Dr. Oetker Professional: Restart & Internorga

The sky is grey and it is drizzling. Typical bad weather, familiar enough in Hamburg, greets the trade fair visitors on a day in March. So hurry into the exhibition hall and dive into the delicious world of the hotel and catering industry.

At Internorga, the leading international trade fair for this very sector, food and technology suppliers present the latest innovations and trends that are important for the out-of-home market. Dr. Oetker Professional is also represented with a booth at the fair. This year the focus is on product concepts in the cake, dessert and pizza ranges, which guests will not only be able to get to know, but also taste right away. "Internorga is like a family reunion for the industry. Almost all the relevant customers gather in Hamburg on the days of the fair," reports Thilo Büchele, Executive Manager Sales at Dr. Oetker Professional. He is part of the 25-strong team that welcomes guests to the trade fair booth, holds numerous discussions, tastes together and, in the end, at best gets them excited about the new products. Dr. Oetker Professional has a few of these in its luggage: the first vegan mousse dessert powders for the German bulk consumer market or the Let's Gugelhupf concept, which combines seven Gugelhupf cakes and five smaller dessert cakes under one roof.

Hupferl non-stop

"On the five days of the fair we certainly prepared more than 1,000 of our little dessert snacks or 5,000 portions of pizza. That can only be done with a strong team and it worked brilliantly," says a delighted Alena Springer, who actually works as Business Manager Pizza for Dr. Oetker
Professional and was also heavily involved in preparing for the trade fair. "After the first bite of our La PINSA! or a spoonful of our vegan chocolate mousse, we could often observe smiles. I think we can say that the visitors were thrilled," Springer reports with a twinkle in her eye.

Around 80,000 people visited Internorga this year. Many of them took a look at the Dr. Oetker Professional booth. In addition to familiar faces who have been regular customers for a long time, there were also many interested people looking for new solutions. Among them were hoteliers, campsite operators, event caterers and many more who work in different fields but are nevertheless confronted with similar problems: "The shortage of skilled workers is omnipresent and was clearly intensified by Corona. The catering industry is lacking staff at all corners," Stefanie Becker, Executive Manager Marketing & International, describes the situation. "At Dr. Oetker Professional, we are therefore positioning ourselves much more strongly as problem solvers and want to relieve our customers of as much work as possible." As a result, the portfolio does not only include cake, pizza and dessert items. The products are each embedded in an all-round carefree package that, if desired, also includes the matching pizza oven, promotional materials, cake knives or recipe ideas. "Defrost or heat, garnish as desired and serve - in the vast majority of cases, that's all there is to it," Becker explains the great advantage for the catering industry.

In the meantime, the next pizza and another Gugelhupf cake have crossed the counter at Internorga. A smile follows, then a Mmnhh!!! So delicious! It can drizzle outside as much as it wants.