How EFAP Lyon Trains Future Event Management Experts in Partnership with GL Events and SIRHA Food

Hello Anaïsse, could you briefly explain the concept of the EFAP x GL Events Battle and what you expect from the students?

The EFAP x GL Events Battle aims to bring fresh energy to the World Bakery Cup by leveraging the creativity and innovative thinking of EFAP students.

Why did you choose to collaborate with EFAP on this project around the World Bakery Cup?

We regularly welcome EFAP students into our teams, nearly every six months. It therefore felt natural to collaborate with them on a project as rich in potential as the World Bakery Cup.

What communication challenges lie behind an event like the World Bakery Cup?

The main challenge is to spark and sustain passion around bakery arts, an ever-evolving field. Bakery today goes far beyond bread—it includes pastries, snacking, and more. This event, at the heart of SIRHA, reflects these evolutions. We must reach new students, candidates, and enthusiasts—especially younger and more international audiences—to stay aligned with industry trends.

How does the World Bakery Cup fit within the ecosystem of gastronomic and food-related events?

The SIRHA Food events—SIRHA Lyon, SIRHA Europain, SIRHA Snack—are essential gatherings for industry professionals. SIRHA Lyon, in particular, is recognized as the world’s largest event dedicated to food service. We organize numerous competitions that showcase and elevate food professions: the World Bakery Cup, the World Pastry Cup, the Bocuse d’Or, the French Schools Cup… These competitions highlight excellence, innovation, and the ability of professionals to reinvent themselves. They also reinforce visibility and celebrate these crafts.

What are the major communication challenges for a global event like this?

The first challenge is staying relevant and attractive: inspiring young people to participate and give it a try, since the competition is open to all passionate bakers. The second challenge is internationalization. The World Bakery Cup must carry the notion of “French Bakery” worldwide, taking into account cultural and communication differences across countries.

What does your daily life look like as Marketing & Communication Director of SIRHA Food?

No two days are alike. We manage around ten events per year, balancing concept creation, expansion into new territories, and development of our trade shows. I work with a communication team (media relations, graphic design, editorial, content, websites) and a marketing team (exhibitor/visitor experience, emailing strategy, event platforms and apps…). We also collaborate closely with sales and production teams to imagine the future of food service and support professionals in creating tomorrow’s innovations.

Which skills are essential for a role that combines marketing, food culture, and event management?

Curiosity is the key skill, in my opinion. One must be an expert in their field (for me, marketing) while remaining creative and open-minded. This is what allowed me to evolve across different sectors before arriving in food service and events.
Loving food and loving people helps immensely—it fuels creativity, inspires participation, and fosters visitor loyalty.

What advice would you give to EFAP students who dream of working in gastronomic event management?

Go for it! Go see what these events look like in real life, understand how they operate. Take every opportunity: internships, short missions, work-study programs… The event industry is vast—you have to explore it to know what inspires you. And above all: dare.

Dare to ask questions, dare to email someone you never imagined contacting. The greatest stories begin that way, and in our teams, many careers have started exactly like this.