Organised by Fiera Milano and scheduled from 17 to 21 October, Host 2025 confirms itself as a global platform for professional hospitality, with over 1,700 exhibitors from 54 countries (44% international) and more than 700 hosted buyers from 75 countries, selected with the support of ICE. The sectors featured in the 2025 edition embrace the entire ecosystem: professional catering, bakery, coffee, ice cream, confectionery, furniture, technology and tableware.
From artificial intelligence to sustainability, hospitality is transforming. The out-of-home world is undergoing a profound revolution, in which technological innovation meets design, functionality and aesthetic research. For these reasons, Host aims to offer increasingly immersive and multisensory experiences, capable of responding to new consumer needs. A transformation that is also reflected in the numbers: according to ExportPlanning, in 2024 the global production of the sectors present at Host 2025 will reach 189.9 billion euros, with professional catering growing by 8.6%. In this context, Italy stands out for its leadership in exports of coffee and vending machines (29.8%), bakery and pastry machines (28.8%) and ice cream and refrigeration machines (10.5%).
Focus on bakery, bar and specialty coffee
Particular attention will therefore be paid to Arte Bianca, the protagonist of the renewed MIPPP – Milano Pane Pizza Pasta, organised in partnership with the SIPAN Consortium. Here, Italian excellence in bread-making will find space together with the Bakery Square arena, with workshops, competitions and the Panettone World Championship. The bar and coffee sector is also growing, increasingly oriented towards the specialty segment: witness to this is the return to Milan of the World Barista Championship, hosted within the Salone Internazionale del Caffè (SIC).
Design, innovation and a transversal vision
At Host, innovation crosses all sectors, from ice cream to confectionery to contract furnishings, increasingly strategic for food retail. There is a strong focus on planning and design, also thanks to the Smart Label – Host Innovation Award, promoted by Fiera Milano and Host Milano in collaboration with POLI.design.
In its seven editions, the Award has established itself as the international benchmark recognition for sustainable innovation in professional hospitality, receiving no less than 950 applications from all over the world, rewarding products and solutions that have become benchmarks in their respective sectors.
Once again this year there are three categories: Smart Label, for distinctive innovative content; Innovation Smart Label, for high innovation content that exceeds established trends; Green Smart Label, for distinctive sustainability features.
In parallel, again in cooperation with POLI.design, and with the patronage of NEWH – The Hospitality Industry Network, Host 2025 proposes the meetings on the future of design in HoReCa by Design Talks.
Events, competitions and international appointments
The trade fair experience will be enriched by a busy calendar of show-cooking, masterclasses, meetings with starred chefs and pizza chefs, as well as in-depth themed events realised in cooperation with the main industry associations.
At the same time, Host Milano is consolidating its international expansion: in addition to participation in the main global events, Host Arabia, a spin-off organised in Riyadh from 15 to 17 December 2025, in collaboration with Semark, is being set up.
In order to optimise the agendas of companies and operators, the event will be held in conjunction with the 14th edition of Saudi HORECA Riyadh, the country’s leading hospitality trade fair, from 15 to 17 December 2025 at the Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Centre.
A strategic alliance to create an integrated exhibition platform capable of attracting qualified buyers from the entire Gulf area and offering Italian and international companies direct access to one of the most dynamic markets in the world today.
With a unique format that combines exhibition, business and culture, Host 2025 confirms itself as the world benchmark for the future of professional hospitality.
The appointment with the 44th edition is at Fiera Milano in the Rho district from 17 to 21 October 2025.
For up-to-date info: host.fieramilano.it, @HostMilano.
