After a four-year hiatus, Gelatissimo, considered the largest ice cream fair in Europe north of the Alps, was held from February 3 to 7 at Messe Stuttgart. And it did so, as it usually does, alongside Intergastra, a benchmark event for the hotel and gastronomic industry.

For five days, the Fair reflected trends, innovations, and visionary concepts for the hotel, restaurant, and catering industry. Likewise, it impressed visitors with a varied exhibition of products necessary for the sale and production of ice cream.

The edition, which gathered 88,000 visitors from 98 countries, was a success according to Klaus Vollmer, Master of the Baden-Württemberg Regional Association of Confectioners’ Guilds. “The joint exhibition hall for the key topics of confectionery and coffee, which was directly adjacent to Gelatissimo, is both a provenance and a successful combination. The inclusion of the vending section was a valuable addition since both confectionery colleagues and the other areas of the hospitality industry were able to generate lucrative additional business with the aid of vending machines.”

The program was completed with live workshops by leading European ice cream makers and exciting competitions such as the Intercoppa, which went to Cornelia Chila.

Coffee also took center stage thanks to The Stuttgart Coffee Summit, which became a meeting point to obtain information about new products, services, and business opportunities. Likewise, the Wilhelma Zoological and Botanical Gardens in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt and the Coffee Consulate from Mannheim presented a unique exhibition concept: the experience of a coffee plantation in a realistic environment.

The joint celebration of Gelatissimo and Intergastra was complemented by the 26th edition of the IKA/Culinary Olympics, the oldest international cooking competition in the world that gathered more than 1,200 participants from 55 countries and more than 7,000 menus.