Scott Price, executive chef, Table 9, Hilton Dubai Creek believes it is important to invest further in homegrown concepts.
Delegates at the Caterer Chefs and Ingredients Forum were united in the belief that home-grown concepts that offer good value for money would be the only way the UAE would earn its place on the world food map.
The one day conference was held at the Mina a’ Salam, Madinat Jumeirah yesterday and saw in excess of 100 chefs and F&B related delegates attend.
Many were in agreement that for the UAE to move forward in its culinary goal of competing at world class level, it is important to start investing in home-grown concepts.
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Scott Price, executive chef, Table 9 by Nick and Scott at Hilton Dubai creek said: “the way we are growing is great but we need more restaurants unique to Dubai, not franchises. I’d love to see more chefs here, doing their own thing. We spend money on all these different things but they’re not our own.”
Mark Patten, culinary director for Atlantis agreed that there was a need for “something more innovative” but believed this would come with time as it has done in other countries that have more established F&B industries.
Another major theme that ran through the conference was the dilution of the fine dining concept. While there was strong argument that it would never phase out completely as there is still demand for it, it was accepted that the market is making room for the new ‘polished dining’ concept - one with less invested in the design aspect but which still carries a full service offering.
A panel comprising of Daniel During, founder Thomas Klein Internationial, Paul Kennedy, brand chef Mango Tree Dubai, Christophe Prud’homme, exec chef Al Bustan Rotana and Cinu Chandran, sous chef West 14th Oceana Hotel and Spa, believed the concept was being demanded by the local market, not through changes in economic circumstance but more so because today’s diner is much “smarter” and is expecting a more quality offering without the “stiffness” of formal dining.
Russell Impiazzi, culinary director F&B Galleries Lafayette, however did believe that consumers have become more price-sensitive, post-recessionm and are looking for value for money. This has seen a power shift, where the chefs are now able to dictate, to some extent, what they will pay suppliers for ingredients.
Yael Mejia, CEO Foodcraft Solutions, led a session on sustainable sourcing and how much it mattered to chefs. The general consensus was that in smaller businesses, chefs could influence the sourcing of ingredients and go to the lengths of exploring who the farmer was, where the produce came from and the carbon footprint of the ingredients they used. In larger hotel environments, this could prove more challenging.
Gabriella Kurz, resort wellbeing chef, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, said that guests were at present “requesting organic more” than they were concerned about the sourcing of the ingredients in terms of sustainability.
Didier Gusching, exec chef, Radisson Blu Hotel and Park Inn by Radisson, Abu Dhabi Yas Island, added that hotels and restaurants had a responsibility to make their sourcing process entirely visible to customers, in order to educate them on the outlet’s offering.
Each chef picked one of three interactive workshops to attend on the day which ranged from how to engage and retain staff; how much a chef had to do with the pricing strategy of an outlet’s menu and other choices that positioned the restaurant for success and; a workshop on how to utilise secondary meat cuts, courtesy of Meat and Livestock Australia.
Stefan Breg, founder, Tribe Restaurant Creators, led the final session on 2013 predictions which addressed the entrance of franchises and international chains and the position their existence put hotel F&B outlets in today. He revealed that the mall-based outlets currently occupy 1/3 of market share.
While traditionally mall-based offerings have no alcohol offering, the panellists said this sort of restriction within hotel F&B outlets would have a detrimental effect. Paul Hage, exec chef, Habtoor Grand Beach Resort and Spa said it would probably mean many “would close down”.
The session concluded with a discussion on what dictated the F&B offerings of an outlet. While some believed it was the cultural backgrounds of people residing in the emirates, others believed that it was general popularity of cuisine that was the key influencer, using Russian cuisine as an example. One audience member commented that while there is a strong Russian market present in the UAE, there aren’t a significant number of restaurants offering this cuisine. He put the absence of this down to differing climates which can alter the taste and appreciation of the cuisine.
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