SPECIAL REPORT: Caterer's Head Chef Survey

Results discuss rising food costs, the need to find quality ingredients, the importance of training and recruiting professional staff members and the continuing debate on whether the Middle East is a culinary hub yet or not.

The fourth annual Caterer Middle East Head Chef Survey saw nearly 100 chefs across the Middle East take time out of their busy schedules and answer questions about the state of the F&B industry in the region.

The survey was conducted online through Caterer Middle East’s online home www.hoteliermiddleeast.com and was designed to allow chefs to anonymously weigh in with their thoughts of the F&B industry, discuss culinary trends, and reveal the opportunities and challenges they will face in the next year.

We reveal the findings of the survey here, which has dished out some surprising results, and exposed what chefs really think.

Culinary Destination
Is the Middle East a dining destination yet? Has it reached a stage where it is globally competitive? Chefs in the Middle East are increasingly saying the region has become a “culinary hub” with 73.5% believing it has already gotten to that stage. The majority consensus was that the industry is competitive on a global level.

An executive chef said: “We can see the culinary experts are making their signature in the Middle East now, which have good reputation with guests. Guests know exactly what they eat, from where and from whom.”

However, some chefs were cautious in heaping this extravagant praise on the regional F&B industry with one cautioning: “I believe we still have a long way to go and need to encourage younger people in the industry to follow their dreams and try to be a little more individual; this will create excitement and more unique dining experiences.”

Some were not happy with the state of the industry at all; one bluntly said the quality of cooking is not up to the mark, with another pointedly saying: “The Middle East is closed to outside ideas and ways of eating and food, especially in Kuwait.”

As a follow-up question, 78.8% opined that the Middle East could potentially become a dining destination within the next five years. Currently the problem is that diners are “still not educated on food, rather they follow trends” according to one, while another agreed and added: “Most people in the Middle East don’t know the original taste of cuisines.”

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Service Stupor
An interesting thread of thought that ran seamlessly — sometimes in the forefront, sometimes behind-the-scenes — throughout the answers of the Head Chef Survey was service and the challenge behind finding professional staff members.

According to 72.3% of the chefs, good customer service was the most important for the success of their operation. However, finding people who could seamlessly deliver impeccable service seemed to present a hurdle.

One chef said that while the region is currently seeing “tremendous competition” and international brands, the one thing that still lags behind in the quality scale is the service culture where it is a challenge to find professionals.

Another said: “More and more respected chefs are looking to open here, food quality overall has improved drastically, but food service is in a state of spiral.” Downward, we think he meant.

Labour shortage could be a cause, with 42.6% chefs revealing this was a major concern for their outlets. On the wish list for the head honchos was to have “skilled labour” which would help them carry out their job better.

Interestingly enough, the rise of technology in the kitchen did not seem to curry favour with chefs who want skilled team members.

While 67.3% of our respondent chefs think using technology improves kitchen efficiency and 38.8% said it raises the quality of cuisine, 36.7% said young chefs now lack basic skills due to this development, and 10.2% said technology makes them lazier.

One chef said: “I believe the basics are the foundation for us to be successful, and new technology is just another technique to learn; it does not replace skill.”

Indeed, Caterer Middle East has, on recent visits to various restaurants, seen some chefs go ‘old school’ and revert to using machines and/or techniques from simpler times and still produce quality food.

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Show us the money
Quality is said to come at a price though, and as always, monetary matters figure highly in the chef responses. Average spends per head this year seems to be going down, where 4.5% of chefs admitted that diners at their outlets spend an average of more than US $1000 per head, compared to 13.7% of chefs admitting the same in 2012.

Interestingly enough, this amount is lower than what was found to be the case during the first Head Chef Survey in 2010 where just 5.8% chefs said the average spend per person at their outlet surpassed $1000. In fact, consumers in general seem to be spending less, with 25.5% chefs revealing that reduced consumer spending is a concern this year.

However food cost percentages are roughly the same, with the number at 30%, just 1% up from last year.

These two trends may be a reflection of the rise of the casual dining concepts that have sprung up in the region in a big way over the last year, with even celeb chefs cashing in on them.

