Fira Barcelona Announces Alimentaria & Hostelco 2026

Barcelona, 12th December 2024

The upcoming edition of Alimentaria & Hostelco, taking place 23 - 26 March 2026 at the Gran Via venue of Fira Barcelona, returns with a unique and stronger proposal for the catering and hospitality business, in addition to representing the best and brightest from the other sectors that make up the food industry and its value chain. A trade show platform that will continue empowering the industry’s internationalisation and innovation, looking towards its 50th anniversary with new executives heading up both fairs.

 

Alimentaria & Hostelco are getting ready for their upcoming edition, generating the synergies that have assured the platform’s position as one of the largest international meeting points for the hospitality industry. And they are doing so with the goal of meeting all the needs of the HoReCa channel with the most comprehensive, cross-industry product offering. That’s why the event will be bolstering key sectors at the 2026 event for hospitality professionals, such as Coffee, Bakery & Pastry, aimed at bars, cafés, pastry shops, ice cream vendors, coffee shops and bakeries; and Restaurama, which will once again be one of the busiest single-sector halls at Alimentaria, which along with Hostelco will offer the best in foodservice, services for out-of-home consumption and equipment for the hospitality industry. 

 

In fact, the HoReCa professional is gaining prominence with each passing event, whether they hail from distribution, purchasing houses, cash&carry, independent or collective catering companies, and hospitality. Nearly 52,000 professional from this industry came to the most recent edition of the show in 2024, 25% of the overall attendees. 

 

For J. Antonio Valls, general manager of Alimentaria Exhibitions, the Fira Barcelona company that hosts Alimentaria & Hostelco, “the joint offering from both shows brings the event an unrivalled magnitude and positioning in the whole of the European fair environment. We undoubtedly have the largest international offering that can meet the industry’s needs and generate new and better opportunities for business and international expansion.”

 

In addition to doubling down on its commitment to the HoReCa channel, Alimentaria & Hostelco will be complementing its exhibition area with activities such as The Horeca Hub Live Solutions; the innovation, business and entrepreneur area Food & Hospitality Startups; the Restauración en Colectividades area for social and collective catering; the Hostelco Awards, that recognise the excellence of catering professionals; and the project Imagine Food Service Europe, from the Marcas de Restauración catering business association, among other initiatives. 

 

To do all this, it has the crucial support of the industry's main associations and institutions, with more than 75 partners, some of whom include Hostelería de España; Confederación Española de Hoteles y Alojamientos Turísticos (CEHAT); Food Service España; Food Service Institute; FEDIS Horeca; Asociación Española del Café; Club Top Food & Beverage; Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA); European FoodService Summit; Federación de Cocineros y Reposteros de España (FACYRE); and Marcas de Restauración, among others. 

 

The industry’s largest offering

Not only does it have the backing of the hotel and catering sector, Alimentaria & Hostelco continues to promote the maximum specialisation offered by each production sector, along with highlighting the major cross-cutting trends that impact both the industry and consumers themselves. To do so, it will take up seven halls, the near entirety of the 100,000 m2 space available at the Gran Via venue of Fira Barcelona, arranging the exhibition into 13 sectors: Intercarn (meat and meat products), Interlact (dairy), Expoconser (conserves), Restaurama (food service), Snacks, Biscuits & Confectionery, Fine Foods, Organic Foods, Coffee, Bakery & Pastry, Alimentaria Trends, International Pavilions (international offer through grouped exhibitors), Lands of Spain (representing different regions of Spain) and Grocery Foods (variety of food products). 

 

As for Hostelco, the show will once again display equipment, products, services and technological solutions for professionals in the restaurant, hospitality and social catering industries so they may discover what new products, creative ideas and business innovation formats are available.

 

New management

Alimentaria & Hostelco have recently renewed their executive leadership. J. Antonio Valls, head of Alimentaria for nearly three decades, makes way for Anna Canal as new director of the fair; meanwhile, Celine Pérez takes on the executive post at Hostelco, combining this position with her work as director of Barcelona Wine Week, the show dedicated to quality Spanish wine. 

 

Valls remains at the helm of Alimentaria Exhibitions, which under his general management organises, in addition to Alimentaria & Hostelco, the Barcelona Wine Week, Gastronomic Forum Barcelona and Alimentaria FoodTech trade shows. 

 

The Organising Committee of Alimentaria has also recently incorporated Judith Viader, CEO of Frit Ravich. The highest governing body of the show, chaired by Antoni Llorens, President and CEO of Serunion, is made up of the industry’s main institutions and associations (MAPA, ICEX Exportación e Inversiones, FIAB and AECOC, among others) and the most important companies in the food and distribution industry such as Nestlé, Idilia Foods, Adam Foods, Europastry, GB Foods España, Noel Alimentaria and Coosur, among many others. 

 

Regarding Hostelco, the Organising Committee led by Pere Taberner, Vice President for Western Europe and Africa of Welbilt Group, has just included Diego Olmedilla, General Manager of FACYRE; Jordi Romagosa, General Manager of Repa Iberia SLU; and Carlos Pérez Tenorio, from Marcas de Restauración. Along with them, leading firms and institutions for the sector such as CEHAT-ITH, McDonalds Spain, Foodservice Institute, AECOC, Confederación Empresarial de Hostelería de España – CEHE-, Rancilio Group, Fedis Horeca and Intecno, among many other entities, continue to be part of this governing body of the show.

 

The last edition of Alimentaria & Hostelco, held in March 2024, was attended by more than 3,200 exhibiting companies from 68 countries, and was attended by 107,900 visiting professionals from 120 countries. 

 

 

 

 

Susana Santamaria _ssantamaria@alimentaria.com

Gloria Dilluvio_gdilluvio@firabarcelona.com