When is the gluten free expo in 2023?

Posted: June 17, 2023 Updated: June 21, 2024

If you’re an Aussie coeliac the gluten free expo is a calendar highlight to taste GF products – so where is the 2023 expo? In typical fashion of Coeliac Australia this year, they have been super quiet on any news. Remember how Coeliac Awareness Week passed by without even a social media post? Oh yes, it was all saved for a longer campaign that no one new about until it started…

But I digress!

The Gluten Free Expo has been held in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth for the last few years. There were missed years due to the pandemic but it made a comeback for 2022.

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Dates for the Gluten Free Expo 2024 and 2025.

I visited the Sydney expo back in 2022 at Randwick Racecourse. It wasn’t as big as I had been hoping, with a few big gluten free brands sadly absent. However I still got some great deals and a tonne of freebies.

Announcements for the 2023 gluten free expo were super late

The first announcement for the official Gluten Free Expo wasn’t posted until 23 June 2023 – about a week after I wrote this article. I received dates via the vendors who are thinking of participating in this years’ expo.

Businesses looking to exhibit at the expo of course need a lot of lead time to plan their stands, organise staff and book flights and logistics. So it does make sense that they know before us.

However, when the Sydney expo is usually in July, you could be forgiven for thinking they’ve just forgotten about it.

Still, the notification was just two months before the Sydney expo – it’s not really a lot of time to make arrangements if you need to travel!

Sydney Gluten Free Expo 2023

The Sydney Gluten Free Expo is coming back to Randwick Racecourse in 2023. These are the dates according to vendor emails.

Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 August 2023.

Royal Randwick Racecourse, Alison Rd, Randwick NSW 2031.

I recall last year there was a bit of disappointment in the choice of venue. Randwick Racecourse isn’t the best location for those travelling across Sydney and NSW. Although it’s easy enough to get to from Central, just a short tram ride. It is otherwise a bit inaccessible.

Particularly when it’s pouring rain! My husband and I got absolutely soaked in 2022.

The exhibitor list is now available for the Sydney show – a few big names, but it’s a bit sparse.

Melbourne Gluten Free Expo 2023

The Melbourne Gluten Free Expo will be again at Jeff’s Shed for 2023. That’s the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre for those not familiar with it’s nickname. According to several vendors the Melbourne exhibition will be in November this year.

Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 November.

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Wharf, Vic.

You can get to the Melbourne expo via tram from the CBD or take a short walk from Southern Cross station. You could also take a longer walk along the Yarra river from Flinders Street station.

Expo dates for Brisbane and Perth

So far, there’s no news about the Brisbane or Perth gluten free expos for 2023. The Melbourne and Sydney expos were described as ‘two major expos’ so it seems likely that Brisbane and Perth will be scaled down events.

What to expect at the gluten free expo in 2023

The expo series usually has a few key features.

• Gluten free business stands
• Free samples
• Guest speakers, academics, people from Coeliac Aus
• Cooking demonstrations? (I’m pretty sure they had this last year!)
• Goodie bags! These are usually for the first arrivals each day.

What businesses can we expect at the Expo?

In recent years Woolworths was the major sponsor of the expo with a massive central stand at the Sydney expo. However, early in 2023, the Woolworths partnership was not renewed. Notably we also lost the 5% discount on gluten free items at Woolworths.

So, who could potentially be a major sponsor? Coles would be an obvious choice if Woolworths has now dropped out. I do recall Coles being a sponsor about 10 years ago, or perhaps they even hosted the event?

In 2022 other big sponsors included Senza, makers of pizza bases, dough, garlic bread and focaccia. Their stand was understandably very popular!

Ayam did great deals at the 2022 expo, with multi-buy discounts. Ayam make a huge range of Asian pastes, sauces and meal kits. They are even accredited by Coeliac Australia. Unfortunately Ayam announced they are not attending the Sydney show this year. Kez’s Kitchen and Glucoboost also toured nationally for the expo.

There was also

• Orgran
• Yes You Can
• Julian’s
• Well & Good

At the Sydney show we saw local bakery WholeGreen, dumpling darlings House of Goodness, Simply Wize. Arnotts were also there, but they were only doing free samples and didn’t have any promotional sales on their biscuits. I got to try a load of their biscuits which was great, but people just wanted to buy the newly released Mint Slice! Perhaps they’ll have samples of the new gluten free Tim Tams.

A neat thing was that a few gluten free food trucks attended the expos last year. Given the business though, these were very much local to each city.

Sydney saw Iron Ramen (not attending 2023), and a stand selling delicious halloumi fries. There were two other vendors gnocchi and other fried goodness. OMG donuts are also there – if you haven’t tried one of their made to order, fresh fried donuts you are definitely missing out!

Who didn’t attend last year’s expo?

The biggest brands missing for me were Schar, Lifestyle Bakery, and Leda. Schar is obviously a huge brand, however their extensive range is relatively hard to find in Australia.

Lifestyle Bakery makes a good range of breads, however you may be more familiar with them as the house brand by Coles. Yes, Coles hot cross buns are in face Lifestyle Bakery hot cross buns!

Leda make some of my favourite gluten free biscuits, particularly their version of mint slice and their gingernut biscuits.

More details to come

Bookmark this page and come back to see updates for the expos, I’ll post opening times and key exhibitors once it’s released. Hopefully we’ll get more news on Brisbane and Perth soon!

In the mean time, browse my website. It’s full of gluten free content, here’s a few of the most popular posts.

• Gluten free ice cream tubs in Australia
• All the lollies in Kmart that are gluten free
• Gluten free gravy powders at the supermarket

I also have a huge archive of reviews!