Gulfood is the one show where your packaging is the marketing, not the banner behind it. Buyers at Dubai World Trade Centre pick up a sample, turn it over, and decide in four seconds whether your brand belongs on a shelf in Riyadh or Nairobi. So the print budget for a Gulfood stand splits roughly 40% booth graphics, 40% sample packaging and menus, 20% giveaways and paperwork. Below is the complete checklist with real AED prices — roll-up banners from AED 190, branded double-wall cups at AED 940 per 1,000, custom food-board boxes at AED 3,360 per 100 — plus the week-by-week order plan that keeps you out of express pricing.
First: lock your dates and your stand number
Gulfood returns to Dubai World Trade Centre for its 2027 edition. Confirm the exact show dates and your hall and stand number with the organiser before you order anything printed — stand numbers appear on catalogues, table talkers and badge backers, and a late hall change is the most expensive reprint at this show.
Everything below is planned as weeks before day one, which is the only timeline that survives a date shift. If you have exhibited at a DWTC show before, our exhibition printing checklist and the GITEX season guide cover the general booth logistics; this article is the F&B-specific layer on top.
Bucket 1: Booth graphics (order 4–6 weeks out)
A Gulfood shell scheme is usually 9–18 m² and mostly wall. What actually earns its space:
- Roll-up banner, 85 × 200 cm — AED 190. The cheapest way to own a corner. Buy two, not one: one for the stand, one for the hospitality area or a partner's stand.
- Roll-up banner, 300 × 200 cm — AED 1,680. A full back wall in a single unit, no shell-scheme panel alignment to fight.
- Promotion counter (aluminium) — AED 950 or PP promotion table — AED 395. You need a counter you can print, store sample stock under, and carry out at teardown.
- Foam / Forex boards — AED 245. Rigid boards for certification badges, origin claims, HACCP and halal marks. These read better than printed vinyl because buyers photograph them.
- Hashtag cutout — AED 450 and social media frame — AED 165. Cheap, and they generate the distributor-selfie content that Gulfood runs on.
If you are outside in one of the country pavilions or an outdoor activation, an outdoor tent 3 × 3 m at AED 3,450 covers it. Full range in the exhibition and events collection, and sizing logic in our roll-up banner size guide.
Bucket 2: Sample packaging — where Gulfood is won
This is the bucket most exhibitors underbuild. You are not packaging a product for sale; you are packaging a sample a buyer carries around a hall for six hours and then onto a plane. Three formats cover almost every category:
Rigid and food-board boxes
From the custom box printing collection:
- 100 custom boxes, 35 × 25 × 10 cm, 400 GSM food board, black print — AED 3,360. The buyer-gift box. Food-grade board, so you can put product straight inside.
- 100 corrugated boxes, 35 × 25 × 10 cm, black print — AED 1,500. Less than half the price for the same footprint — correct for bulk sample drops and hall-to-hotel transport.
- 50 eco paper cube boxes — AED 640. Small-format sampling: spice blends, confectionery, dates, single-serve.
A practical split for a mid-sized exhibitor: 100 corrugated boxes for volume, 50–80 food-board boxes reserved for named buyers and distributors you have pre-booked meetings with.
Branded cups — the highest-ROI print at any F&B show
If you are sampling anything hot or cold, your cup walks the hall for hours with your logo on it. Live prices from the paper cup collection:
- 1,000 double-wall 8 oz — AED 940 (AED 0.94 each)
- 2,000 double-wall 4 oz — AED 1,080 (AED 0.54 each — the espresso/tasting size)
- 5,000 double-wall 8 oz — AED 2,250 (AED 0.45 each)
- 2,000 double-wall 12 oz — AED 1,850
Note how sharply the unit price falls: 5,000 cups cost 2.4× what 1,000 cost, not 5×. For a five-day show, 4 oz tasting cups at 2,000 units is the standard order. Sizing and lid details are in our paper cup printing guide.
Bags and labels
Buyers collect. Give them something branded to collect into: 100 readymade A4 paper bags, 250 GSM, 1-colour — AED 850, or A3 at AED 900, from the paper bags collection. And label everything: 1,000 economy custom stickers, glossy laminated — AED 370, or 1,000 transparent PVC stickers 5 × 5 cm — AED 410 for seals on clear packaging.
Bucket 3: Menus, catalogues and the leave-behind
Gulfood buyers do not read a brochure at the stand. They read it on the flight home. That means the leave-behind has to carry pricing tiers, MOQs, certifications and a contact who answers.
- 1 booklet A4, 12 pages, 170 GSM — AED 150. Yes, quantity one. Print two or three as stand copies for tasting menus and spec sheets.
- 50 catalogues A4 landscape, 170 GSM — AED 1,420 (AED 28.40 each). The short-run option for a first-time exhibitor who does not know their lead volume yet.
- 500 booklets A5, 16 pages, 170 GSM — AED 3,000 (AED 6 each).
- 1,000 catalogues, 300 GSM cover, open A4 / close A5 — AED 3,260 (AED 3.26 each) — the lowest cost per qualified lead once you are above 400 copies.
Add tent cards at AED 625 for table-top product descriptions and allergen notes, and flyers for the walk-by crowd: 1,000 A5 flyers, 170 GSM glossy — AED 270 or 1,000 A6 — AED 240 from the flyer collection. Binding and page-count trade-offs are covered in our booklet and catalogue guide.
