MUNICH — The partnership between iba and the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) remains strong as the two baking industry trade shows have shared a mission of bringing the global baking industry together.

Jorge Zarate, global vice president of operations and engineering for Grupo Bimbo, Mexico City, and IBIE 2025 chair; Eric Dell, president and chief executive officer, American Bakers Association (ABA); and Kerwin Brown, president of BEMA, attended iba 2023, held Oct. 22-26 in Munich to grow the international presence of the trade show. 

Even as iba has endured and persevered through a lost show cycle due to the pandemic, Mr. Zarate said the trade show has been transparent with the IBIE team about its plans, sharing information so that the two shows could create synergies between the two. 

“As the industry has become more globalized, we have overlapped in audiences,” he said. “Even though we are in a sense, competitors, if we work together, we can grow the industry. And there are big differences in our markets, products, equipment and ingredients from Europe to the Americas. They learn from us, and we learn from them.” 

That isn’t to say the IBIE team wasn’t walking the iba show floor looking for new ideas and to get a gauge of what topics and show features are hitting a nerve with the industry. 

“Attendees were very engaged in product demos, the iba Speakers Stage and the Start-Up area,” said Samantha Moore, IBIE director of trade show operations and assistant corporate secretary. “It reinforced how important in-person trade events are to the baking industry as a resource for inspiration, knowledge-sharing and product innovation.” 

Visiting other shows like iba helps the IBIE team in its mission to continuously improve the largest baking show in the Western Hemisphere. 

“What we’re really driving for our show is experience, experience, experience,” Mr. Brown said. “It’s about how can we give people something they cannot get anywhere else. We have the equipment, ingredients and services, but what else can we do to make IBIE an even better experience?”

In addition to keeping an eye on trending topics and show features, iba provides the IBIE team an opportunity to reach an international audience in person. The team met with several international delegations from countries representing vastly different regions of the world. 

“iba presents an excellent opportunity to educate people on IBIE 2025: what it is and what value it offers them,” Mr. Dell said. “International delegations are an area where we can grow, work together and diversify the show. We’ve had really positive feedback from all the conversations we’ve had with international delegations so far.” 

Touch points at international trade shows like iba allow the IBIE team to continue investing in these relationships. 

“It’s a progressive relationship,” Mr. Brown said. “You do not get there overnight. You have to invest again and again, and then the door opens up and the groups start to trust each other more and more. It takes tons of time to nurture the relationship.”

Although iba and IBIE will both be held in 2025, Mr. Dell and Mr. Zarate said they’ve gotten positive feedback from exhibitors and attendees at iba that both shows are important to them. Plus, IBIE will be offering additional services to make exhibiting at both shows more convenient. Overall, Mr. Dell said the energy at iba and conversations around IBIE were extremely positive. 

“The baking industry is growing,” he said. “There is excitement among the bakers, and they are growing.”