On 30 October 2024, the METRO Gastronomy Academy opened its doors for the fourth time to host the Plant-Based Conference in Budaörs. This year, education was the focus of Hungary’s number one innovative plant-based food event.
On 30 October 2024, Hungary’s only Plant-Based Conference took place again, with the aim of continuing to follow, develop and colour the plant-based trend. The event, which this year focused on education, featured four presentations and seven round-table discussions.
The event started with the introductory words of Csaba Péntek, the founder of Vegan Business Circle. This was followed by the first discussion, in which Patrik Galavits, journalist of Direkt36 and the professional moderator of the day, asked Erika Farkas, certified nutritionist and Anna Zoltai, president of KÖZSZÖV, about the possibilities of introducing plant-based food in public catering. As Anna Zoltai told the audience, Hungarian legislation does not yet allow for a fully plant-based diet in this area, but both experts were optimistic that there will be an easing of the restrictions on the inclusion of plant-based ingredients in nurseries, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, social and prison institutions in the future.
Afterwards, Gergely Zsolnay, Executive Chef of The Planteen, shared his experiences in catering and drew attention to the usefulness of shifting the emphasis from being free to being healthy in communicating a plant-based diet.
The morning continued with exciting discussions and presentations: about the place of herbal products in retail, Patrik Galavits asked Andrea Herczeg, owner of Csak a Mentes, Zsuzsanna Simon, marketing manager of Avokado, Rita Szalma, commercial director of Kifli.hu and Máté Tukacs, marketing manager of Bijó Áruház – their answers revealed that Hungarian customers play it safe and rarely experiment.
Gergely Dávid Molnár, head of the Szemléletváltó programme, gave tips on finding and retaining good employees – one of the key ideas being to support colleagues with positive reinforcement.
The final discussion before the plant-based lunch was about the regulars: Federika Fait, former general manager of The Planteen, György Preyer, owner of Vegazzi Specialty Pizzeria and Anita Szeghalmi, owner of Vegan Kifli, confirmed that predictable quality, a positive experience and community building are essential.
In the afternoon, the Plant Conference participants were also treated to some very exciting programmes: Anita Batternay, CEO of PrestonSales, shared practical tips on how products can perform well in retail, while Raul Vida, founder of Prove and Csir Kevin, explored opportunities for companies and non-profit organisations to work together.
The round table discussions were also very interesting: Attila Bíró, owner of Sweet Gorilla Mentes Tortaműhely, István Bruzsa, sales manager of Nestlé and Bernadett Zsiros, owner of Mentes Bor also highlighted the importance of market education and the importance of opening up to people with a non-vegetarian diet, while Gabor Garami, Zsófia Rimóczi and Dóra Pintér – Dóra Vegan Lifestyle influencers and Zsolt Szikora, owner of Biorganik Online Kft. has highlighted the importance of credibility in the cooperation between opinion leaders and companies.
The day was crowned by a case study: the owners of tunki-tunki, Melinda Fehér and Róbert Kulcsár Fehér, and the strategic director of Kreatív Vonalak, Barna Nagy, talked about the key issues of branding through the rebranding of tunki-tunki.
The event was sponsored by METRO and Prove, with media support from Trade Magazine and rapid networking organised by Vegan Business Circle.
