Foodservice special
In addition to the food retail and drugstore sectors, a special focus was placed on the topic of food service. Due to numerous suggestions, this area was integrated into the trade forum - with a great response. The Foodservice Special was visited by over 140 additional trade contacts from the GV Food Union and more than 55 exhibitors, including established companies such as Salomon, Schne-Frost and Hanna Feinkost as well as innovative newcomers such as Glaces des Alpes and Stadionliebe, presented their products. Following this successful start, the Foodservice Special will be established as a fixed part of the spring event in future and will be expanded further.
Trade forum INSIGHTS - expert knowledge for the future
The specialist presentations at the start of the first day of the trade fair focussed on business and futurology. Renowned experts provided exciting insights into future developments and challenges.
Futurologist Sven Gábor Jánszky, head of the 2b AHEAD ThinkTank, opened with a visionary forecast on the future of shopping: «Shopping worlds 2035 - how much human can the supermarket of the future handle?». Afterwards, food trend researcher and CEO of futurefoodstudio Vienna, Hanni Rützler, shed light on food trends and future scenarios in her presentation «Food trends & future scenarios: Challenges & Opportunities for the Food Industry and Retail», she looked at future developments in the sector. Prof Dr Jens Südekum, government advisor and expert in international economics, concluded the event with his presentation «Economy 2025 - will Germany manage the turnaround?», which provided participants with valuable insights.
Service pitches
«Services in focus» was the theme of the Markant services stand, where specific information was provided on selected services such as the DVA, ProductWizard and RawMaterialMonitor. The experts from the individual departments offered brief insights into the services, some of which were new, and were also available for individual consultations with interested partners from industry and trade.
Trade forum NIGHT
At the atmospheric conclusion of the first day of the trade fair, guests were whisked away to the depths of the sea and enjoyed the evening event Handelsforum NIGHT, which was held under the motto «Under the Sea». The garden hall of the Karlsruhe Congress Centre was transformed into a fascinating underwater world and offered guests culinary highlights from the depths of the sea, among other things. The evening was accompanied by the band everso with unique live music and ensured a well-filled and exuberant dance floor.
Start-up arena - experience innovations up close
On both days of the trade fair, the voilà! start-up arena once again delighted visitors with innovative start-ups: ten start-up teams not only presented interesting products on the pitch stage - a total of 20 start-ups also presented their products to the Markant Group's retail partners and many other interested parties in the extended start-up area.
On the second day, the most striking start-up of the pitch events was honoured at the awards ceremony: JUUZ impressed with its lime-flavoured protein drinks and won an article in ONE Markant magazine as well as a free exhibition stand at the 128th Markant trade forum. The start-up also won over three retailers - K+K, Rossmann and dm - and won purchasing talks. The start-ups BöRi's, yummy, CANS, Schultz & König and Frosty Pizza were also delighted to receive retailer discussion vouchers with Markant retail partners such as K+K, Kaufland, tegut and V-Markt.
We are already looking forward to the 128th Markant trade forum on 17 and 18 September 2025!
