An evolving market that cares about substance quality and efficiency. In Canada as in Italy. That is the view of the companies with a well-established tradition of participation in HostMilano and will be back for the 2023 edition, taking place at fieramilano from 13 to 17 October.

“The Canadian market is a fragmented one with an east-west split,” says Tommaso Natale, Marketing & Communication Manager with La Marzocco. “The west of the country is interested in promoting the concept of Slow Coffee, with high-quality, concept-oriented coffee shops and a mid to high level of both coffee and equipment, while the east is traditionally more closely linked to French and European coffee-drinking habits.” Generally speaking it is a highly professionalised market, with little in the way of automation. The pursuit of improved performance is one of the main focuses, more than design. “One of the most important demands is for products that are reliable and durable. Much attention is also paid to customer care, which has always been a fundamental, indispensible part of the sales process.”

Moving on to the Italian market, Natali sees a slow but unrelenting change taking place. The trend is increasingly towards a dimension of quality, not only with a 100% Arabica offer, but also in terms of coffee-making machinery. “This all helps to create a virtuous circle whereby consumers are also looking for something more, and getting used to asking not just for ‘a coffee’ but also ‘what type of coffee’ is on offer. The trend started in the big cities – Milan, Florence, Rome – and is now spreading through all the other regions.”

The three trends defining the sector at the moment are IoT, Home  and Quality of the product and itself and how it is prepared in cafés.

“On the Italian market we are seeing a greater attention to the subject of energy saving and a diversification of supply to end consumers, with the quality in the cup the main distinctive feature,” say those at Sanremo Coffee Machines. “This is something our company has been pursuing for some years now, and we will continue to strive towards an ever higher level of excellence in our products.”

So products, yes, but also packaging. Where do things stand right now? Luca Sandri, CEO Scatolificio del Garda tells us that “the trend on the Italian and European market is towards environmental sustainability, which essentially means the elimination wherever possible of plastic food packaging, in both industrial manufacture and the takeaway sector. In the food industry there is a shift towards containers made of paper that can be used in production lines, and this is already happening in Yogurt, Gelato and Cheese, where packaging really is demonstrating a much greater, more responsible sense of environmental awareness.”