Alimentaria 2024: shaping the future of food & beverage from Barcelona

This week Jessica and I attended the biennial Alimentaria Fair in Barcelona, Spain’s leading event for the food & beverage sector and contemporary gastronomy, and one of Europe’s main reference points for this fast-evolving industry, with over 3,800 exhibitors and 150,000 visitors from all over the world.

It was a highly positive experience as we had the opportunity to open a dialogue with both local and international players in the restaurant business, agri-food distribution, hospitality and catering.

Many of the companies exhibiting at the fair operate in the Ho.Re.Ca. channel, focusing on the sale and distribution of food products to the restaurant, hotel and catering sectors. At some stands we were offered eco-friendly and biodegradable dishes and utensils – a clear sign that sustainability is a key driver in this industry.

We also observed that many businesses still manage orders in a rather unstructured and poorly organised way, despite already having IT applications in place. We therefore believe there is considerable room for growth for Spanish companies, which, with the support of advanced software and services, could sell more and sell better.

The adoption of sustainable digital solutions makes it possible to manage all sales and distribution channels in a synergistic way, bringing significant benefits for:

• the entire organisation, in terms of efficiency and productivity;
• the customer, in terms of service quality and shopping experience;
• the planet, in terms of reduced inefficiencies, waste and CO2 emissions.

To respond to all these needs, at Aton we have developed .onSales, the sales management platform with web and mobile applications designed to handle CRM activities and commercial processes across all distribution channels in an integrated way. If you’d like to find out more about this software, visit this page and request a demo!