Bucket 4: The team and the paperwork
Five days on your feet, three people, and everyone needs a badge and a card. Lanyards from the lanyards and ID cards collection start at AED 1.05 each with logo and epoxy doming, AED 2.45 with hook, safety lock and buckle, and AED 3.50 with a reel badge. Order 100 even for a three-person team — spares go to visiting distributors and your own factory staff.
Business cards: 1,000 matt-laminated, round corner — AED 159. At Gulfood you will hand out 200–400 per person across five days. Print more than feels sensible.
Real prices: the Gulfood print list
All prices AED, VAT inclusive, free delivery in Dubai.
| Item | Quantity | Price (AED) | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roll-up banner 85 × 200 cm | 1 | 190 | 190.00 |
| Roll-up banner 300 × 200 cm | 1 | 1,680 | 1,680.00 |
| Promotion counter (aluminium) | 1 | 950 | 950.00 |
| PP promotion table | 1 | 395 | 395.00 |
| Foam / Forex board | 1 | 245 | 245.00 |
| Social media frame | 1 | 165 | 165.00 |
| Hashtag cutout | 1 | 450 | 450.00 |
| Tent cards | Set | 625 | — |
| Custom box 35 × 25 × 10 cm, 400 GSM food board | 100 | 3,360 | 33.60 |
| Corrugated box 35 × 25 × 10 cm, black print | 100 | 1,500 | 15.00 |
| Eco paper cube box | 50 | 640 | 12.80 |
| Paper cups, double wall 4 oz | 2,000 | 1,080 | 0.54 |
| Paper cups, double wall 8 oz | 1,000 | 940 | 0.94 |
| Paper cups, double wall 8 oz | 5,000 | 2,250 | 0.45 |
| Readymade A4 paper bags, 250 GSM | 100 | 850 | 8.50 |
| Economy custom stickers, glossy laminated | 1,000 | 370 | 0.37 |
| Catalogues A4 landscape, 170 GSM | 50 | 1,420 | 28.40 |
| Catalogues, 300 GSM cover, open A4 close A5 | 1,000 | 3,260 | 3.26 |
| Flyers A5, 170 GSM glossy | 1,000 | 270 | 0.27 |
| Lanyards with logo & epoxy doming | Per piece | 1.05 | 1.05 |
| Business cards, matt laminated, round corner | 1,000 | 159 | 0.16 |
A realistic first-time exhibitor kit — two roll-ups, a promotion counter, a Forex board, 100 corrugated sample boxes, 2,000 tasting cups, 50 catalogues, 1,000 flyers, 100 lanyards and 1,000 cards — lands around AED 7,000.
The week-by-week order plan
- 8 weeks out: confirm stand number. Brief packaging artwork — custom boxes have the longest die-cutting and production window of anything on this list.
- 6 weeks out: custom boxes and printed cups into production. Both are made to order, not stock.
- 4 weeks out: booth graphics — roll-ups, counter, Forex boards, hashtag cutout.
- 3 weeks out: catalogues and booklets. Lock pricing tiers and MOQs before this point.
- 2 weeks out: flyers, tent cards, stickers, lanyards, business cards.
- 1 week out: everything delivered to your office, not the hall. DWTC marshalling during build-up is not where you want to be chasing a missing box.
Everything above is also gathered on our Gulfood exhibition printing page.
FAQ
How far in advance should I order Gulfood packaging samples?
Six weeks for custom-printed boxes and cups. These are manufactured to your die and artwork, not pulled from stock, so the production window is fixed. Booth graphics can be ordered at four weeks and flyers at two, but packaging is the one item where a late brief means either express pricing or plain packaging on your stand.
What is the minimum order for printed cups?
500 pieces for double-wall cups, and the economics reward going higher: 1,000 8 oz cups are AED 940 (AED 0.94 each) while 5,000 are AED 2,250 (AED 0.45 each). For a five-day show with active sampling, 2,000–5,000 is the realistic range and the leftover stock is useful in your own outlets afterwards.
Do I need Arabic on my Gulfood packaging and catalogue?
For the show itself, English alone is workable — Gulfood's buyer base is global. For anything a GCC distributor will take to a retailer, bilingual English/Arabic makes the conversation shorter, and UAE retail labelling requirements are Arabic-inclusive. We set bilingual artwork at no extra print cost; it only affects layout, not price.
Should I print 50 catalogues or 1,000?
If this is your first Gulfood and you do not have a lead benchmark, print 50 at AED 1,420 and treat them as the senior-buyer leave-behind, backed by 1,000 A5 flyers at AED 270 for everyone else. If you exhibited last year and know you collect 300+ qualified leads, 1,000 catalogues at AED 3.26 each is better value than any combination of short runs.
Can you deliver directly to Dubai World Trade Centre?
We deliver free across Dubai, but our advice is to deliver to your office or warehouse a week before build-up. Hall access during build-up runs on marshalling slots, and a delivery that arrives while your stand contractor is still installing tends to end up in the wrong aisle. Take it in yourself on build-up day.
What if our stand number changes after we have printed?
Stand numbers belong on reprintable items only — flyers, tent cards, a sticker on the catalogue back cover — never on the roll-up or the packaging. Keep your permanent graphics brand-only, and a hall change costs you AED 270 of flyers instead of AED 1,680 of banner.
Get your Gulfood kit priced
Send us your stand size, your sampling format and the number of days you are exhibiting, and we will come back with a line-by-line quote and a production calendar working backwards from day one. Browse the packaging range and printed cups for live prices, or start from the Gulfood printing page.
Call 0522100909 or WhatsApp +971 52 210 0909 — send your stand number and we will build the checklist around it.
