The 29th Südback show proves that the industry is ready to take off again.
Südback 2022 came to an end after four days with some 35,384 visitors and 600 exhibitors ensuring that the trade fair once again matched the level at the previous event in 2019. The positive aspects of südback included, in particular, the investment intentions of the trade visitors despite the challenges facing the industry.
The 29th Südback emitted that wonderful bakery aroma that we all love and filled five exhibition halls over a period of four days at Messe Stuttgart, where it also provided a platform for the bakery and confectionery trades to be able to discuss innovations and trends. The trade fair representing bakery and confectionery trades again presented everything relating to baking; from working and operating technology, raw materials and merchandise through to shop fixtures and fittings. The new gelato area powered by GELATISSIMO, which was held as a one-off event during südback 2022, featured a varied programme, trends and ideas relating to the artisan production of gelato.
"Südback more than affirmed its role in the bakery and confectionery trades and clearly indicated its importance. In spite of many challenges now facing the industry, the trade visitors came to südback with the intention of making investments. The trade fair, therefore, set its sights on the future and provided guidance," said Stefan Lohnert, President of Messe Stuttgart, at the end of the fair.
Close co-operation with the südback partners
The professional and promotional supporters of südback also drew positive conclusions at the end of the trade fair. Gunter Hahn, Managing Director of the BÄKO Head Office, said that the industry was very keen to present its innovations at südback: "Saturday, the first day of the trade fair, was fantastic. We noticed that the visitors possessed a great deal of expertise. The exhibitors brought along numerous innovations which had a long time to mature. südback is an encouraging signal for the industry and has the positive effect which the bakery trade needs."
Martin Reinhardt, Regional Guild Master of the Regional Association of Guilds of Württemberg Bakers, was also impressed by the positive mood in the exhibition halls: "We saw exhibitors and visitors laughing on every day of the trade fair and did not feel we were in the middle of a crisis. It is great to see that südback has a positive effect on the industry: we are now ready to take off." Klaus Vollmer, Regional Guild Master of the Baden-Württemberg Regional Association of Confectioners' Guilds, not only looked back with satisfaction at südback, but is also looking forward to the next event: "As the Regional Association of Confectioners' Guilds, we are delighted to have matched the success from 2019. We would therefore like to thank everyone involved. The following now applies: after the trade fair is before the trade fair."
Propensity to invest among trade visitors – südback is a trade fair for decision-makers
In spite of the complex challenges now facing the industry, the trade visitors, 18% of whom were from abroad, came to südback with the intention of investing. Firstly, 69% of the visitors said that they were involved in purchasing and procurement decisions in their company with 23% saying that they were actually responsible for these decisions. Secondly, around one third of the visitors were definitely intending to make purchases or investments. 46% said they may make purchases or investments in the near future. Around 50% of those visitors were actually planning to make investments in the next six months. 30% of the visitors also mentioned higher investment volumes upwards of €50,000.
Extensive accompanying programme with the presentation of the südback Trend Award
The Bakers' Trend Forum, the Confectioners' Trend Forum and the südback Trend Award proved to be very popular. The high quality nature of the forum talks and baking demonstrations attracted many visitors. Innovative product developments in relation to technology, design and concept were honoured again with the südback Trend Award. The Award was also presented for the first time in the "Public favourite" category. The visitors were able to vote online for their favourite innovations from 20 nominated ideas, concepts and technical innovations which the first-class jury previously selected as worthy of winning. The winner in the "Public favourite" category was the company AMG Reichenbach GmbH, which took the Award for its CO2 monitoring with AMG MasterKonzept 4.0. This innovation helps to regulate excessive CO2 concentrations in productions to optimum values during fermentation, baking, cooling and storage processes.
The winner in the "Marketing, sales and organisation" category was Keil Konzepte with its "Mini Böxle – the world's smallest and fully functioning bakery branch". This is a transportable, sustainable and flexible sales unit with everything belonging to a superbly equipped shop in miniature, including a store room and sanitary facilities.
