In a rapidly evolving industry, firsts are a common feature – and the lineup for this year’s Fine Food Australia is certainly a testament to that. From new products to new speakers and new events, there are new surprises around every corner. This may even be your first time at the show!

Amongst the firsts for Fine Food Australia this year is a partnership with the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS). RAS has partnered with the show to bring the winners of the Sydney Royal Award to the event, and they’ll be sharing the secrets of how they won this prestigious award – a must-see but limited capacity event, so look into this one now!

In another first for Fine Food Australia, Bulla Family Dairy has partnered with the event as Platinum Sponsor, marking the first time in the show’s history that such a major collaboration will take place. The pinnacle of the partnership will be the Bulla Pastry Stage featuring the renowned Kirsten Tibballs, a-confection-ately (see what we did there!?) known as Australia’s queen of chocolate. Kirsten will also be bringing Marike Van Beurden and Anna Polyviou to the stage for some masterclasses. The Bulla Pastry Stage will showcase everything bakeries and food businesses need to know about new techniques and baking sweet treats, as well as delicious delights that customers love to come back for.

For the first time in the Harbour City, Fine Food Australia will be hosting the Talking Food stage. The 2015 line-up offers Sydney food businesses a fantastic range of new topics catering to a variety of aspects of the industry. With a real focus on food trends, respected speakers include Dr Andrew Monk sharing on the issues and opportunities of the certified organic market and Dr Sue Shepherd providing expertise on how businesses can harness the ‘free from’ boom by catering for food intolerances and allergy alternatives. She’ll also cover the Low FODMAP diet, which helps one in seven people.

There will also be some questions answered: with Restaurant & Catering Industry Association CEO John Hart asking ‘where are they now?’ as he interviews chef Shaun Presland of SakéRestaurant and apprentice Lyric Adorned from The Grand National Hotels to find out about their culinary journeys. Skye Blackburn find the truth to her query: will insects feed the world? And of course Irini Cavalliotis will keep your carb cravings well fed as she explains how to keep the art of bread alive and how you can capitalize on digital trends such as food photography when marketing to millennials..

Nestleé will also be cooking up a storm at the show, and bringing us another first:Celebrating its 50th year, the Golden Chef’s Hat Award National Final will be held at Fine Food Australia for the first time in 2015.

Fine Food Australia Event Director, Minnie Constan says, “We’re delighted to be hosting the National Final at Fine Food Australia for the first time. It promises to give many more foodservice professionals an insight into what the competition is all about and will offer the finalist chefs an invaluable opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a live industry audience.”