MIFB Conference

Future-Ready F&B:
Powering The Next Wave

Is your F&B business stuck at "just surviving" or ready to thrive and conquer global markets?

The Knowledge Hub at MIFB 2026 takes entrepreneurs and businesses on a straightforward journey: from running smoothly to growing big and scaling internationally.

In line with MIFB 2026’s theme: “Future Ready F&B: Powering the Next Wave”, the sessions aim to equip F&B businesses at every stage, from startups to scaling exporters, to grow, scale up and stay resilient in a fast changing world.

Each day tackles a real question you're probably asking:

The goal is simple: share practical tips from experts, bust tech myths, reveal founders’ hard lessons, and arm exporters for 2026’s trade challenges.

*To sign up your interest for the Knowledge Hub, simply register as a Visitor for MIFB 2026. Once registered, click here and follow the steps below to download the Event App, browse the full agenda and bookmark sessions of your interest.

Attendees will gain

Practical insights on using AI and tech to slash waste, cut downtime, and streamline F&B operations.

Clear directions for SMEs to choose franchise, licensing, or direct scaling to grow.

Export strategies blending Halal standards with digital tracking for global success.

Live feedback and sharing sessions for instant insights and real-world cases.

Who is it for?

Startup founders figuring out their first growth moves and avoiding beginner traps

F&B brands and SMEs deciding between franchising, licensing, or going direct to scale

Exporters and trading pros mastering Halal plus digital rules for global sales

Factory managers and operations teams fighting rising costs and keeping quality in check

R&D and product teams racing to launch faster using AI and modern food tech

Aspiring entrepreneurs and investors spotting winning F&B ideas for business models

The MIFB topics align with various SDGs, promoting sustainable practice and innovations that support global development goals

From Thin Air to Lush Greens: Sustainable Crop Production:

Goal 2

Contributing to food security by enabling sustainable crop production in diverse climates.

Goal 12

Encouraging sustainable agricultural practices.

Revolutionizing F&B Supply Chains by Connecting Farms to Markets:

Goal 9

Improving supply chain infrastructure and fostering innovation.

Goal 12

Reducing food waste through efficient supply chain management.

Demystifying Alternative Funding for F&B Success:

Goal 8

Supporting the growth of F&B businesses, leading to economic development.

Goal 9

Facilitating access to funding for innovative projects in the F&B sector.

Brewing Sustainability: How Prefer Coffee is Redefining the Future of Beverages

Goal 12

Promoting sustainable production methods.

Goal 13

Reducing the carbon footprint of coffee production.

Programme Themes

Day 1:
Smart Foundation

Day 1 covers simple ways to use AI and smart tech to run your business smoother and cheaper.

You’ll hear how AI spots quality issues fast, easy factory upgrades predict problems ahead, and tips on getting grants for F&B tech.

Bottom line: Tech isn’t fancy to have, it’s your must-have for staying alive in business.

Day 2:
Founder's Journey

Day 2 is the must-attend day packed with straight talk from founders who’ve been through it all to share their battle scars, smart growth paths like franchising or going solo.

Panels and open feedback sessions uncover hidden traps and what makes an idea worth taking on.

Day 3:
Export Masterclass

Day 3 offers a Friday deep dive tailored for exporters and traders serious about going global.

Topics cover practical digital tools for certification, smart processing tricks to share local flavours worldwide, and updates on current trade rules.

Join us in paving the way for a greener, more
innovative future in the Food & Beverage industry

The overarching emphasis on sustainability ties all these themes together,
reflecting our commitment to fostering an industry that not only grows but does
so responsibly and sustainably.

Conference Ticket

Early Bird Rate (13 May 2024 – 28 June 2024)	Normal Rate	Group Purchase (3 pax and above)	Students Student ID Required
RM1,950	RM2,500	20% off	RM350

* Subject to 8% sales & services tax (SST)

Delegate Ticket Registration Student Ticket Registration

MIFB Conference
Speakers

Bikesh Lakhmichand

Founding Partner & CEO 1337 Ventures

Amirah Jasmine

Founder / Formulist Manis Leting Sdn Bhd

Elaine Lee

Commercial Consultant
(Food Manufacturing and Quality Assurance)
– SWAPAC

Kenneth Chai

Founder of Airgro

View All Speakers

MIFB Knowledge Hub Programme

2:00 PM

Opening Industry Keynote: Eyes Everywhere — How Vision AI is Solving the F&B Labour & Quality Crisis

Synopsis: In an era of rising labour costs and stringent safety mandates, Vision AI is moving from a futuristic concept to an essential “digital supervisor” on the F&B floor. This keynote explores how cutting-edge computer vision transforms standard CCTV into an intelligent system capable of monitoring hygiene compliance, grading produce with 99% accuracy, and detecting micro-defects at scale. Attendees will learn how Malaysian homegrown technology is setting global standards for “dark factories” and autonomous quality control, providing a blueprint for businesses to eliminate human error and safeguard their Halal and safety integrity.

