Speciality & Fine Food Asia (SFFA) and RPB Asia is the must attend trade show for all in the F&B industry. This year, it took place from the 17th to the 19th of July at Suntec Singapore. The first ever SG Food Tech week also took place as part of SFFA and RPB. We had the opportunity to participate in it as not only a moderator, but also as a speaker of a panel.

Our COO, Caleb Lye moderated a panel titled ‘New Tables – The Latest Platforms in Food Technology’. The speakers of this panel were Keith Tan - CEO & Founder of Crown Group & Coffee, Chirag Tejuja - Founder of Tab Square, and Dan Riegler - Co-founder of Karana. During this session, the following topics were discussed and explored:

• How technology is accelerating development in the F&B industry, slowly making systems & processes behind the current landscape obsolete.

• The booming food delivery scene and what to expect over the horizon.

• The opportunities unlocked by all the data collected by the various tools within the F&B industry; such as understanding when F&B businesses place their order throughout the day, and what food the customers prefer.

• Thoughts on plant-based meat such as the ‘Impossible’ meat, and the benefits in sustainability it provides.

• Advent of smart-cities and cloud kitchens as a result of the data collected on the resources and demand for food in different areas of a city.

On day 3, Caleb spoke on another panel - ‘Smart Food Cities’, alongside Sandrick Gan - Business Development Specialist of Epson Singapore, Tomaso Rodriguez - Head of GrabFood, and Michael Dean - Executive Director of GROW Accelerator. He, along with the 3 other speakers, discussed the following topics:

• How the F&B industry is affected by the seamless connectivity of a smart city, resulting in quicker logistics & manufacturing operations.

• How the data collected in the F&B industry by the various foodtech platforms has brought the vision of the ‘Farm-to-Fork’ closer to the table.

• How Zeemart plays a part in the smart city concept.

At Zeemart, we believe in a consolidated logistics model in a smart city. We are using this model while working alongside our partners to reduce the cost of logistics through the consolidation of the suppliers’ goods into a consolidator like a warehouse. With this, suppliers can save money in their last-mile fulfilment. It is our belief that Singapore is primed for the disruption brought about by having a smart city, due to the readiness of our infrastructure and connectivity, either digitally or physically.

This event provided a good platform for us to discuss the various tech and F&B related issues, both through the panels and by conversing with the other participants. We have met many phenomenal people whom we hope to stay in touch with.