This year marks 60 years of SIAL Paris, the world’s largest food-innovation exhibition, and the flagship event in SIAL’s now global network. While much has changed in six decades, the foundation upon which SIAL was built remains the same, and that has been key to its success. The event facilitates more than a quarter of a million people in visiting the French capital for the five-day food-and-drink extravaganza. It facilitates 7,500 exhibitors in displaying 400,000 products. And it offers a high level of networking and knowledge sharing to the international importers, foodservice buyers, retailers, and food processors who attend. 

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Significant at 60

Jean-Gabriel comments: “In 1964, its first year, 26 countries exhibited; now there are over 130, but even at the start it was already very international. What is amazing is that the role of SIAL has remained the same over the 60 years. That role was to facilitate encounters between the food producers and the distributors from around the world and that is exactly the same today. It still takes place in Paris, it is still focused on product innovation, it still has international character.”

There were political interests at play, too, says Jean-Gabriel, with the French government at that time pushing for its creation and recognising the importance of an event like SIAL. And, to this day, the various governments of exhibiting countries also recognise its influence and are often represented by relevant ministers. 

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Global reach

SIAL Paris opens doors to the world for the companies that attend but it does much more than that. It gives exhibiting companies access to valuable insights into food trends, and it facilitates learning and knowledge sharing through debates, talks and conferences that are addressed and attended by experts. Jean-Gabriel elaborates: “SIAL is always about the discovery of new products and new technologies, but we have integrated new purposes, also, over the years. One of them is to deliver relevant content and insights. We have realised that a lot of the companies that are exhibiting at SIAL, are not big, global groups, most of them are companies that are intermediate in size, or small. 

“They don’t have all the marketing power and insights [of a global company] and they are very interested in what a trade show could deliver in these areas. So, we have developed this so that SIAL is more than just a place to meet your peers but is a place where you can attend talks, conferences and gather some knowledge. That is something that has changed; it was in the early ‘90s when we developed that.”

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Geo-cloning

With the success of SIAL Paris firmly established, the organisers decided to pursue a geo-cloning strategy. This has led to the creation of SIAL Network, which is the largest network of food and drink fairs in the world. Jean-Gabriel explains: “Early in the 21st century, SIAL Paris was duplicated in other countries. SIAL Paris is the biggest and the oldest show, but we have other shows now in Montreal, in Toronto, in Shanghai and Shenzhen, one in New Delhi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Algiers.”

While SIAL Paris takes the crown for being the biggest food trade fair in the world, some of the other SIAL offerings are huge, Jean-Gabriel explains: “Shanghai is the fourth biggest in the world, which gives us a more global view of the market. In fact, all the shows are giving us a wider vision of what is happening around the world.” 

Geo-cloning a show like SIAL Paris makes a lot of sense. It carries less risk as it has the brand awareness behind it, it means that each show can adapt to the different markets, and research and insights can be tailored also. In a vast country like China, for example, which has specific rules and regulations, tastes and habits, geo-cloning is beneficial in numerous ways. “The network of SIAL shows are complementing each other and at SIAL Paris 2024, for example, the heads of the Chinese and Canadian SIAL events will take part in talks to explain more about their markets,” says Jean-Gabriel.

 

New elements

This year, says Jean-Gabriel, to celebrate its 60th anniversary, SIAL Paris boasts a number of new elements. ‘SIAL for Change’, for example, is the first award ever to be bestowed on participating companies for corporate social responsibility (CSR). This award signifies a move by organisers to promote sustainable and socially responsible practices in the global food industry, and throughout the product and service value chain.

‘SIAL Taste’ marks another new feature to the trade event. Jean-Gabriel explains a little more about this: “For some years now, our visitors were asking to be able to taste the innovative products that were the winners of SIAL Innovation. So this is something we are launching for the 60th anniversary.”

It is also launching SIAL Summits, a series of four events focusing on four themes: CSR; artificial intelligence and DeepTech; supply chain; and Africa. “SIAL Summits will see highly skilled panellists and speakers speak on these four topics,” says Jean-Gabriel. And, of course, there will be a good, old-fashioned party with food, drinks and dancing: “Not as big as the opening ceremony of the Olympics,” jokes Jean-Gabriel. But it will be magnifique, nonetheless.

 

Innovation

The extent of innovation in the food and beverage sector across 60 decades has been immense and SIAL has certainly played its part in highlighting it and, perhaps, influencing it too. Its competition, SIAL Innovation, has provided a platform for new companies to showcase their culinary concepts since it first took place in Paris in 1996. Jean-Gabriel comments on this: “The biggest trade show on Earth is a focal point for the industry so it does play a major role in relation to trends because it concentrates the offerings [food and drinks] in one place. 

“But we are not only here to display what is on offer but also to decipher the market. For example, SIAL Innovation is the biggest competition for food innovation, that has been taking place for 28 years, with an international jury of around 50 people. So the kinds of products that are selected point towards certain trends.

