Wabel’s Managing Director Antoine Bonnel talked to me in a preview of the upcoming Frozen Summit in taking place in Paris not only about the event itself, but also on the state of the frozen food innovations.
By Dan Orehov
What should visitors expect for this edition of the event?
The Frozen Food Summit 2020 remains the unique European B2B event in Europe dedicated to Frozen Food. The frozen offer this year is reflecting the drastic evolution of the global food market, meaning a transition toward clean label, healthier food, plant-based substitutes to meat, numerous vegan offers and free from alternatives, notably in ready meals and ice cream. But what is also new this year is the demand from retailers for eco-friendly packaging, including in the frozen categories. So Wabel took the initiative to associate some packaging solution providers such as Stora Enso who is proposing Card-board packaging for Ice Cream to replace the plastic boxes usually used.
Which are some of the novelties this edition presents?
We have trend setters such as Abramo, proposing a new generation of tapas and healthy snacks, or Lantmännen and their gluten free Pitas, packed in a new eco-friendly bag. Among other innovations some free from frozen food, plant base such as the soy-based ice cream from Gelato d’Italia.
This year a great focus will be given on two major topics. First one is about the natural ingredients and eco conceived packaging. Most of demands we are getting are about healthier ingredients, clean labels and eco conceived packaging. As you might know Wabel has confirmed a partnership with European Natural Ingredient Leader Dohler and is now closely working with World Paper leaders such as Stora Enso who launched the first cardboard box for frozen ice cream, meaning a total replacement of plastic. In France in particular, there is a big pressure coming from an application called Yuca, measuring the nutriscore of the products in the supermarkets. 15 million French consumers are using it now and nine out of 10 are putting the product back on the shelves if the Yuca rating is bad. So, speakers at our Summit will come from Dohler for the ingredients, Stora Enso for eco conceived packaging.
How will frozen food be discussed and approached for this particular edition?
We will focus for this edition on the new heavy trends of Organic frozen food, clean labelled products, meat & dairy alternatives. The frozen market in Europe remains dynamic and is increasing in value. People buy better quality & healthier products. The trend today has swift from pure vegan (15% of vegan consumers in Europe) to Gourmet Vegan, addressing the 65% of Flexitarian consumers in Europe. But as you certainly know, we also welcome retailers from central and eastern Europe at the Frozen Summit. On these markets, the pressure on eco designed packaging as well as clean labels is less accurate. So, we also will continue to offer to our buyers more basic frozen food products in all main categories (ready meals, snacks, fish, pizzas etc.)
How many exhibitors and visitors do you expect this year?
We expect 100 suppliers for 130 retailers. This is the rate we love at Wabel, a supplier for 1,3 buyers. This rate allows us to provide numerous qualified Smart Meetings. As usual the rate of International buyers is around 75%, and 25% of French retailers. Among registered retailers we have prestigious store brands such as Carrefour, Leclerc, La Sirena, Tesco, Musgrave etc.
What would encourage visitors to attend this edition of the event?
The Wabel Frozen Summit is the N°1 European B2B event in the Frozen Industry. We limited on 80 companies and close the registration in February. We are gathering the Key 80 frozen suppliers following the market trend 2020/2021 (launch of the innovations during our frozen summit). In two days, we do a complete scan of the European market for the frozen industry. Beside the finished products, this year Wabel will also house new eco-friendly packaging suppliers as well as major food Ingredient providers.