Untapped potential
Although the market is expanding fast, opportunities still remain for savvy operators. Bahrain’s cosmopolitan population continues to seek out new dining experiences and a real sense of community is building up around the local F&B scene.
“In the past year, there has been an invasion of new creative chefs in Bahrain,” explains Gulf Hotel Bahrain director of food and beverage, Etienne Joguin. “In the past few months alone at the Gulf Hotel, we have snapped up three new amazing chefs from three different continents, all aiming to bring new cuisine concepts to Bahrain.
“Asian flavours are particularly popular here and the merging of Western and Eastern cuisines has inspired some of the most popular new outlets on the island.”
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As the consumer’s palate diversifies, new opportunities are emerging for operators. And whilst the QSR sector is currently crowded, there is still room for high-end brands.
“There are no Michelin-starred chef restaurants here in Bahrain,” says Sofitel’s Plas, “and I think it’s possible to develop such a concept here”.
Ultimately, success in Bahrain hinges on the old maxim, “quality will out”, and it is this focus on quality that is driving the emergence of Bahrain as a culinary destination.
“I think Bahrain has already fully emerged as a culinary destination,” says K Hotel Bahrain F&B manager, Wissam Srour. “For a small country, Bahrain has a good mix of clientele and a lot to offer when it comes to culinary choices, so operators looking to enter the market need to decide who their clientele will be.
“It’s a very competitive market, so the key challenge is to understand the market needs — and I think quality matters most here. Diners are looking for both quality and value for money.”
Market size
Development has been hindered by the size of the Bahraini market — many restaurants report slow weekdays and extremely high demand at the weekend. Therefore, the market’s volume must increase before Bahrain’s F&B offering can diversify.
Although Bahrain has an above average percentage of discerning, brand-hungry consumers driving the market to expand into new cuisines and F&B concepts, the market volume calls the financial viability of such projects into question.
“To raise Bahrain’s visibility on the culinary map, we need to explore more concepts like South American, African and Spanish cuisines to name but a few,” says Gulf Hotel Bahrain’s Joguin. “I think such concepts are already in the mind of entrepreneurs here, but we would need to see Bahrain’s clientele volume increase before these entrepreneurial risks can be taken.”
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