HOTELEX Shanghai is the Shanghai edition of the HOTELEX series of hotel and catering trade shows. It gathers the supply chain that stocks hotels, restaurants, cafés and food-service operators, spanning catering equipment and refrigeration, tableware and tabletop supplies, premium ingredients, beverages, coffee and tea, bakery equipment and ingredients, ice cream and dairy, food and catering packaging and design, central-kitchen and food-processing machinery, private-label production, and franchise and chain-store services.

Professional competitions and industry conferences run alongside the stands, from barista, brewing, latte-art and roasting championships to bakery and chocolate contests and forums on catering supply chains and chain brands. The show is staged within the Shanghai Tourism Industry Expo, together with the SFE franchise exhibition, forming a combined travel, catering and hotel platform for buyers and suppliers.