TASTE

Event Update

The 2025 edition of TASTE will be held between the dates 08.02.2025 and 10.02.2025. It will be hosted as a face-to-face exhibition at the Fortezza da Basso.

A Brief Overview of TASTE 

TASTE maintains Italy’s reputation as the world’s top gastronomy sector with an assortment of the finest foods, drinks and dining products. The international trade fair is a go-to meeting point for food manufacturers and the HoReCa sector. As a procurement platform, TASTE empowers brands to penetrate foreign markets with ease and participate in forming new trends in dining and gastronomy. You benefit from a superb support programme and excellent networking events. 

Make hotel reservations for TASTE within a few hours and save a lot on accommodation for trade fairs. GETA ltd has worked for over a decade in the business travel sector and delivers what every exhibitor needs – comfortable rooms, a fantastic price and a strategic location. Stay in a hotel that is close to the Fortezza da Basso and cut down commuting time. It takes minutes to get to the exhibition centre and have a choice of public transport connections. GETA ltd works with groups of twenty people and more. In addition to hotel bookings, we also help you with logistics. Do you need a rent-a-car or an airport transfer? Our team handles it all. 

Why Your Visit Is Worth It?

TASTE facilitates business with professionals and buyers based all over the world. You’re in a prime position to generate buzz and build a reputation in a competitive field. Exhibitors regularly time product launches and announcements to coincide with TASTE and benefit from initial boost in interest and popularity. You leave the trade fair with qualified sales leads, new knowledge and high-value contacts.

The last live edition performed incredibly well: 

• 470 international companies showcased
• 5000+ international trade visitors 
• 2000+ general visitors 

Industry Relevance 

TASTE is a foundational trade fair dedicated to gastronomy, quality foods and fine dining. Only the best of the best exhibitors showcase their high-quality products to a rich audience. TASTE is open to both professionals and the general public, which places you in front of business contacts and end consumers alike. You’re guaranteed foot traffic by your booth and direct sales. Organisers support exhibiting companies with the Taste Shop, where visitors are able to buy the products that they fell in love with during their visit. In 2022, the Taste Shop managed to sell 13,000 products in total – all the more reason to have a booth on the exhibition show. 

The pandemic has given organisers the necessary time to rethink and update the show’s format, and launch a version that’s adapted to the current market and consumer trends. The annual fair has a brand new home now – the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, Italy, which allows for a lot of traffic and engagement with the audience. Another major change is the collaboration with Unicredit and Vetrina Toscana. Unicredit provides TASTE with experience servicing national food chains, while Vetrina Toscana brings in expertise in the world of production, sales and catering. 

All food and drink groups are well represented at TASTE. In addition, there’s a dedicated area for technology and equipment. The Tools section sits on the Ground Floor of the Main Pavilion and showcases innovations and exciting developments in professional equipment and packaging. This is the dedicated space for start-ups, which deliver digital solutions and automation. 

Another specialist area is the Spirit area, which highlights the elite class Italian labels. Made-in-Italy distillates continue to be of interest to international buyers, and here is where exhibitors are able to make valuable connections. 

Sustainability is now the major topic of discussion. TASTE 2022 kept its fingers on the pulse of all culinary trends and innovations, but the main theme was Zero Spreco. The edition focused on how to reduce food waste and how to protect the environment in the long run. Qualified experts and industry veterans took to the stage in a series of talks and presentations to bring attention to new practices and standards that will help the food sector tackle these challenges. 

Who Are You Going to Meet? 

Because TASTE is open to anyone, you have numerous food lovers and amateur cooks, who want to immerse themselves in the celebration of great food. On the professional side, there is a wide variety of trade visitors. Exhibitors meet with professional operators and international buyers. Specialist stores, distribution companies, department stores, and importers of Italian brands make an appearance in every single edition. Most trade visitors are decision makers and their goal is to survey new products and make purchases. 

TASTE opens doors to all the major markets in Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Belgium, and Norway). To the West, there is great interest from the United States that continues to grow. In 2022, attendance from the US rose by +53% compared to the last live edition. Organisers also report that buyers from Canada and delegations from countries in the Far East were present. Exhibitors have a low barrier to conduct business internationally, which makes TASTE the optimal cross-border procurement platform. 

Additional Value of Attending 

With so many products and competitors, it might be hard to stand out, but you have an excellent opportunity to get steady food traffic to your stand by signing up for the Taste Tour. The Tour makes its way from the Upper Level of the Main Pavilion through the Ground Floor right to the Cavaniglia Pavilion. Buyers are able to sample all the flavours and product types—juices, mustards, coffee, sweet and sour preserves, spirits, teas and herbal infusions.

TASTE debuted the new UNICREDIT Taste Arena, where industry leaders took to the stage in a series of discussions and talks that promoted the hottest food lifestyle themes of the moment. Visitors had the chance to get a good idea of what’s currently taking the culinary world by storm and what trends are currently on the rise. This is also where Davide Paolini leads panel discussions in the TASTE RINGs. For 2023, Paolini tackles the question “How do big hotels source their food products?” and discusses the booming trend of dried pasta among home cooks around the world.