The Hybrid Foods Europe 2026 Preview: What to Expect in Amsterdam.
Three days in September. One purpose: take the hybrid food category from emerging to mainstream by giving the people who can make it happen a room, an agenda, and tasting plates. Hybrid Foods Europe 2026 is the European meeting point for retailers, brand owners, ingredient houses, R&D leaders, and investors who already know the category will scale and want to decide together how.
What Is Hybrid Foods Europe 2026?
Hybrid Foods Europe 2026 is the FoodConNext Foundation flagship B2B conference dedicated to the European hybrid foods category. It runs 14–16 September 2026 at Van der Valk Zuidas Amsterdam over three days: networking on 14 September, the Strategy Day on 15 September, and the Innovation Day with hands-on hybrid tasting on 16 September. The audience is retail, brand, ingredient, R&D, and investor leaders only.
The conference is chaired by Michel Mellema, Global Innovation Director at IFF, and convened by Gerard Klein Essink and Jaap Harkema of FoodConNext Foundation. The full agenda and speaker line-up sits at the conference page. The conference covers the three vision pillars FoodConNext was built on — marketing, innovation, and category building — across every session.
Who Speaks at Hybrid Foods Europe 2026?
The 2026 line-up brings together retailer leaders, ingredient innovators, food service operators, brand owners, and dairy and meat category builders. Confirmed names include Albert Heijn, Lidl, Colruyt, Hilton Food, FarmDairy, Elsa Group, ADM, Crespel & Deiters, Cosun Beet Company, Eurofins, Vermaat–Compass Group, ProVeg International, and the IFF innovation team. Around twenty speakers across three days.
A representative sample: Henk van Os of Albert Heijn and Chantal Goenee of Lidl on private-label hybrid strategy. Vincent van Kuijen of Hilton Food on meat reformulation at scale. Joanna Trewern of ProVeg International on consumer narratives. Veronique Dries of Vermaat–Compass Group on out-of-home channels. Jakob Skovgaard of PlanetDairy on dairy hybrid formats.
How the Three Days Are Structured
Day | Date | Focus | Format | Audience fit |
Day 1 | 14 Sept | Networking | Receptions, small groups | All registrants |
Day 2 | 15 Sept | Strategy Day | Plenary, panels | Retail, brand, policy |
Day 3 | 16 Sept | Innovation Day | Sessions + tasting | R&D, ingredient, NPD |
Plenaries | Day 2–3 | Category build | Chair-led | Senior leadership |
Panels | Day 2 | Retail, finance | Moderated | Commercial leads |
Tastings | Day 3 | Product | Hands-on stations | Category, R&D |
1:1 meetings | All days | Partnership | Scheduled | Buyers, sellers |
Dinner | Day 1–2 | Off-record | Curated | Senior only |
What Makes the Innovation Day Different
The Innovation Day on 16 September 2026 closes the conference with hands-on hybrid tasting alongside the technical sessions. Retailers and brand owners get to taste — not just hear about — current state-of-the-art hybrid meat, dairy, and seafood formulations from ingredient partners including ADM, Beneo, Cosun Beet Company, Crespel & Deiters, IFF, Roquette, and Planetary. That tasting is what separates conference from category build.
The Plant-Based Foods & Proteins Innovation Investment Budget 2026–2035 places €995 million inside the sustainable products and circular bioeconomy pillar — taste, texture, and processing technology. The work the budget funds is exactly what shows up on the Innovation Day tasting tables. Speakers like Christopher Busch of Crespel & Deiters and Fabian Griens of Cosun Beet Company operate at that intersection.
Why Attend Hybrid Foods Europe Rather Than a Larger Trade Show
Hybrid Foods Europe is small by design — senior, curated, and category-specific. Where a large trade show optimises for breadth and exhibitor footprint, HFE optimises for the depth of conversation between people who own commercial decisions. Retail category managers, brand-side NPD leads, ingredient strategy heads, R&D directors, and investors are in the same room for three days, not eight thousand floor visitors.
The format works for a category at the inflection point. The broad community of FoodConNext Foundation has shown that the conversations that move a category from emerging to mainstream happen in rooms of one hundred to two hundred people — not in convention halls. The conference is built around that thesis. Speakers like Hubert Lehnard of Elsa Group and Jan Arnaut of Colruyt attend because the right interlocutors are present, not because the booth count is high.
Key Take-Home Messages
Commercial
Three days produces more partner conversations than three months of cold outreach.
The retailer line-up is the strongest signal of which private-label categories scale in 2027.
Ingredient partner tasting on Day 3 sets the supplier shortlist for the next NPD cycle.
The audience cap protects conversation quality — register before the room closes.
Technical
Day 3 tastings cover hybrid meat, dairy, and seafood across at least seven ingredient partners.
Strategy Day sessions tie EU policy to operating decisions for 2027 product launches.
Speakers include retailers, food service, ingredient, and research network leaders.
The agenda balances marketing, innovation, and category-building tracks across both content days.
Verdict & Next Step
The hybrid foods category will be defined by what happens between 2026 and 2030. The retailers, brand owners, ingredient houses, and R&D leaders who decide that definition together — in a room small enough to hold a real conversation — set the rules for everyone who arrives later.
Hybrid Foods Europe 2026 is that room. Van der Valk Zuidas Amsterdam, 14–16 September 2026. Three days, around twenty speakers, hands-on tasting on the final day. Register here or contact the foundation to discuss partner and sponsor tracks. The agenda is set, the speakers are confirmed, and the room closes when full.
About FoodConNext Foundation
At FoodConNext Foundation, we believe that the future of food lies at the intersection of innovation, sustainability, and global collaboration. Our foundation is dedicated to accelerating the transition toward more resilient and responsible food systems by connecting key stakeholders across the agri-food ecosystem.
Our Mission
FoodConNext Foundation exists to bridge gaps in the global food system — bringing together entrepreneurs, researchers, policymakers, and investors to co-create solutions that address some of the world's most pressing challenges, including food security, sustainability, and nutrition.