“Almost 2,000 products in total are entered to the competition – not all are selected – and when we are analysing all the products that are entering the competition, we can deduce some trends. For example, in 2022, and unsurprisingly, 25 per cent of products entering SIAL Innovation were alternative proteins. 

“Making some choices in what we are focusing on, for example, in our summits and talks, we are influencing some trends also, but in the same way that online and printed media are. Trade shows are also media of sorts.”

 

Trend focus

At the time of interviewing, the SIAL Innovation competition was still ongoing so Jean-Gabriel was unable to lift a lid on some of the trends evident in the 2024 instalment, but he had some interesting comments about trends in general, coming from the most recent ‘SIAL Insights’. 

“For each edition of SIAL Paris, every two years, we are conducting a mega survey which is called SIAL Insights,” explains Jean-Gabriel. “This year, we created a trend book, where we tried to summarise all the trends – there are a lot – into three mega trends. This year, we called those trends ‘feeling’, ‘connecting’ and ‘caring’.”

Exploring the ‘feeling’ trend in a little more detail, Jean-Gabriel says: “The pursuit of pleasure [through food] is always central. Consumers are saying that they are eating for pleasure, and we are also seeing this in the innovation side. More and more products are putting forward the feeling of pleasure associated with them and the innovation is found in the pleasure that the food is providing to the consumer. 

“This trend is also coming from a place where the consumer is trying to mitigate the impact of crises such as Covid-19, wars, and inflation for example The consumer is essentially compensating all those worries with food. The food industry is playing that emotion card very deliberately and is stimulating all the sensorial emotion to do with food,” explains Jean-Gabriel.

Related to ‘connectivity’ is the festive element food, for example, he says. “We were forced to take a timeout during the pandemic, but food is regarded as being a supremely collective experience and there is a strong focus on togetherness,” says Jean-Gabriel.

‘Caring’, he explains, relates to the self-care aspect of eating food for nourishment: “Eating is important in order to take care of your health, and health is cited by the consumer as one of the primary incentives to change eating habits. Many consumers are now considering what they are eating, and the way they are eating, and are more self-conscious of that. “There is also a reassurance in the ‘naturalness’ of the product and caring for the world through that. There is an increase in responsible consumer mindset with a more radical approach to purchasing habits, for example, not buying a product because it is not good for the planet or because it is not produced in a way that respects the people involved. This is not new but it is increasing. It is not just about concern, it is about taking action now.”

 

Sustainable efforts?

Are companies exhibiting at SIAL required to show that they are being more caring in the way that they operate and produce food and beverages, I ask him? He explains: “As organisers, we are trying to provide insights and content about sustainability, to give visiting companies or exhibiting companies the key to be more sustainable. SIAL is a business show, so sustainability is important, of course, but we prefer to focus on the content and information rather than put pressure on companies to fulfil certain criteria. 

“On the other hand, we are trying to highlight the companies that have sustainability initiatives and strategies. We are not chastising the ones not doing it but we are highlighting the ones that are. This is the aim of SIAL for Change. If a company has sustainable initiatives, then it can enter. This sustainability relates to everything – supply chain and processes, for example. So, we have encouraged companies to enter. This is the first [competition], so it is an opportunity to do well,” says Jean-Gabriel. 

 

Environment

For the largest food innovation event in the world, creating a smaller environmental footprint is a challenge, but it is one the organisers are embracing. Jean-Gabriel outlines just some of the initiatives that are happening to create a more sustainable event: “It is tough for a trade show because we have to gather people from all over the world, so that isn’t the most sustainable thing to do. Comexposium, organisers of SIAL Paris, has a global sustainable strategy called ‘All Involved’ which leads us to make changes to the show, and also in the way we work. And in SIAL Paris, we are working on a sustainability engagement charter that will map everything that the show is trying to achieve on the sustainability side,” he explains. This is a complex and technical process, so they are working with partners who are experts in sustainability to help them. “We are also implementing regulations to ensure that we have increasing levels of sustainability among suppliers. This is huge as we have dozens of suppliers.

“Practically speaking, we will recycle the carpets at the show and we will not use carpets where possible. We will not be issuing ‘goodie bags’ or tote bags, which is a very big thing for a show the size of SIAL Paris. We will not have the printed catalogue, just a digital/online one. We will use as many local providers as possible. 

“We will use 100 per cent green energy, we will reduce the period of time that lights are used in the halls. We will provide visitors with transport other than cars – shuttle buses, trains. We are lobbying the government on this and on the importance of having public transportation to get to the show. And La Croix Rouge will collect all the food that can be collected and it will be given to the homeless.”

“We have a CSR committee dedicated to SIAL. And we are working on all this a year and a half before the show. We will never do enough but we will try to do as much as we can,” says Jean-Gabriel.