RGmania's target market
A large part of business work, in any industry, is keeping up to date with the latest news in the target market; for RGmania that market isho.re.ca. (this stands for Hotellerie-Restaurant-Café).
In order to guarantee our vast assortment, with thousands of glasses in the catalog, a very strong focus on mixology and an ever-expanding range of objects for the mise-en-place and the kitchen, as well as a focus on the most innovative products (flavorers, obulate sheets, fermenters and many others), knowing the market is crucial.
This does not only mean visiting bars and restaurants, the places where trends are followed and sometimes launched. For RGmania and RG Commerciale, visiting horeca fairs means understanding what direction manufacturers and wholesalers are moving in and understanding what the new fashions and trends will be; a few examples: after years of colored porcelain, will white make a comeback? Will induction stoves overtake gas stoves? Will minimal lines supplant vintage glass for good?
The horeca fairs visited in 2024 by RGmania
For these reasons, we visited some of Europe's best-known horeca fairs inwinter 2024, with the exception of Ambiente in Frankfurt. Ambiente remains among the most important horeca exhibitions in the industry, but with Host Milan held a few months earlier (in October 2023) we decided to sacrifice it in favor of smaller realities.
France's most famous trade fair for gifts and crafts is a well of discovery and originality.
This year it was held from January 18 to 22 and gave us a chance to get to know interesting and particularly niche realities, such as the large assortment of spoons and mother-of-pearl products, as well as the innovative Wegg sparkling wine makers.
The world's number one trade show for ice cream that is held annually in Rimini-this edition was staged Jan. 20-24-has now become a real social event, the place to be, with coffee competitions but also among pizza makers; launching new ice cream flavors and new brioche fillings; artisans building wood-fired ovens and increasingly technological coffee machines, demonstrating how much dynamism there is in the food world.
We also include the Riva del Garda fair, held Feb. 5-8, in which we participated as exhibitors.
Located in the ever-growing mixology area, amidst spirits, natural wines and craft beers, we were able to make contact with numerous bartenders and restaurateurs from all over Italy, eager to learn about new realities with innovative products.
Those who know us know that our focus is on bartending and not beer, so why visit Beer Attraction? Because for two editions now, beer is not the only protagonist of this fair, itself in the Rimini exhibition center, but in the month of February (this year from 18 to 20). In addition to the ever-present food, two pavilions dedicated to mixology were opened, in which a large space was devoted to seminars by bartenders from all over the world. The only lack is related to an area of venue supplies and equipment, which perhaps will be remedied in future editions.
Finally, we returned abroad for the last winter exhibition, that of Internorga Hamburg, March 8-12.
Four pavilions, including two dedicated to food&beverage, two to hotel equipment and furnishings, plus a growing corner dedicated to catering technology, make it one of Germany's most important trade shows. Germany is a country we found to be aligned with our own as trends, much more so than the NRA show in Chicago, which we visited in May 2023 but was much more restrained in its offerings, despite its size making it the largest in North America.
Horeca market 2024: a small balance sheet
What do we take home from these visits?
A bit of bitterness in seeing how little innovation and how many copies of the same products are now on the market, but at the same time how much desire to stand out there is among different professionals, be they restaurateurs, chefs or bartenders. How much there is now the possibility for any reality to play with mise en place, even without big investments. And how much fairs have become places of meeting even more than of progress.
Are we perhaps in a moment of stalemate, in which the transition to a new type of catering is expected, the market being saturated with glass, porcelain, bar tools and therefore in need of inventiveness?
At the moment we don't have a clear answer, but we are monitoring for you what is happening, to transfer it into our product selection.
Meanwhile, at the horeca event level, you will find us at the 2024 edition of the Rome Bar Show, at the capital's Palazzo dei Congressi on May 13 and 14.
We look forward to seeing you, live, on our RGmania website and in our RGLife magazine!
