum 2017 and be a part of the high octane convention, which will covene to sit, discuss and predict the future disruptions in the industry with the guidance of global research and analysis experts.