Franchise India

Friday, 23 January 2015

Franchise India Celebrates the F&B and hospitality industry at FHW Mumbai 2015

The F&B and hospitality industry: sourcing, networking, celebrating at FHW Mumbai 2015

The 24th edition of Food Hospitality World (FHW) 2015 exhibition kickstarted today at MMRDA grounds, Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Mumbai. The three-day exhibition, to be held from January 22-24, 2015, was inaugurated by Mr. Bharat Malkani, president, Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) along with other dignitaries – Mr. Arvind Shetty, Past President, Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR); Dr Sudhanshu, Deputy General Manager, Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA); Mohan Deshpande, Chairman, Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum (HPMF);  Mr. A K Singh, principal/secretary, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai; Mr. Bhuvan G M, professor and principal, Apeejay Institute of Hospitality; Mr. Ravi Rawat, Director- Operations, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels; Chef Vernon Coelho, President, Western India Culinary Association (WICA), Mr. Thomas Zachariah, Vice President, The Indian Express; and Mr. Mehul Lanvers Shah, Managing Director, Hannover Milano Fairs India Pvt. Ltd. 

Speaking at the inauguration, Malkani, stated, "This year’s FHW exhibition is larger and well organised than the previous year. We have high expectations from the new government for the hospitality sector. HRAWI have made representations at the local, state and the central government. Last year wasn’t beneficial for the hospitality industry. This year HRAWI will be focusing on three key areas - education, dealing with the issue of multiple licencing and policy reform on taxes.” Reiterating the same, Rawat, stated, “The new government should address the issue of multiple licensing, also there needs to be a single-window platform for securing permissions. However, the future of the hospitality industry looks bright and there seems to be a lot of scope for development and growth.” 

Adding to the same, Singh opined, "FHW is the right platform for buyers and suppliers to meet and interact and learn from each other about the latest developments in the hospitality industry. I think ARR’s in the hospitality industry needs to increase since it has been constant since the past few years, once it goes up hotels will be able to adapt more technology. Under the Hunar-Se-Rozgar-Tak scheme, the ministry of tourism, Government of India, is planning to train 90,000 students in 2014-15 at IHMs and state tourism corporations for entry level jobs." 

Over the three-day exhibition, FHW 2015 will host various special events including the 9th edition of the Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC) in partnership with the Western India Culinary Association.

GICC 2015 powered by celebrated food brands such as: Unilever Food Solutions, Nestle, Dawaat Basmati Rice and American Pistachios as ‘Ingredient Partners’ and Aura Essentials and Sai Shraddha Hospitality as ‘Equipment Partners’ opened to a cheering audience of business visitors who greatly appreciated the live cooking and food presentations! This is set to continue across the 3 days with around 150 chefs competing live from various leading hotels and hotel management institutes. The Great Indian Culinary Challenge is a food preparation competition involving senior and apprentice chefs across India. The competition provides a professional platform for culinary professionals from India to showcase their individual and collective skills, learn, share experiences, partner and network in a competitive environment & an opportunity for winners to fly to Milan, South Africa to our international food and hospitality show networks : Tuttofood Milan, FHW Capetown, Host Milan among several others!

Apart from the GICC, FHW 2015 will be organising several interesting and engaging events. One such event would be the Hospitality Think Tank: The GM's Conclave, a panel discussion to be held on the topic of Effective People Management in the hospitality sector. This discussion will witness participation from general managers of leading hotels across western India who will share their insights on mentoring, team building, manpower shortage, skill development to name a few. The second panel discussion 'Hospitality Knowledge Exchange: Serving up in Style' will cover emerging trends in cutlery, crockery, food presentation, tableware, etc. This discussion will have a mix of restauranteurs, chefs and vendors in the panel. Another panel discussion, The Power of Purchase organised by the Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum, will be a knowledge initiative that will discuss the role of procurement, its growth, present and future trends. The final seminar will be organised by AHAR – on Technological Innovations & Social Media in Hotels. The other special show features include a Wine-tasting by Pause Wines for the F&B and media and the celebrated Cornitos Food Bloggers Meet 2015 - The contest will be judged by Master Chef Shipra Khanna, where contestants will be challenged to showcase innovative preparations, toppings and decorations with Cornitos (nachos and decorations provided at the venue). FHW Mumbai 2015 in partnership with the Food Food Channel is pleased to feature ‘live cooking’ sessions with celebrated Food Food chefs : Chef Shantanu Gupte, Chef Shailendra Kekade and Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi across 3 days!


The FHW trade show, organised by Global Fairs & Media – a joint venture between Hannover Milano Fairs India and The Indian Express, presented exhibitors coming from different segments of the food and hospitality industry namely F&B, interiors, kitchen equipment, housekeeping, bakery to name a few. Spread across 10,000 sq mtrs of the MMRDA grounds, the trade show hosts approximately 250 national and international brands this time. The trade show aims at providing solutions to various industry-related problems faced by hoteliers, restaurateurs, facility managers, prospective students and distributors.

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