How to prepare your season in one afternoon: a guide for hotels, bars and restaurants at the Vulcanus B2B Festival

Planning a new season in hotels, bars and restaurants is often chaotic: meetings with suppliers, product tastings, comparing offers, time pressure… The Vulcanus B2B Festival was created to make this much simpler – in one afternoon, in one place, with serious gastronomy and real working conditions.

This guide shows how you, as a hotelier, bar owner or F&B manager, can get the most out of your visit to the festival.

2. Use open fire and the live bar as your “test kitchen”

At the festival everything is presented in real conditions:

• Vulcanus grills run at full speed – you see how open fire cooking really works, how many people are needed and how flexible the menu can be.
• Bar and coffee stations operate like a real bar – speed of service, consistency and options for pre-batched / automated solutions.

Use this to ask very concrete questions:

• “How many portions per hour is realistic here?”
• “What is the food cost per portion for this concept?”
• “How would we integrate this into our current menu / bar list?”

3. Look for solutions, not just products

The Vulcanus Festival is not a leaflet-based trade show – the focus is on solutions:

• combining the Vulcanus grill with selected food suppliers,
• a bar that integrates classic drinks, HealthyBar and modern cocktail concepts,
• a coffee concept (Future of Brewing) tailored to breakfast, lobby bar or evening service.

Instead of only asking “what discount can you offer?”, try questions like:

• “What would your complete F&B corner look like for our property?”
• “What does it practically mean that you support operations?”
• “Can we start with a pilot project together?”

4. Networking without pressure

There are no classic stage presentations – everything happens around food, drinks and fire. It’s a perfect setup for:

• meeting other hoteliers and hospitality operators,
• exchanging real-life experiences – what works in season, what doesn’t,
• agreeing on joint projects (concept weekends, theme nights, pop-up events).

All you need is to:

• introduce yourself,
• say 2–3 sentences about your venue,
• ask one concrete question or request advice.

5. How to get the most after the festival

After the festival “back to reality” often means great ideas get lost in inboxes. To avoid that:

1. Collect all contacts – every partner and supplier you found relevant.
2. Choose 2–3 projects that are realistically doable in the next 6–12 months (e.g. new breakfast concept, summer grill concept, cocktail list).
3. Schedule a follow-up call or visit with key partners in the next 7–14 days.

6. Who is the Vulcanus B2B Festival ideal for?

• Hotels and resorts that want to upgrade their F&B and get more out of existing kitchen and bar space.
• Beach and lounge bars that need differentiation from competition and want signature cocktails & open fire food.
• Restaurants, bistros and wine bars looking for a different guest experience and better supplier collaborations.