Who Should Attend?

F&B manufacturers, technology providers, product developers, innovation leads, supply chain managers, R&D specialists, and business strategists exploring digital transformation in the industry.

2:30 PM

The AI-Ready Factory: Why You Don't Need a New Plant to Go Smart

Synopsis: The biggest myth holding Malaysian F&B manufacturers back from AI adoption isn’t cost — it’s the belief that smart factories require brand-new facilities. The reality is the opposite: today’s data integration platforms can sit on top of existing equipment, regardless of age or supplier, transforming fragmented production data into a single real-time operational view. This session unpacks how F&B producers are retrofitting — not rebuilding — their way to 20% higher equipment effectiveness and 45% lower product waste. We explore what an “AI-ready” factory actually looks like for a 50-person Malaysian manufacturer, how to start small and scale at your own pace, and why the real bottleneck isn’t technology but data readiness.

3:00 PM

Your Best Business Decision Is Already in Your Data. You Just Can't See It Yet

Synopsis: Most F&B operators are drowning in data they don’t use — POS transactions, wastage logs, supplier invoices, reservation patterns, customer order history — and making gut-feel decisions anyway. This closing session makes the case that the most valuable tech investment isn’t a new system; it’s finally connecting the data you already have.
We discuss what it actually looks like to start using your own numbers to drive decisions at scale, and what you discover when you stop ignoring the patterns hiding in your daily reports. We also hear how the right software layer turns fragmented POS, reservation, and customer data into a single, actionable view without requiring a new system or a data science team.
Together, we answer the question most operators are afraid to ask out loud: what am I missing because I haven’t looked at my own data properly?

2:00 PM

Opening Keynote: The 60-Day Brand Sprint: Rapid Innovation & Global Expansion

Synopsis: Can you build a market-ready F&B brand in just 60 days? Hagen Chen, the founder behind Toast Maker’s successful expansion into the Australian market, shares his “unfiltered” playbook for rapid brand building. In this high-energy session, Hagen deconstructs his current 60-day challenge, revealing the AI tools, digital-first marketing strategies, and lean operational models he uses to bypass traditional growth hurdles. This is a masterclass in agility for the modern F&B entrepreneur—focusing on how to test a concept in Malaysia and scale it to international markets like Australia with speed and precision.

2:30 PM

Franchise, License, or Scale Direct? Choosing Your Growth Model

Synopsis: Every successful F&B brand eventually faces the same question: how do I grow beyond what I can personally oversee? The answer seems obvious — franchise — until you realise that franchising too early can destroy quality, licensing to the wrong partner can dilute your brand, and scaling direct can bankrupt you on overheads. This panel approaches the growth-model decision from three very different seats at the table. A multi-brand franchisee shares what she looks for — and what makes her walk away — when evaluating a franchise opportunity, revealing what most founders never hear: how their brand looks from the buyer’s side. A founder building one of Malaysia’s most recognised dessert brands faces the tension between protecting a family legacy and unlocking national scale. And a franchise strategist who has guided brands from early-stage ambition to structured expansion brings the pattern recognition — what separates the brands that scale successfully from those that fracture under growth. If you’re running a brand with three to ten outlets and wondering what comes next, this is the conversation that could save you from the most expensive mistake in F&B.

3:00 PM

The Founder's Table: Live Idea Validation

No slides. No safety net. The Founder’s Table is the signature session of MIFB 2026 – where founders pitch a live F&B concept and get unfiltered feedback from operators who have built real businesses and an investor who has funded them. Three minutes to pitch. Seven minutes of honest reaction.

For founders in the room, it’s a masterclass in what separates a concept from a business. For the audience, it’s the most honest conversation about F&B entrepreneurship that a trade show has ever put on stage.

4:00 PM

Can Wellness Be a Category, Not Just a Claim?

Something has shifted in the Malaysian F&B landscape. A new generation of founders isn’t adding “healthier” to an existing product line — they’re building entire businesses where the health benefit is the product itself. Functional beverages engineered for gut health. Ancient botanicals reimagined as modern superfoods. Traditional herbal remedies repackaged for consumers who want wellness without the inconvenience. This isn’t a trend on the margins — it’s a category forming in real time, and the founders building it are solving problems most F&B entrepreneurs have never had to think about. How do you substantiate a wellness claim without crossing into pharmaceutical territory? How do you educate a market on an ingredient they’ve never heard of — and then convince them to pay a premium for it? How do you compete for shelf space when your product sits between a three-ringgit soft drink and a sixty-ringgit supplement? This panel brings together founders at the frontier of functional F&B to explore whether wellness can move from marketing buzzword to a scalable, defensible business category — and what it takes to build there.

