Who better than the top buyers from the four corners of the globe, who converge on HostMilano every two years (thanks to numerous alliances with the big sector associations, selected by ICE), to give us a sense of where things are going and what the market wants?

This time round we present four buyers from Latin America, who we interviewed at HostMilano last October. Here are their accounts of the fair.

Claudia Belan (Sodexo) from Brazil was at HostMilano for the first time. “I was very impressed by what I saw,” he said. “I was particularly struck by a hi-tech triple oven [from Unox]. Here you really do meet leading manufacturers and learn about the most innovative technology the market has to offer.”

“This was the first I had been to HostMilano and I was particularly impressed by how well organised the fair was,” said Eduardo Solorzano Barron (AMR) from Mexico. “We were very, very satisfied. It was an amazing experience: the things I took part in myself and the company presentations. After Covid we are now at last looking ahead and there is a feeling of confidence in the air. This is a truly professional, international event – one that sets the bar for the future.”

It was also the first time for Andres Trujillo (Juan Valdez Café) from Colombia: “We saw many solutions on the sustainability front and many new technologies for our coffee shops in Colombia and the rest of the world. I met many exhibitors and there were lots of opportunities to do business. I think that after the pandemic the fair really was a great business opportunity and a chance to see innovative platforms for the future of our brands and for the recovery that is now happening.”

Martin Brusco (Olexglobal SA), from Argentina, is something of a habitué: this was his fourth visit to HostMilano. The first time he came was as a visitor, while at the last three he was selected as a Hosted Buyer. “You really do get much more out of the trade fair experience when you’re a hosted buyer. I found a lot of new ideas, in particular an oven for rapid cooking that combines convection with radiation, as well as various other things. We mainly come to see what the new foodservice trends are. There is an excellent level of manufacturing, especially for kitchen equipment, and Italy is a real hotbed of ideas in this regard. Right now it is even more important because we are recovering from the pandemic, consumption has started up again and out-of-home eating is returning, so you really need to know all about the latest technological innovations.”