A firework display of interaction, inspiration and innovation: iba 2023 thrilled trade fair participants. 1,073 exhibitors from 46 countries showed their product diversity in 10 halls, which can only be seen, smelled and tested in this dimension and quality at iba. 57,000 visitors from 150 countries streamed through the aisles in five days to discover the latest trends from around the world.
The smell of fresh baked goods, full aisles, interesting conversations, a reunion with existing customers, knowledge exchange, innovations, exciting competitions, new contacts, the best atmosphere and world-class craftsmanship – that was iba 2023. This means that the leading trade fair offers plenty of content for the entire baking industry – from trainees to master bakers. Michael Wippler, President of the German Bakers’ Confederation, says: “In addition to competitions with excellent talent and a successful introduction of the National Award of Honour, the topic of young talent was particularly close to our hearts this year. We had trainees on site at the BackStage young talent days, met vocational school classes and talked to bakers about our “Back dir Deine Zukunft” campaign. We want to whet young people’s appetites for artisan bakery, and iba was the best place for that. For me, this fair was also a personal highlight – because it is my last iba in my function as President of the German Bakers’ Confederation. The fair was a complete success and that makes me all the more happy. A special thanks to all exhibitors and organisers of the trade fair.”
The leading trade fair: ahead of the times
Which topics move the market and how do I find the right partners and solutions? What are the world innovations? These and other questions were answered from 22 – 26 October in the exhibition halls. “iba sets the standards nationally and internationally for the baking industry and is a trendsetter and source of inspiration. We successfully proved that again in 2023: nowhere else are such product depth and such diverse innovation visible. This is also reflected in the phenomenal decision-maker rate at the fair. Thank you so much to all who helped to organise this trade fair. Above all, a special thank you goes to Mr. Wippler for all the years of trusting and very goal-oriented cooperation,” said Dieter Dohr, Chair of the Management Board of GHM Gesellschaft für Handwerksmessen mbH.
The focus of the fair was on the topics of recruiting young talent, artisan bakery, as well as the numerous competitions and digitalisation. One highlight was “The iba.UIBC.Cup of Bakers 2023”. Here, visitors feverishly followed the action right up to the last minute in front of the glass baking rooms. This ranged from loud applause for the participating teams in their final efforts to hand in their work and transitioned into an eager silence to watch the jury taste the products live. The gold medal was then won by Lin Yeqiang and Feng Yingjie from China on 24 October 2023. Yeon Sunheum and Han Doyoung from South Korea secured the confectioners’ title on 26 October 2023.
A robot in the bakery, a vending machine that is open 24/7, a BrotHaus branch that shows how personal consultation and self-service can be combined without sales staff and a branch of tomorrow with purchase recognition and cashless payment. These were just some of the digital solutions on display at this year’s world fair. The exhibitors at iba presented visitors with the entire spectrum of digitalisation – from concrete practical examples that can already be implemented in the branches today to options for the future. “From vision to realisation – our goal was to offer ‘digitalisation at your fingertips’. We ensured this through the focus theme and product range, but also through our new iba.DIGITALISATION AREA, where the theme was brought to life,” says Susann Seidemann, Exhibition Director of iba.
The new iba.START UP AREA in hall A4 was also a visitor magnet. This caused a lot of cheers, because visitors could applaud for their favourite on the digital platform, the iba.UNIVERSE, and on site. It was a tough choice: 24 young companies exhibited their innovations in the modern space. WECARRY won the iba.START UP AWARD, which was presented for the first time at the fair.
Other visitor highlights included the iba.ACADEMY, the iba BackStage young talent days, the iba.CONFECTIONERY TEC AREA, the company tours as well as the iba.TOURS and the iba.OKTOBERFESTZELT.
Clusters of people also formed again and again in front of the stages. Because in addition to competitions and live demonstrations, iba stands for professional exchange. Three stages, lots of experts and over 4,000 minutes of knowledge transfer: in the iba.FORUM, the iba.SPEAKERS AREA and the iba.START UP AREA, everything revolved around the topics of artisan bakery, food trends, digitalisation and, above all, sustainability. From best practices to panel discussions – here visitors could listen to presentations and engage in conversation on the respective topics.
The atmosphere was great not only on the stages and in the halls, but also on the social media channels. Under #myibamoment, trade fair participants posted their special moments at the fair. The big reunion was duly celebrated at iba and at the evening events, as well as in the company’s own Oktoberfest tent. “For me, there were only #myibamoments for five days – every day was full of new highlights, innovations and emotions. The enthusiasm was clearly noticeable at the stands and at the awards ceremonies. Thank you to everyone who made my first iba unique. My team and I are pleased that iba 2023 was so successful for all protagonists and we don’t want to (have to) wait another five years until the next iba, so we’ll all see each other again in Düsseldorf from 18 to 22 May 2025,” Seidemann sums up.
