Alimentaria appoints Anna Bosch and Josep Maria Bonmatí as vice presidents

Generational change in the organizing committee of the Alimentaria Fair, the most important in the food sector in Southern Europe and one of Fira de Barcelona's main own fairs. The departure of José Luis Bonet, who has held the presidency of the fair for the last 22 years, has not been the only one, as other veteran businessmen such as Ignacio Ferrero (Idilia Foods), Javier Robles (Danone) or José Carlos Lacasa (Chocolates Lacasa) have also disassociated themselves from the event.

According to The New Barcelona Post, the new organizing committee chaired by Antoni Llorens will have two new vice-presidencies to be held by Anna Bosch, general director of the Noel group, and Josep Maria Bonmatí, general director of AECOC. For his part, Juan M. Vieites Baptista De Sousa, who is the president of the Confederation of Businessmen of Galicia, also remains as vice-president.

In addition to holding one of the vice-presidencies of Alimentaria, Anna Bosch is the president of the Intercan Fair, one of the fair's most powerful sub-fairs and the one that occupies the most square meters, with an exhibition area of 14,000 square meters in the 2022 edition. For his part, Bonmatí presides over the Innoval Fair, the space dedicated to showcasing the latest innovations in the food sector and trend-setting products. For his part, Vieites holds the presidency of Expoconser, the fair dedicated to the canning industry.

The consulted sources indicate that the Alimentaria committee is still in the reformulation phase for the organization of the 2024 edition, that is, the remodeling cannot yet be considered closed, but the incorporation of most new members has already been agreed upon. The signings have sought to maintain a continuous line with respect to the successful management demonstrated by the committee in the last ten editions, but favoring generational change and the presence of members with a more executive character who are at the head of the large groups in the sector.

Thus, Jordi Gallés, president of Europastry; José Arcas Sarasola, general director of GB Foods España; Daniel Ferrero Malow, member of the board of directors of Idilia Foods; Llordi Llach, CEO of Nestlé España; José María Rodríguez Monteys, CEO of Euromadi Ibérica; and Ignacio Silva, president of FIAB and president and CEO of Deoleo, are incorporated as new board members. The Danone group will also be part of the organizing committee, although the representative has not yet been appointed.

Jordi Gallés will also assume the presidency of Salón Restaurama, which until now was led by the new president of Alimentaria, Antoni Llorens.

Also part of the Alimentaria 2024 organizing committee are Mauricio García de Quevedo, general director of the employers' association FIAB; Jordi Valls, general director of Mercabarna; María Naranjo, director of the Food Industry (ICEX); Olga Martínez, communications director of Bimbo and president of Produlce; José Miguel Herrero, general director of the Food Industry of the Ministry of Agriculture; Gonzalo Guillén, general director of Coosur and president of the Mediterranean Foods Exhibition; and Silvio Elías, general director of Veritas and president of the Organic Foods Exhibition.

The next edition of Alimentaria will be held from March 12 to 15, 2024, at the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona. At this year's fair, which took place at the beginning of April and was held jointly with Hostelco and Barcelona Wine Week (BWW), nearly 100,000 visitors were registered, of which 23% were international, from 149 countries. 1,400 major buyers from European Union and American countries came to Barcelona, with the organization of some 13,000 business meetings with exhibiting companies. Of the total of 3,000 companies present at the fair, some 400 were from outside Spain, from 52 countries.