UMAMI Arena 2025 was a great success, with nearly 21,000 visitors during three eventful days with great exhibitors, seminars, conferences and a diverse range of professional competitions.
“We would like to thank all exhibitors and visitors for three eventful days at UMAMI Arena. The atmosphere and feedback have been very good. At the same time, we will of course carry out a thorough evaluation with the aim of further developing Norway’s largest meeting place for the food and beverage industry in the run-up to the next implementation in 2027,” says Director of UMAMI Arena, Torill Engelberg.
Nearly 21,000 visitors
Torill Engelberg has spent the last few days summing up initial impressions after UMAMI Arena on 18-20 March. UMAMI Arena gathered 401 exhibitors from 17 countries. In addition, seven conferences and as many as 15 national and Nordic championships were held in various cooking and drinking disciplines. Before the event, there was great excitement over the number of visitors. Now Torill Engelberg can reveal that the ambition set out in advance was realized:
“The visitor tally has made things even more exciting for us this year in light of the fact that UMAMI Arena is now held every other year, compared with every three years previously, while in addition being shortened from four to three days. It is therefore exceedingly pleasant to be able to report that we reached our goal of gathering more than 20,000 visitors and ended up with a total of 20,891 participants at UMAMI Arena this year. For Hall B – BAREN, the number of visitors reached 5595. We are very pleased with these figures, especially because many exhibitors report that the visitors represent the core of the target groups they are keen to closely engage with. All in all, we think UMAMI Arena has been a real boost for the entire industry this year,” says Torill Engelberg.
Satisfied exhibitors
Among exhibitors reflecting on this year’s UMAMI Arena as a great success is Regional Sales Manager at Bama Storkjøkken, Cathrine Olsen:
“This has been a fantastic meeting place for us, and we consider this year’s event to be a huge success. The number of visitors to our stand has been overwhelming, and there has been a frenetic pace of activity from start to finish every day,” says Olsen.
Annette Strøm, Head of Communications and Brand at Nortura Proff, is left with the same impression:
“We are pleasantly surprised by the large number of visitors, and are simply very pleased with our participation at UMAMI Arena this year. The location of the stand has been perfect and we have received a lot of pleasant feedback about our stand.”
General manager of ACT Logimark Morten Mathisen agrees with Olsen and Strøm’s assessments:
“Participating at UMAMI Arena has given us a three-digit number of leads to follow up, and that makes us very satisfied with this year’s event. Here we are able to meet everyone from small food companies to the largest players in the Norwegian catering industry, which is a fantastic starting point for even better success for a business like ours,” he says.
Strong effort on local food
At this year’s event, the local food players were even more strongly represented than ever, with a total of 97 exhibitors. In addition, several of the major national producers and suppliers also had a strong presence with local food and beverage products. Torill Engelberg feels that the event is becoming an increasingly important marketplace for local and regional food producers seeking to focus on the professional market.
“We are experiencing increasingly great interest from local food companies that have ambitions for growth and development, and who see UMAMI Arena as one of their most important sales and marketing channels to succeed. If the development continues as it has done in recent years, the local food companies will fill an entire hall in a few years. It is at the very core of our business and social mission to make it possible for this part of the Norwegian food and beverage industry to present itself in a positive way towards its most important customer groups,” she says.
One of the local food exhibitors who takes advantage of UMAMI Arena to achieve greater success is Marianne Olssøn who runs Hovelsrud Gård on Helgøya by Mjøsa:
“This year’s UMAMI Arena has been a great event for us as a local food company. Thanks to this meeting place, we get to show ourselves and establish contact with everyone who helps to ensure that Norwegian quality products from all over the country find their way out to the market and consumers. We need UMAMI Arena to succeed!” she says.
A range of competitions and an extensive academic program
This year’s program for UMAMI Arena also included several conferences and seminars aimed at the food and beverage industry. In addition, a large number of national and Nordic championships were held in various culinary disciplines.
“Both the conferences, seminars and professional competitions are important to contribute to new insight and inspiration in all parts of the food and beverage industry,” says Torill Engelberg. “This year, we have invested a lot in a broad professional program on which we have received positive feedback. We would also like to commend the Ministry of Agriculture and Food for choosing to host the conference ‘What should we eat in Food Nation Norway?’ at UMAMI Arena.”
“In addition, it is fantastic to see the commitment that comes into play when the championships within different culinary disciplines are held. There are many hard-working talents here who have been cheered on in recent days, and several of the competition organisers have already announced that they would like to return. Similar to this year, we will also facilitate both national and Nordic championships when the entire industry is invited back to NOVA Spektrum in connection with UMAMI Arena on 16-18 February 2027,” says Engelberg.
