A successful first quarter of 2024 – our summary of the 2024 spring trade fairs
In terms of trade fairs, the start of the year was somewhat »tightly timed« – starting with INTERGASTRA in Stuttgart (3 - 7 February 2024), followed by the first-ever InterSchank in Wiesbaden (22 February 2024) and fish international in Bremen (25 - 27 February 2024), the INTERNORGA in Hamburg (8 - 12 March 2024) marked the end of the trade fair marathon. The HAGOLA trade fair team can draw an overall positive conclusion for all events and looks back on exciting discussions, new contacts and interesting impressions.
What all the trade fairs had in common were the overarching themes that are preoccupying the industry as a whole. According to Edgar Hanken (Sales Manager at HAGOLA), it was noticeable at all trade fairs that issues such as high energy and personnel costs, staff shortages and changes in user behaviour, digital applications and the search for individual solutions were on people's minds. As in the previous year, it is still noticeable that innovative and flexible technology is an important criterion for durable capital goods. In the various cities and at the different events the trade visitors were surprisingly unanimous overall and expressed fundamental optimism for the future of the industry and for their own plans and projects.
At INTERGASTRA in Stuttgart and INTERNORGA in Hamburg – the two largest trade fairs for the catering industry in Germany – HAGOLA was able to showcase the greatest variety from its extensive portfolio, explains Stefan Rakers (Managing Director of HAGOLA). In addition to refrigerated counters for beverages and display cases for cakes, the focus was on the new products (including sushi shelves, fish and delicatessen rondel, the wine climate cabinet model »Silent« and the climate cabinet for cheese) – various serving trends (e.g. the »Cocktailjet« system from Tapmatix or the Flexi-Draft system) were also presented and discussed. In addition to all the trends and innovations, the trade visitors to the HAGOLA stand were particularly interested in the enormous variety of products, says Edgar Hanken. Here, the company was able to show directly how individual solutions for different requirements can look – whether cake cooling, hot food serving, exclusive wine presentation, sushi cooling or mobile drinks dispensing at events of all kinds. HAGOLA was also able to test possible future technical and visual variants in various product areas »on the user« and take valuable ideas and findings with it into the ongoing product development of refrigerated counters and display cases.
Stefan Rakers sums up with great satisfaction that HAGOLA has hit the nerve of the times with the presented highlights from the areas of »cooling, keeping warm and presenting food and beverages« and emphasises how important – even in the digital age – personal contact with customers and experts at trade fairs is. In particular, »trying out the product«, the feel of materials and surfaces as well as differences in the handling of different designs are still a decisive advantage at trade fairs compared to purely digital presentations. Although the number of visitors was felt to be somewhat lower, many interesting discussions were held and valuable new contacts were made, Edgar Hanken summarised the spring trade fairs. As in previous years, many trade fair visitors were already very well informed and had sought out very specific and expert information – this once again emphasised the importance of a trade fair presence as an exhibitor, Stefan Rakers and Edgar Hanken concluded together.
You can also find an overview of the 2024 trade fair highlights in the new products flyer.
SPRING FAIRS 2024 – A REVIEW
