ShanghaiJune 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ —
Industry Dilemma: An Unavoidable Challenge for All Food and Beverage Professionals
In 2025, China’s total catering revenue reached 5,798.2 billion yuan, with the food ingredients market exceeding 9.81 trillion yuan and the chain operation rate rising to 25%.
Entering 2026, while the industry’s market scale continues to expand on the surface, it has actually entered an era of stock competition where supply chain success is decisive. The old models of extensive store expansion, single-channel operations, and decentralized procurement have completely failed. Upstream and downstream practitioners generally face four core challenges:
Supply-Demand Asymmetry, High Customer Acquisition Costs
Food ingredient manufacturers spend hundreds of thousands of yuan annually on travel and channel promotion for offline market visits and online private domain customer acquisition, yet struggle to precisely reach national chain headquarters, large distributors, and supermarket group purchasing. Restaurant outlets and central kitchen procurement teams must visit multiple agricultural wholesale markets, separately sourcing fresh produce, prepared dishes, condiments, and equipment—a time-consuming and labor-intensive process that makes it difficult to screen compliant and stable suppliers.
Mismatched Procurement Timelines, Missing Order Windows
Three core procurement cycles are scattered: concentrated new product launches and bulk stocking in early spring, mid-year menu updates at high-end hotels, and year-end global food bulk ordering. Attending only a single exhibition captures customers from just one period, causing gaps in annual channel development and lacking sustained exposure windows for new and popular products.
Single Channels, Growth Bottlenecks
Most food ingredient companies focus only on local distributors or regional dining, lacking diverse channel resources such as import/export trade, high-end hotels, community group buying, convenience stores, and group meal corporations. Small and medium-sized brands lack international exhibition platforms, making it difficult to connect with overseas buyers and international delegations, leaving them with no clear path for overseas expansion.
Lack of Authoritative Empowerment, Insufficient Brand Exposure
Simple offline visits only allow one-on-one negotiations, far less effective than large-scale brand showcase scenarios like chef competitions, production-sales banquets, and national channel matchmaking events. New product tastings, corporate endorsements, and industry resource integration are difficult to implement.
Shanghai Bo Hua International Exhibition Co., Ltd.’s three-series exhibition trinity matrix is precisely a one-stop solution designed to address these pain points.
The Shanghai Food & Dining Expo is not an independent exhibition but leverages the millions of buyers accumulated over decades by FHC and HOTELEX. It precisely targets the early spring procurement node, filling the gap in the mass dining essential demand track. The three exhibitions work together to achieve year-round, full-channel coverage.
The exhibition precisely targets the concentrated early-year procurement window, covering the entire industry chain from source ingredients, processing equipment, distribution channels, new retail, to import/export. It provides a one-stop solution to the core pain points of food ingredient manufacturers, restaurant procurement teams, and distributors in customer acquisition and channel layout.
Comprehensive Breakdown of the Three Exhibitions: Positioning, Resources, and Value at a Glance
FHC 29th Shanghai Global Food Trade Show & Food Ingredients Supply Chain Exhibition
Basic Exhibition Information:
Date: November 10-12, 2026
Venue: Shanghai New International Expo Centre (2345 Longyang Road)
Scale: 200,000 sqm exhibition area, 3,000+ quality exhibitors, 180,000+ global professional visitors, 50 international pavilions, 500 overseas exhibitors
FHC Shanghai Global Food Trade Show is organized by Shanghai Restaurant & Cuisine Association and Shanghai Bo Hua International Exhibition Co., Ltd., co-organized by the China Chamber of Commerce of Import & Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce & Animal By-Products.
As one of the most influential professional exhibitions in the food and beverage industry, FHC has been successfully held for 28 editions, serving over one million professional buyers. It has become the “preferred springboard” for international exhibitors to enter, develop, and deepen their presence in the Chinese market.
At the same time, it is a professional platform for local enterprises and specialty products to learn about international trade and seek overseas markets.
