MidEast F&B firms miss out on social media wave

Ian Ohan credits N_K_D Pizza's success to its efficient use of social media

Leading F&B professionals  have spoken out in disbelief at companies today that are still not utilising social media to its full extent.

“Social media cannot be neglected,” said Fadi Malas, CEO of fast-growing QSR Just Falafel. “By 2015 it has been predicted 35% of global media activity will be social media. You cannot build up your presence overnight – you have to capture it now. Anyone without a social media strategy is not competing."

GCC area developer for NKD Pizza, Ian Ohan, has slammed F&B firms in the region saying he cannot think of one that is using it to its full potential: “Most companies don’t use social media well and there are no companies that we are aware of (particularly in the Middle East) that exploit its full potential. If you don’t understand it or are not already on social media, it is probably too late.

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“We were very early adapters of social media in our business [Naked Pizza is cited by Twitter as a case study on how to use it] and we are still learning and trying to keep up with the evolution of social media and digital marketing. The train left the station and even early adapters must work hard to use it effectively.”

Celebrity chef Atul Kochhar, who is the creator of Dubai Indian restaurant chain, Zafran, agreed: “Social media is the way forward for any business. If people are going to ignore it, they might as well shut their businesses and walk away. Social media is the new TV. It is the new newspaper. When computers came in 15-18 years ago, everybody had to train themselves to use them. It’s the same with social media – people are going to have to learn to train themselves to use it.”

Caterer’s investigations have revealed that it is mainly large, corporate F&B companies that have implemented a formal social media strategy into their business plans.

Alison Lehr, assistant marketing manager, digital and analytics, Jumeirah Dubai revealed: “We use Facebook and Twitter to communicate directly with our guests as well as YouTube to promote our hotels and restaurants. LinkedIn is used for recruitment and B2B relationships. We also actively use Foursquare by leaving tips and facts about our properties and facilities.

However, social media is a personal, real-time form of communication and with strict regulations imposed on large corporation’s digital teams, it’s hard to know if it can be used to its full potential.

“Most importantly it is a wide open, unfiltered communication pipeline” said Ohan. Opinions matter.”