Brand events during Salón Gourmets 2027

What is Salón Gourmets and who does it bring together?

Salón Gourmets is the fine food and drinks fair organised by Grupo Gourmets in Madrid. It is a trade-only fair. In 2025, its 38th edition, 117,969 trade buyers attended, 19,264 of them from abroad, from 90 countries. 2,097 companies exhibited across 72,073 m², with more than 55,000 products, according to the organiser's post-show report.

The 40th edition runs from Monday 26 to Thursday 29 April 2027 at IFEMA MADRID. It opens from 10:00 to 19:00, and until 17:00 on the last day.

The figure that matters most to a producer is a different one. Through its Hosted Buyers Program, the fair invited 300 international buyers in 2025, who held 6,482 meetings. Importers, distributors, retail chains and hospitality groups spend four days in the same city. It is the moment to bring them to your table, with your product in front of them and without the noise of the hall.

Which events work with buyers and distributors?

At a food fair, the event has to do what the stand cannot: let people taste the product at its best, with time and in good company. These are the formats we propose:

• Pairing dinners with international buyers. A menu built around your product, guided pairings and tables by market. It is the format with the highest return per guest.
• Cookery demonstrations. A chef cooks your product for hospitality buyers or press. It works if the plating is clearly visible and everyone tastes the result.
• Private tastings. Wine, olive oil, cheese, preserves or cured meats, in groups of 8 to 30 people, led by a sommelier or an expert.
• Distributor meetings. Working meetings with a schedule of appointments, samples ready to take away and short drinks at the end.
• Receptions for designations or regions. Several producers under one umbrella brand, with stations by winery or producer.

If the dinner includes a stage, awards or speeches, see our gala dinners page. If you are presenting a new product or campaign to the press, we approach it as a product launch with the product in the spotlight.

How to organise a pairing dinner or cookery demonstration away from the exhibition centre

A food event has its own logistics, which are best sorted out early:

1. The venue and the kitchen. Not every room allows cooking. For a cookery demonstration we look for a venue with a kitchen or room to set up a back-up one, with enough extraction and electrical power.
2. The chef and the menu. The menu is built around your product, not the other way round. We hold a menu tasting a few weeks beforehand, with the chef and your team.
3. The product. We receive the samples, store them at the right temperature and track how much is used at the event and how much goes back to the stand.
4. Allergens and labelling. We prepare allergen sheets for every dish and brief the chef on each guest's dietary requirements.
5. Timings. With the fair closing at 19:00, a dinner at 21:00 leaves time for the transfer. Breakfasts and tastings before 10:00 work well for buyers with a full schedule.

Next to IFEMA or in the centre?

For breakfasts, tastings and working meetings, stay next to the exhibition centre. The IFEMA Palacio Municipal is in Campo de las Naciones itself and avoids any transfer.

For the evenings, the centre and north of the city offer venues with more character. Green Patio, in Tetuán, has a 650 m² room with a 9-metre ceiling for 450 people, and a terrace for drinks. The Casino de Madrid combines historic rooms with food overseen by Paco Roncero. For a dinner with key buyers and views over the centre, Rooftop Lírico offers a rooftop with spaces of different sizes right in the centre.

April week in Madrid

In 2027 Salón Gourmets partly overlaps with the Mutua Madrid Open, played from 19 April to 2 May at the Caja Mágica. In those weeks demand for restaurants available for exclusive hire and for hotels goes up, so it pays to book early.

If you are exhibiting, fit the event around your schedule at the fair. Buyers on the Hosted Buyers Program arrive with meetings booked in the Business Center, which took up more than 1,000 m² in 2025. The sensible move is to invite them to the dinner or tasting on the same day as their meeting with you, when they already know your product and have questions. And bear in mind that on Thursday, with the fair closing at 17:00, many buyers will already be on their way to the airport.

You will find all the verified dates in our Madrid trade fair calendar 2027 and more formats for exhibitors on our page on events during trade shows and congresses.

Our experience in trade show weeks

The MC Group team has been producing corporate events for more than 20 years and has organised more than 100 in Madrid, with dedicated staff and event planners in the city. Trade show weeks are a central part of that work: every year the group's team produces brand events during ISE and MWC in Barcelona for Logitech, Microsoft and Yealink. The logic is the same as at a food fair: booking with time to spare, getting guests out of the exhibition centre without wasting time and producing several nights in a row.

If you want your event at Salón Gourmets 2027, tell us which night you are interested in, what product you want to present and how many guests you expect. We will send you a first proposal with available venues within 24 business hours.

Sources

1. Grupo Gourmets: rules of the 40th Salón Gourmets (26-29 April 2027, opening hours and trade-only access)
2. Grupo Gourmets: post-show report for the 38th Salón Gourmets 2025 (117,969 buyers, 2,097 exhibitors, Hosted Buyers)
3. Grupo Gourmets: Salón Gourmets 2026 brochure (2025 results)
4. esMADRID: Mutua Madrid Open 2027
5. IFEMA MADRID: trade fair calendar