Categories:
Meat Products | Aquatic Products | Condiments & Grains & Oils | Hot Pot Ingredients & Supplies | Catering Supply Chain & Ingredients | Prepared Products & Central Kitchens | Food Processing & Packaging Materials | Snack Foods & Beverages | Dairy Products | Confectionery & Chocolate | Coffee, Tea, Bakery & Light Meals | Canned Foods & Raw/Supplementary Materials, Machinery & Equipment | Baby Food | Medicinal and Edible Products
Core Value:
1. Gathers national import/export traders, cross-border supply chain companies, and large supermarket import procurement, balancing both domestic wholesale and foreign trade export opportunities.
2. The year-end period is the critical time for annual ordering and planning new products for the coming year, ideal for brands to sign annual distribution deals and lay out national distribution networks.
3. International pavilions gather, allowing quick benchmarking of overseas ingredient techniques and flavor trends, and exploring opportunities for imported ingredient cooperation and OEM partnerships.
2027 Shanghai International Restaurant & Food Ingredients Supply Chain Exhibition
Basic Exhibition Information:
Date: February 23-25, 2027
Venue: Shanghai New International Expo Centre (2345 Longyang Road)
Scale: 50,000 sqm exhibition area, 1,500+ domestic and international exhibitors, 80,000+ precise mass dining professional buyers
The 2027 Shanghai International Restaurant & Food Ingredients Supply Chain Exhibition will deeply leverage the brand influence and industry resource advantages of HOTELEX and FHC to build a one-stop, precise procurement matching platform.
Positioned at the golden early spring restaurant procurement node, the exhibition helps exhibitors seize development dividends in the food ingredients track, promoting the digital, intelligent, and globally collaborative upgrade of the catering supply chain.
Categories:
Aquatic Seafood | Aquatic Prepared Dishes | Hot Pot Condiments | Rice & Flour Products | Meat Ingredients | Poultry & Meat Processed Foods | Prepared Dishes | Food Processing, Packaging & Central Kitchen Equipment.
Covering eight major sectors, it connects the entire industry chain from “source ingredients—processing technology—supply chain services—end consumer table,” providing catering professionals with an integrated solution for efficient matching, cutting-edge commerce, and industrial upgrading.
Core Value:
1. Seize the golden early spring ordering node: After the Spring Festival, nationwide restaurant chains launch new products and stock up for new stores, releasing concentrated annual procurement demand. This is the most efficient window for expanding offline distribution and chain store reach.
2. Precisely target the mass dining track, connecting with national chain Chinese restaurants, BBQ, hot pot brands, and regional leading restaurant procurement teams.
3. Share the million-level procurement database of the other two exhibitions. Buyers from hotel, import/export, and supermarket channels also visit simultaneously, opening up multi-channel orders at once.
35th HOTELEX Shanghai International Hotel & Catering Industry Expo & Premium Ingredients Exhibition
Basic Exhibition Information:
Date: March 30 – April 2, 2027
Venue: National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) Hongqiao — Hall 6.2
Scale: 400,000 sqm comprehensive exhibition area, 3,000+ quality exhibitors, 300,000+ premium professional visitors, 50+ major industry events annually
The 35th Shanghai International Hotel & Catering Industry Expo & Premium Ingredients Exhibition, based on a global food ingredients perspective, builds a diverse value ecosystem of “exhibition display + event empowerment + cross-industry linkage.” The exhibition deeply connects ingredient sources, supply chains, and catering application ends, creating a value co-creation platform for the premium ingredients industry.
Here, you can directly witness the latest industry trends, precisely connect with 300,000 professional buyer resources, and seize new business opportunities in quality and healthy ingredients.
Categories:
Poultry, Meat & Aquatic Products | Prepared Ingredients | Frozen Ingredients | Condiments, Grains & Oils | Smart Kitchen Equipment | Processing & Packaging | Fresh Fruits, Vegetables & Foods | Supply Chain Services, etc.
Core Value:
1. Directly engage with procurement from national top hotel groups like Marriott, IHG, Jin Jiang International, Hilton, and Shangri-La, securing orders for premium banquets, buffets, and in-room dining ingredients.
