Peak Gathering: A Recap of the First Day of FBIF 2026! Global Food Industry Executives Explore Paths to Break Through Challenges

Author: FBIF Media Department

The FBIF 2026 Food & Beverage Innovation Forum and the FBIF Food Innovation Exhibition (F Exhibition) will be held at the Hangzhou International Expo Center from April 27th to 29th, 2026.

Over the three days of FBIF 2026, there will be over 160 speakers, more than 650 exhibitors, and over 6,000 channel visitors. In total, it is expected to attract over 53,000 visitors.

FBIF 2026 is themed "Seize the Opportunities in the Trend". The answers lie in the changing situation. We will discuss with industry insiders the key variables that will determine the future direction of the industry.

This forum will discuss industry trends and innovation cases from various categories such as dairy, snacks, baking, and beverages, as well as different perspectives including industry strategy, functional ingredients, marketing, retail, packaging, and product development. Meanwhile, the awarding ceremony of the FBIF Wow Food Innovation Award 2026 and the FBIF Food Innovation Exhibition will bring more inspiration for innovation.

In an era of rapid change, opportunities and answers do not come automatically, but the trends on the path forward can be discerned. "In the new business world, opportunities still abound." Let's explore the global landscape changes together during the three days of FBIF 2026, analyze real - world business cases, accumulate practical knowledge, and gain forward - looking trend references.

Next, let's review the exciting on - site content of the first day of FBIF 2026 together.

Dairy Innovation: Targeting New Categories

In the on - site interview session themed "Crossing the Cycle: From Cultivation to Reshaping the Growth Curve", Zhu Xi, the Chairman of Yoplait Dairy, and Xiao Yao, the founder of Yuanliu Brand Strategy Consulting and the interview host, jointly discussed Yoplait Dairy's growth methodology in an environment of fierce competition in the dairy industry and the reconstruction of the growth logic.

Xiao Yao, the founder of Yuanliu Brand Strategy Consulting, and Zhu Xi, the Chairman of Yoplait Dairy

Xiao Yao mentioned that looking back at Yoplait Dairy's growth in China, it has gone through a stage of pressure, then restored profitability, and then reached a new development node with the phased withdrawal of capital and brand development. Zhu Xi summarized that in this growth process, Yoplait Dairy has three important experiences. Firstly, start with science. Secondly, deeply understand consumers' insights and purchasing behavior. Finally, never be afraid of disrupting yourself or cannibalizing your main business.

When it comes to maintaining a high - end positioning and achieving growth in a market environment of consumer downgrading, Zhu Xi believes that for consumers, it's not always the cheaper the better. In fact, consumers are willing to pay a premium for healthy products. The real reasons for the intense competition are, on one hand, the lack of understanding of consumers' needs, and on the other hand, the failure to innovate around consumers' real needs, resulting in products without differentiation.

"There is a saying in the industry, 'No differentiation, no survival.' This saying has always inspired me," Zhu Xi said.

Where do traditional dairy enterprises get stuck in product development? Xia Weihua, the General Manager of Jiale Dairy, shared his views in his speech.

Xia Weihua believes that, on one hand, there are high barriers between different departments within many dairy enterprises. On the other hand, many dairy enterprises don't know what they should do. "There are many demands in the market. Sometimes consumers want sugar - free products, and sometimes they want zero - added products. Should we follow consumers' demands word for word?"

For Xia Weihua, choosing what not to do is more important than choosing what to do. Therefore, Jiufeng Ranch, a brand under Jiale Dairy, adheres to the principle of "not making ordinary milk, but only making milk with characteristics". Xia Weihua said, Only after clearly understanding oneself and sorting out one's own channels can one do more in - depth work and spend energy on making good products.

In the practice of product development, Xia Weihua said that the brand should sense consumers' real emotions. It can be the emotion towards a product, the emotion of feeling "pain" or "itch" in a usage scenario, or the emotion towards a certain phenomenon in the industry.

Beverage Innovation: Wow, I Want to Drink!

Facing the diverse global market, how can food and beverage brands "understand" the different needs of different markets? George Kovoor, the former Senior Vice - President and General Manager of PepsiCo's beverage business in India, shared his views on the demand pattern.

George Kovoor, the former Senior Vice - President and General Manager of PepsiCo's beverage business in India

George Kovoor said that the demand pattern consists of two elements. One is the "Demand Code", which includes regional elements such as taste and culture. A country usually has different "Demand Codes". For example, Sichuan cuisine is spicy, so the taste in the whole region tends to be spicy, while the taste in Shanghai region tends to be sweet.