The French manufacturer Boiron Frères came out on top in the "Raw materials & convenience" category with its new "AMBIENT FRUIT PURÉES". These fruit purées do not contain any added sugar, aroma additives or preservatives. The trick, however, is that the fruit purées do not have to be cooled making their processing much easier.
The winner in the "Technology" category was Va-Q-tec AG with its "va-Q-tray – A va-Q-tec TempChain Solution", a reusable thermal system box. Thanks to their special insulation with high temperature stability, the innovative tray design ensures temperature-controlled transport of dough products or other baked goods.
EXHIBITORS SATISFACTION Kerstin Schmidt, Chief Commercial Officer Central Europe/UK & Bread, CSM Deutschland GmbH: "We went all-in during our presence at südback and had an exciting mixture in the portfolio. That was only right and proper, we had over 25,000 sample tastings alone. The diversity of the industry can be experienced at südback. It is simply possible to do more when a trade fair is staged as an attended event. The visitors were primarily looking for solutions."
Lisa Affenberger, Marketing, König Maschinen Gesellschaft m.b.H.: "Our company has had a connection with südback for many decades. The trade fair is a focal point for us to a certain extent. We were positively surprised by this year's event. We are very satisfied as we welcomed large numbers of visitors to our stand. We were able, in particular, to target craft enterprises and industry. We were also able to finally perform our demonstrations again in a live setting and answer a large number of questions on the spot."
Roland Knorr, Sales, RONDO GmbH & Co. KG: "We looked forward very much to südback during the run-up to the event. The trade fair exceeded our expectations. We saw that the visitors were very interested. Some follow-up orders and discussions hold out the promise of good business for our company after the event. Face-to-face meetings were our main objective, but customers also came with a specific interest in making investments. In our opinion, südback is a European trade fair."
Daniel Petricevic, Head of Sales Southern Germany, WMF GmbH: "südback is the most important sales channel for our company in regard to bakeries. We met more visitors here than expected and were very impressed by the mood in the exhibition halls."
Pascal Hautecouverture, VP Global Sales and Marketing, WIESHEU GmbH: "We were very positively surprised by the large numbers of visitors. In particular, there was great demand for our latest E3 shop baking oven with its high energy efficiency level. After all, the subject of energy is affecting the entire industry. We, therefore, also focused on this topic at südback and held a large number of interesting discussions on our exhibition stand."
Simone Nücken, Marketing & Event Manager, WACHTEL GmbH: "We had both regular customers and new customers on our stand, and held good discussions from the first day of the trade fair. We also welcomed international customers."
Annemarie Renner, Digital Marketing Manager, Zeelandia GmbH & Co. KG: "südback is an important event for us to meet and hold discussions with customers. Firstly, we were often asked about vegan products and secondly, focusing on processes played a relevant role."
Other awards at südback
In addition to the südback Trend Award, the Carlo Wildt Cup was also presented at the trade fair. Apprentices in their second or third apprenticeship year demonstrated their skills here under this year's motto "Contrasts". This competition for young confectioners is an inherent part of südback and is an impressive example of high-quality training.
The Grand Prix GELATISSIMO was also held this year at südback 2022. The best gelatieri competed against one another in this gelato competition in the pistachio, yoghurt and strawberry flavours. The three day winners – Matteo Caldata from the Big Bang gelateria (pistachio), Giuseppe Floris from the Dolomiti ice cream café (yoghurt) and Alfiero Conte from the Gelati Conte ice cream parlour (strawberry) won through their victory a brand-new Vespa and qualified for the Grand Final during which they provided a live demonstration of their skill when creating coconut sorbet. At the end of the Grand Final the jury presented the coveted trophy, the "Coppa GELATISSIMO", to the winner Alfiero Conte.
The next südback will take place from 26th to 29th October 2024.
Contact details
Silvia Stoll
T: +49 711 18560 2239
E: silvia.stoll@messe-stuttgart.de