2. Industry trend barometer, gathering players in healthy low-fat, geographical indication specialty, and organic premium ingredient tracks, ideal for mid-to-high-end ingredient brands to build brand identity.
3. Large-scale industry exchange scene, with concurrent summit forums, culinary competitions, and franchise matchmaking, balancing sales customer acquisition with industry resource consolidation.
Shanghai Food & Dining Expo: Inheriting the Vast Resources of Two Major Shows, Unlocking New Opportunities for Early Spring Dining
The Shanghai Food & Dining Expo is a key traffic hub in Shanghai Bo Hua International Exhibition Co., Ltd.’s three-exhibition linkage matrix. Leveraging the comprehensive resources of FHC and HOTELEX, it offers three unique advantages to help enterprises seize early spring dining dividends:
Resource Interconnection Between Two Shows, Full Sharing of Buyer Resources
Buyers from FHC (global traders, import supermarket procurement) and HOTELEX (star-rated hotels, high-end restaurant procurement) all have synchronized access to the exhibition.
Exhibiting once at the Food & Dining Expo allows simultaneous connection with six channel clients: foreign trade, high-end hotels, mass chains, community group buying, convenience stores, and distributors, breaking the limitations of a single exhibition channel.
Share the procurement directory accumulated by Shanghai Bo Hua International Exhibition Co., Ltd. over 30 years: covering national chain convenience stores like Meiyijia, 7-ELEVEN, FamilyMart; new retail platforms like Hema, Sam’s Club, Dingdong Maicai; leading supply chain companies like Shuhai, Meicai, Wangjiahuan; and large food groups like COFCO, Shuanghui, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products.
Precise Positioning in the Early Spring Procurement Cycle
February-March each year is the first concentrated ordering period for the catering industry, with demand from new store stocking, spring menu launches, and annual distributor replenishment overlapping.
Compared to the year-end FHC and late spring HOTELEX, the Shanghai Food & Dining Expo’s timing is better aligned with mass dining essential procurement, resulting in higher conversion efficiency.
Comprehensive Exhibitor Empowerment Activities
The exhibition features exclusive production-sales matchmaking banquets and national channel pre-matchmaking meetings. Over 10 offline precise matching events are held before the exhibition opens, allowing exhibitors to lock in target buyers in advance without starting from scratch at the show.
Complete Industry Chain Closed Loop, One-Stop Upstream and Downstream Matching
Comprehensive coverage from upstream fresh source ingredients, prepared and processed products, condiments, to midstream processing and packaging equipment, central kitchen machinery, and downstream cold chain logistics, supply chain services, and chain franchise channels.
Food ingredient manufacturers, equipment companies, and traders exhibit together, allowing upstream and downstream resources to cross-flow and expand supporting cooperation opportunities.
From February 23 to 25, 2027, the 2027 Shanghai International Restaurant & Food Ingredients Supply Chain Exhibition will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (2345 Longyang Road). We look forward to your arrival.
About Shanghai Bo Hua International Exhibition Co., Ltd.
Sinoexpo Informa Markets
Shanghai Bo Hua International Exhibition Co., Ltd. is a leading Sino-foreign joint venture exhibition company established in Shanghai in 1998 by Informa PLC (headquartered in London, UK, the world’s largest exhibition organizer, a FTSE 100 listed company) and Shanghai Huazhan International Exhibition Co., Ltd. The company’s total annual rented exhibition space reached 1.629 million square meters (2023), creating multiple trade opportunities for over 1.14 million procurement professionals from around the world. Since 2006, the company has been developing online businesses, now building an online platform consisting of 8 B2B websites, 8 B2P Procurement Mini Programs, and 1 APP product. Headquartered in Shanghai, its subsidiaries include: 2 wholly-owned subsidiaries – Shanghai Bo Ying E-commerce Co., Ltd. and Huahan International Conference & Exhibition (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., 2 branches in Beijing and Guangzhou, and 2 joint ventures – Zhongshan Guzhen Lamp Fair Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Bo Hong International Exhibition Co., Ltd. Bo Hua employs nearly 500 people.
For more exhibition information, event updates, and catering industry news, please follow the WeChat public account: 博华餐食展.