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The 34th Shanghai International Hospitality Equipment & Foodservice Expo (HOTELEX Shanghai 2026)

Alternative Names:

HOTELEX Shanghai 2026 | Shanghai Hospitality Supplies Fair | Shanghai Catering Expo

Time: March 30 – April 2, 2026 (4 days)

Venue: National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai)

Exhibition Area: 400,000 sq.m., covering 14 exhibition halls

Review of Previous Edition

Sinoexpo Informa Markets has served the hospitality and catering industry for over 30 years. Boasting abundant resources across the full hospitality & foodservice industrial chain and professional exhibition operation expertise, HOTELEX Shanghai has been successfully held for 33 editions since its launch in 1993.

The 2025 expo attracted 284,581 professional visitors, including 12,447 overseas buyers, representing a year-on-year increase of 34.2%, covering 148 countries and regions worldwide.

Exhibits will cover all segments of the hospitality and catering industrial supply chain in a more comprehensive way, including Catering Equipment, Central Kitchen & Food Processing Machinery, Refrigeration Equipment, Tableware, Premium Food Ingredient Supply Chain, Beverage Supply Chain, Coffee & Tea Supply Chain, Ice Cream & Dairy Products, Bakery Equipment & Raw Materials, Food & Catering Packaging & Design, The Bar & Drinks, Franchising & Chain Resources — forming 12 major sectors. The expo strives to build a more open and efficient communication platform for catering enterprises worldwide.

Over 50 Featured Events to Empower Exhibitors

HOTELEX Shanghai 2026 serves not only as an exhibition platform, but also an ideal opportunity for brand exposure, business matchmaking and industry knowledge exchange. The organizing committee has elaborately arranged more than 40 professional competitions, forums and business events focusing on four core sectors: coffee, beverages, catering and hospitality. The events gather top competitors, authoritative experts and pioneering brands from the industry, comprehensively supporting exhibitors to boost brand influence, acquire targeted clients and gain insights into market trends.

Upholding its tradition of professionalism and internationalization, the expo occupies over 400,000 square meters of exhibition space. It fully showcases the latest innovations and development trends across the complete industrial chain, ranging from high-end catering equipment, food and beverage raw materials, hotel supplies, bakery, coffee and tea products to smart industry solutions.

The venue welcomed massive visitor flows, with more than 3,000 participating exhibitors. The proportion of international brands continues to rise, fully demonstrating the strong appeal of the Chinese market and the global influence of the expo. Leading brands unveiled newly developed smart kitchen equipment, energy-saving and eco-friendly solutions, as well as innovative food and beverage products.

Intelligence and automation take center stage in the Catering Equipment Zone. Smart cooking equipment supporting remote monitoring and data management via the Internet of Things, high-efficiency energy-saving commercial dishwashing systems, and AI-integrated restaurant management software demonstrate how technology profoundly transforms back-of-house operations and customer experiences. Visitors can witness the smooth, precise operation of automatic coffee latte art robots and observe how intelligent cooking machines replicate chefs’ craftsmanship following preset programs.

Health, nature and sustainability are the core themes throughout the Food and Beverage Zone. Plant-based products continue to expand their market coverage, including meat and dairy alternatives with textures and flavors highly similar to traditional ingredients. Functional beverages and health foods enriched with probiotics, dietary fiber and other nutritional ingredients have attracted widespread attention. Meanwhile, a wide variety of specialty ingredients and seasonings from all over the world provide abundant creative resources for catering practitioners.

The Coffee and Bakery Zone remains one of the most popular sections. It displays innovative achievements across the entire industrial chain, covering green bean origins, roasting techniques, grinding and extraction, and creative specialty beverages. Authoritative competitions including the China Regional Selection of the World Barista Championships are held concurrently. Intense competitions among top contestants attract crowds of visitors, creating a strong industry atmosphere filled with rich coffee aroma. The Smart Hotel and Design Zone focuses on future-oriented development trends and digital upgrading solutions for the hospitality and catering industry.

Smart guest room control systems, unmanned front-desk check-in solutions, eco-friendly degradable hotel amenities, and spatial design cases that integrate art and functionality jointly depict a convenient, comfortable and sustainable vision of future accommodation. The forum area was fully occupied, with dozens of summit forums and thematic seminars held simultaneously. The topics cover market trend analysis, digital transformation paths, sustainable development practices, chain brand operation management, and new consumption insights, covering all core sectors of the industry.

Experts from academia, leading enterprises and consulting institutions shared in-depth insights, providing professional intellectual support for the high-quality development of the industry. As an influential industrial platform, the expo serves not only as a trading hub for product display and procurement, but also as a core platform for idea collision, trend release and global cooperation docking. It fully reflects that the hospitality and catering industry is accelerating its transformation toward intelligence, green development, high-quality experience and personalized customization.

Through on-site visits, product experience and in-depth industry exchanges, professional visitors accurately grasp market dynamics, gain innovative inspiration for industrial upgrading and transformation, and connect with high-quality cooperative partners efficiently.

The successful conclusion of HOTELEX Shanghai 2026 further consolidates its position as a leading professional hospitality and catering exhibition in Asia and a world-class industrial event. The expo not only witnesses the vigorous vitality and unlimited potential of the industry, but also injects strong momentum into the innovative upgrading and global cooperation of the entire industrial chain, foreshadowing a smarter, more diversified and sustainable future for the global hospitality and catering sector.

The Blog

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HOTELEX Shanghai 2026