Gulfood 2027: how a food exporter should prepare

When and where

Gulfood 2027 runs from 15 to 19 March 2027 in Dubai. The organiser lists the halls as open from 10 am to 6 pm on 15 to 18 March and from 10 am to 5 pm on 19 March. It is organised by Dubai World Trade Centre and, according to its own site, spread across two venues: the Dubai World Trade Centre and the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City Dubai. These are separate sites, so before you plan your days, check which venue each company you want to meet is in.

The organiser’s home page describes it as the world’s biggest food and beverage sourcing show, with more than 8,500 exhibitors from 195 countries, without saying which year those figures are from. Everything in this section was read on gulfood.com in October 2026. The organiser also warns that www.gulfood.com is the only official Gulfood website, so register and buy tickets there.

Who can get a ticket

Visitors register online and pay for a ticket; the price depends on when you buy and is shown on the official registration page. The organiser’s admission policy, written for an earlier edition, says the show is for trade and business professionals only, that visitors must be 21 or older, that badges cannot be shared, and that photo ID is required. Check the current rules when you register.

Who you meet there

The organiser groups the show into dedicated sourcing sectors, including dairy, fresh produce, oils, beverages, meat and grains. That is the useful part for planning: find the sector your product sits in, and that is where the importers and distributors buying it will be looking. The organiser publishes exhibitor pages on gulfood.com; read them for companies that import or distribute products like yours into the markets you want, not for producers that compete with you.

Four to six weeks before

Pick twenty companies, by name. For each, one line on why you fit: what they carry, which countries they supply, what they are missing.

Write to them before you fly. Say you will be at Gulfood, why you think there is a fit, and ask for fifteen minutes at their stand. With two venues, a fixed time and place matters more than at a single-hall show.

Prepare what you will be asked for. Spec sheets, certificates, shelf life, minimum order, and how you ship to the countries your buyer supplies. If you sell into the Gulf, have your halal certificate ready if your product needs one.

Check your email arrives. A note in a spam folder looks exactly like a note that was ignored. Our guide on why buyer emails go to spam covers the three records to check.

During the show

Plan each day around one venue. Moving between two sites eats time you could spend in meetings.

Write on the back of every card that evening: what they asked, what you promised, and one detail that will remind them who you are. Five days of cards blur together fast.

Keep the price for the follow-up. A considered answer by email next week is better than a number guessed in the aisle.

After the show

Send what you promised in the first few days, then one short, personal note to everybody else, then one or two more over the following weeks, each with something new to say. Write in the buyer’s language where you can. Our trade show follow-up guide has the week-by-week plan and three short notes you can adapt.

The short version

Gulfood 2027 is 15 to 19 March in Dubai, across the Dubai World Trade Centre and the Dubai Exhibition Centre. It is for trade visitors with a paid ticket. Find your sector, pick twenty companies, book times and venues before you fly, and follow up within the week.

Next: How to follow up with buyers after a food trade show