Daegu to host food industry expo and international coffee festival this week

Daegu will host a combined food and dining festival showcasing the city's signature cuisine alongside coffee cultures from around the world.

The city announced Wednesday that the 24th Daegu Food Industry Expo and the 2026 Daegu International Coffee & Cafe Festa will run concurrently from Thursday through Saturday at Halls 1 and 2 of the EXCO West Wing.

A total of 262 companies in the food and dining sectors will participate, operating 454 booths across the two events.

The expo will feature regional specialties, ready-to-eat meals, food technology, domestic and international coffee brands, and desserts, along with tasting sessions, hands-on experiences, competitions and seminars.

The Daegu Food Industry Expo, themed "Daegu — Innovation Hub of the Food Industry," will span 224 booths from 178 companies.

Highlights include an exhibition hall introducing Daegu's 10 representative dishes, a Global Hansik Hall displaying more than 200 hansik works, a Daegu Quality Food Hall, and promotional booths for food manufacturers across the city's districts and counties.

The Daegu Meal Kit Hall will showcase products developed through a city-supported program helping local restaurants create ready-to-eat meals, offering tastings and discounts of up to 50 percent.

New additions this year include a solo-dining hall and a Healthy Pleasure Hall featuring high-protein, low-sugar foods. The Food Tech Hall will demonstrate the digital transformation of the dining industry through serving, cleaning and cooking robots.

Business support for local food companies seeking to expand their market reach will also be strengthened.

An overseas export consultation session will draw 13 companies from seven countries, and a domestic retail buyer consultation will also be held. The Franchise Startup Hall will offer business consulting and employment counseling for prospective entrepreneurs.

Competitions in hansik cooking, confectionery and baking, crafts, and cocktail-making will be held throughout the event. On the opening day Thursday, a seminar themed "A City You Come to Eat, an Alley You Want to Stay In" will be held.

The seminar will examine dining industry trends for 2027 and explore ways to strengthen the competitiveness of Daegu's local food and restaurant sector.

Running alongside the expo, the Daegu International Coffee & Cafe Festa will operate under the theme "Your Coffee, Your Lifestyle in Daegu," with 230 booths from 84 companies.

The festival will present a wide range of lifestyle products, including coffee brands, cafe startup-related merchandise, coffee equipment and branded goods.

The Global Coffee Hall is expanding from four countries last year to nine this year. Peru, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Thailand and Malaysia are new participants, joining Colombia, Guatemala, Japan and Vietnam to showcase coffee and culture from nine countries.

The Daegu Cup Tasters Championship, a coffee-tasting competition, and the DHC K-Coffee Student Challenge, in which students present original coffee creations, will also be held. A stamp tour linking 43 local cafes will give visitors a chance to explore Daegu's downtown cafe scene and coffee culture.

The city will also run a "Dining Establishment Food Week" through Nov. 8.

Visitors who present a pre-registration message or an entry wristband at participating venues can receive a 5 percent discount or a complimentary beverage. A list of participating establishments is available on the Daegu Food Industry Expo's official website.

"Through this event, I hope to extend Daegu's unique flavors, charm and coffee appeal into culture and tourism, and for Daegu to take a leap forward as South Korea's premier food and coffee city," Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho said. "We will work to strengthen the competitiveness of the local food and coffee industries and channel that into revitalizing the regional economy and advancing tourism."