11:00 AM

Shelf-Ready Malaysia: The RTC, RTE & RTD Playbook

Synopsis: Getting a Malaysian food or beverage product from your kitchen to a retail shelf sounds straightforward — until you realise that the recipe that works in small batches falls apart at scale, the packaging that looks great fails food safety requirements, and the pricing that made sense at a weekend market collapses under distributor margins. This panel brings together founders who have each navigated that journey across the three formats reshaping Malaysia’s F&B landscape — Ready-to-Cook, Ready-to-Eat, and Ready-to-Drink. Each took a fundamentally different path to becoming shelf-ready: one had to engineer traditional spice complexity into a format that stays authentic without preservatives, one had to master fermentation science and Halal compliance to build a homegrown brand that outperforms international competitors in the chiller aisle, and one had to solve the hardest problem in food — making a fully prepared meal survive months on a shelf without losing what makes it worth eating. What they have in common is that none of them had a playbook when they started. This session is the playbook they wish they’d had.

11:45 AM

When the World Breaks: Is Your F&B Business Built to Survive?

Synopsis: Malaysia’s ambition to be a global F&B supply chain partner is real — but so is the exposure. Sustained conflict in the Middle East, post-Ukraine fertiliser shocks, and volatile freight costs are landing directly on the P&Ls of every business in the country.

This session doesn’t traffic in reassurance. It brings together voices from an ingredients importer, global F&B brand and hotels sector for an unfiltered look at where Malaysian F&B businesses are most vulnerable — and a practical framework for building supply chains that bend without breaking.

Attendees leave knowing what the smartest operators are doing right now, and which government tools most SMEs aren’t yet using.

Secure Your Seat Today

How to Register Your Interest for Knowledge Hub Session
via the MIFB 2025 Event App:

Step 1: Log In to the Event App
Use the registered email address that you used to register for MIFB 2025.

Step 2: Navigate to the Knowledge Hub Page
Tap on “Knowledge Hub” from the app menu. You’ll see the full 3-day programme listing all available sessions.

Step 3: Bookmark Your Preferred Sessions
Tap the bookmark icon next to the sessions you’re interested in. Your interest registration is now completed!

Download MIFB 2026
Event Brochure

Get an overview of MIFB 2026, including:

Key event statistics
Who exhibits and who attends
Malaysia’s growing F&B opportunities
Attendee demographics and product interests
Highlights beyond the show floor and exhibition packages

Everything you need to plan your best MIFB experience.

MIFB Conference

Future-Ready F&B: Powering The Next Wave

Attendees will gain

Who is it for?

The MIFB topics align with various SDGs, promoting sustainable practice and innovations that support global development goals

From Thin Air to Lush Greens: Sustainable Crop Production:

Goal 2

Goal 12

Revolutionizing F&B Supply Chains by Connecting Farms to Markets:

Goal 9

Goal 12

Demystifying Alternative Funding for F&B Success:

Goal 8

Goal 9

Brewing Sustainability: How Prefer Coffee is Redefining the Future of Beverages

Goal 12

Goal 13

Programme Themes

Day 1: Smart Foundation

Day 2: Founder's Journey

Day 3: Export Masterclass

Join us in paving the way for a greener, more innovative future in the Food & Beverage industry

Conference Ticket

MIFB Conference Speakers

MIFB Knowledge Hub Programme

2:00 PM

Opening Industry Keynote: Eyes Everywhere — How Vision AI is Solving the F&B Labour & Quality Crisis

Who Should Attend?

2:30 PM

The AI-Ready Factory: Why You Don't Need a New Plant to Go Smart

3:00 PM

Your Best Business Decision Is Already in Your Data. You Just Can't See It Yet

How to Register Your Interest for Knowledge Hub Session via the MIFB 2025 Event App:

Download MIFB 2026Event Brochure

About MIFB

Exhibitor

Visitor

Future-Ready F&B:
Powering The Next Wave

Day 1:
Smart Foundation

Day 2:
Founder's Journey

Day 3:
Export Masterclass

Join us in paving the way for a greener, more
innovative future in the Food & Beverage industry

MIFB Conference
Speakers

How to Register Your Interest for Knowledge Hub Session
via the MIFB 2025 Event App:

Download MIFB 2026
Event Brochure