The other dimension is the "Demand Potential", which includes different aspects such as lifestyle, consumption level, expectations, and shopping habits.

George Kovoor believes that when looking at the demand potential, one should not only look at a city but also consider the radiation effect around the city. "Just like when a stone is thrown into the center of a lake, ripples will appear. These 'ripples' represent work, the market, schools, etc. This is the ripple model of demand radiation," George Kovoor said.

George Kovoor also presented five variables that can reflect the demand pattern of a region, namely: per capita disposable income, night - time light brightness per square kilometer, the density of new retail formats (such as Luckin Coffee), the urbanization ratio, and the Internet penetration rate.

These five variables can reflect the economic maturity of a region. By standardizing data collection and calculating scores, cities can be rated from one - star to five - star. George Kovoor believes that different strategies should be adopted for markets from one - star to five - star.

Chen Hao, the Retail General Manager of Peet's Coffee, shared Peet's Coffee's way to break through in the highly competitive coffee market.

Chen Hao, the Retail General Manager of Peet's Coffee

Chen Hao admitted that in recent years, the logic of the coffee market has changed. The functional demand for coffee has been fully explored, while other values have been severely weakened, which has also put pressure on Peet's Coffee. However, Peet's Coffee also believes that coffee has values far beyond its functionality.

In response, Chen Hao said that Peet's Coffee has done some difficult but correct things. On one hand, it adheres to the product model of sourcing high - quality coffee beans globally and conducting small - batch manual local roasting. On the other hand, Peet's Coffee is also expanding the boundaries of coffee in the new consumption and new channel environment.

In the past three years, Peet's Coffee has entered more than twenty markets across the country and opened several characteristic stores. For example, the Xi'an Metropolitan Store is designed with the eave - column structure of Xi'an's historical buildings, and the Jilin Songhua Lake Snow House Store is located at a popular spot for skiers, making coffee a supply during the skiing process.

We adopt a dual - drive strategy. Starting from the brand story of coffee beans, we build a complete product matrix to meet consumers' needs at different times and in different scenarios." Chen Hao summarized.

Snack and Baking R & D Innovation: Creating Delicious and Fun Snack Brands

How can an overseas brand win the hearts of Chinese consumers? Pavel Kislyakov, the General Manager of the North Asia region of Storck, a German century - old confectionery family business, shared the company's experience.

Pavel Kislyakov, the General Manager of the North Asia region of Storck

Pavel Kislyakov introduced that Knoppers is currently the brand with the best sales performance of Storck in the Chinese market. The brand's entry into the Chinese market started with Chinese students studying abroad purchasing the products and bringing them back to China. After that, Storck's business began to expand in the Chinese market.

Pavel Kislyakov mentioned that Chinese consumers have made a significant contribution to the cross - border business field. Chinese outbound tourists are the largest in number among different countries around the world. Currently, Chinese consumers are constantly refreshing their understanding of the world. They hope to taste the same high - quality food they tasted abroad in China. Storck has noticed the growing demand of Chinese consumers for high - quality products.

Guo Xueqian, an Assistant Researcher at Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Guo Xueqian said that traditional flavor R & D relies on a large number of experimental screenings, which is inefficient and costly, limiting industrial applications. With the development of AI technology, flavor prediction based on databases and machine learning has become a new path. His team has spent more than a decade building an AI - based one - stop platform for taste peptides and developed models such as "Umami - IP", realizing an integrated platform from flavor screening, intensity prediction to functional analysis, significantly improving R & D efficiency.

In the application aspect, AI has contributed to innovation in dairy and aquatic product processing. For example, through the analysis of the cranial nerve perception of peptide segments, the real and objective feedback of consumers on delicious food can be quantified; the flavor structure of cheese can be improved through peptide screening; or high - freshness seasonings can be developed using by - products, achieving both flavor optimization and resource utilization.

Guo Xueqian believes that future food innovation may shift from "experience - driven" to "model - driven". With the continuous improvement and optimization of data models, it is very likely to further participate in the product development process in the future.

Marketing Innovation: Achieving Growth and Crossing Cycles

In an era of scarce attention, how should brands conduct consumer insights, continuously build relevance, and win brand loyalty? Li Jiayang, the Head of Data Insights and Analysis at Kraft Heinz China, and Zhang Yixi, an Associate Partner at Prophet, had an in - depth discussion on how consumer and market insights drive brand and business growth.

Zhang Yixi, an Associate Partner at Prophet, and Li Jiayang, the Head of Data Insights and Analysis at Kraft Heinz China