Rising food prices, however, is still a massive concern for our executive and head chefs. The cost of importing required ingredients and products, and rising food prices feature in the top three issues that affect outlet performance (31.9% and 38.3% respectively).

“Non-availability of ingredients; frequently suppliers are saying ‘out of stock’,” was one complaint lodged by a chef. Nearly 28% of respondents said some suppliers indulge in over-charging which presents a hurdle.

Rising global food prices are also impacting outlets’ operations and budgets. And from what the survey shows, chefs aren’t getting higher budgets to compensate for this.

Last year, 15.9% said they had a higher budget to spend on quality ingredients, as compared to just 12% this year. One chef revealed: “Unfortunately there is not much we can do as we can't allow ourselves to out price us out of the market. We have to stay competitive even though this means a higher F&B cost overall.”

Others cited the solution of maximising use of locally produced goods to deal with the challenge, although one admitted that “it is difficult to evolve menus and keep guests interested when you have boundaries due to the price of foods”.

“Proper cost and wastage control” was listed many times as a solution, and only one chef admitted that his/her outlet dealt with this issue by passing on the cost to the consumer by increasing menu prices.

Industry Concerns
In addition to labour shortages and problems with rising food prices and cost of ingredients, chefs have to deal with other issues as well.

Keeping the outlet relevant and at the forefront of customers’ minds is something chefs are continually thinking about. One said: “The competition is getting bigger and bigger almost every month. It is going to be hard to stay recognised and draw more guests into our restaurant.”

Renovations and refurbishments featured heavily with respondents proving it is important to consider reinventing to stay relevant. And not just how a place looks — its food is equally subject to change and certainly must be. Menu development is another issue to be dealt with, with a chef saying that “the cost of ingredients and produce restricts menu development”.

A few chefs referred to the supply chain in the region as needing improvement, and said the region needs “more suppliers for fresh produce and a fairer salary structure”.

Long working hours was something many chefs said they disliked most about their job; quite a few pointed out they did not spend enough times with their families.

Another thread of discontent was monetary — they said budgets need to be revised for them to do their jobs properly. A smidgen of responses alluded to management and higher-ups being ignorant about what actually happens in kitchens leading to some wasting time trying to convince administrative members of the company about what was really needed.

When asked what additional support was needed for them to be able to do their job better, answers ranged from “flexible hours” to “more skilled labour” to “finding the right ingredients”.

It’s not all gloom and doom though — 76% agreed and strongly agreed that the F&B industry in the region is in great shape, with 64% said they are seeing more customers as compared to 43.3% last year.

The hospitality and tourism industry is positively contributing to the F&B sector as well, said the chefs, with the concepts of theme nights and promotions gaining traction towards attracting customers on a regular basis.

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Happy Chefs
But no matter what challenges they have faced over the last year, an overwhelming number of chefs are doing this for the long run, and Caterer Middle East was happy to see that what was on the mind of most chefs who responded was delivering excellence.

An overwhelming number said “quality” – whether for food or service — was the name of the game. This, they said, would keep diners happy, creating repeat customers and increasing the volume of business.

This aspect was something chefs said they enjoyed most about their job and kept them going despite all the challenges faced in this high-pressure industry. “Seeing guests leaving super happy and welcoming them back again and again into the restaurant” and “An empty plate that comes back from the guest’s table” are just some of the things chefs said keeps their spirits high.

However, accomodating management-given budgets is also something chefs need to think about. “Deliver best possible quality to attain best guest satisfaction, same time to meet the budgeted revenue in set cost frame,” said one chef, when asked what his main focus was.

But the bottom line is, keeping guests happy is important, and this leads to a successful venue. To achieve this, 72.3% said good customer service was the most important, followed by quality ingredients at 69.2% and value for money at 56.9%. Location surprisingly was not in the top three of what makes an outlet click; it merited only 43.1% of the votes.

Indeed, it’s seen as a trend that outlets drive traffic to locations rather than the other way around.

As one chef said, his focus is on “providing a creative and innovative platform for my team to be passionate about food quality and ingredients so they can create memories for our guests.”

It would seem F&B teams are realising that driving traffic into their venues shouldn’t be wholly dependent on where they are based — it should be about food and service.