Exhibitor comments:
Michael Bauer, MsC., Product Management at Pfahnl Backmittel GmbH
“For us, iba was definitely a very important trade fair. On the one hand, when it comes to the export market and meeting international visitors. And on the other hand, we also noticed how important iba is for the Austrian and German markets in order to maintain customer contacts here and acquire new contacts at the same time. Finally being able to exchange ideas again after five years was of great importance. We are happy to have been a part of this iba.”
Carola Landhäuser, Managing Director of WP BAKERYGROUP
“We are very happy that iba has finally taken place again. For us, this is the leading trade fair and it really ran very successfully in 2023. We saw all our important customers again. After the pandemic, there was a whole backlog of information. I think we were able to give the visitors good insights and show how we have always developed despite the limitations of the last few years. At the trade fair, we also noticed that digitalisation in particular has made great strides and how important it is to serve the market in this area as well. Customers are also aware of this and are therefore much more open to the topic than they were, for example, five years ago at the last iba.”
David Holzwarth, Member of the Management Board of Shop-IQ
“We are enthusiastic trade fair participants and have had a fantastic few days with very high-quality visits from decision-makers as well as very interesting discussions here at the iba.DIGITALISATION AREA. Our conclusion: we are absolutely overwhelmed by the quality and variety of visitors we have had at our new space and are already looking forward to iba 2025 in Düsseldorf.”
Stefan Strehle, Managing Director of BÄKO-Zentrale eG
“Finding the right balance in our offer for artisan bakery is very important to us. Against this background, we presented innovations both in the raw materials sector, such as the dried fruit products of sea buckthorn, acerola and blueberry, as well as in the machinery and equipment sector, here the tin cleaning machine and ‘Bakersfriend’. Our digital area BackOfficeDigital has been able to distinguish itself as a visitor magnet. With BÄKO-AutoPOS, we have met the needs of baking companies to the letter. This is an AI-based software solution that actively accompanies the purchasing process of bakery branch customers. Camera systems in the branch and weighing systems in the shelves make it possible to shop independently of service and checkout tills. The visitors were thrilled. Our expectations regarding the entire trade fair and the extremely positive response of the visitors were significantly exceeded.”
Lex van Houten, Regional Marketing Manager AMF Bakery Systems
“We are very happy to be at iba. We were very excited to get here because it was over five years ago already and we are meeting a lot of familiar faces and a lot of new faces. We hope to have success after the show. This is where the bakery and the food industry meet – so iba is the place to be for AMF. On top of that, we got an award for two of our innovations including the hydrogen oven, so it couldn’t be better.”
Paul Groenewegen, Managing Director of Rademaker Germany, support for the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Denmark
“For us, iba was a very successful exhibition. From the first day, we had many company owners and managing directors at our stand. From international visitors to decision-makers, customers from the industrial sector, but also lots of visitors from medium-sized companies and family businesses. New for us this year: although we are a machine manufacturer and plant builder with worldwide exports, we have decided to put a clear focus on baked goods for the first time. We have up to seven master bakers on site for this. Two thirds of the stand show bread, croissants, Danish pastries and much more, because ultimately – at the end of the day – it’s about the baked end product, that’s what people want to see, and what our customers sell. Visitors are looking for quality, want to stand out from direct competitors and we want to support them with the right technology.”
Veronika Grebner, Head of Administration/CFO at cetravac vacuum baking & cooling
“We are really satisfied with the trade fair, we think our stand location is well chosen. We were also at iba in 2018, where we had a large proportion of international visitors – but our main customer area is still the DACH region. This year, with the stand in hall A3 focussing on trade, about 95% of the customers we wanted to address were here. Through the location and our marketing activity in the run-up, we definitely reached the target group. We were in talks with many decision-makers and our topic of vacuum cooling and vacuum baking is extremely well received. This really is a very new topic. Some of the customers are really surprised and also convinced after their visit of how bread can be baked fresh ‘again’.”
About iba:
iba – The world’s leading trade fair for the baking and confectionery industry is held every three years in its usual rotation at Fairground Munich. The trade fair brings together all the products and technologies that are relevant to bakers and confectioners of all sizes, decision-makers from the bakery and confectionery industries and food retailers. The range of topics includes from raw materials, ingredients and frozen bakery products through production and packaging technology, process optimization and information technology to complete interior design of bakeries, pastry shops or cafés. More than 77,000 trade visitors from around 170 countries came to iba 2018. In total, over 1,300 companies exhibited. The next iba is to be held at Fairground Munich from 22 to 26 October 2023. In order to continuously offer the baking industry a stage, iba wil already take place from 18 to 22 May 2025 once again, then at the Fairground Düsseldorf. From 2027 onwards, iba will again be held every three years in autumn at the Fairground Munich.
