Comment: Behind the scenes of the UAE's F&V market

The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management director of culinary arts Michael Kitts takes a look at what 4 Corners General Trading and Grupocatalá expect from their intern Michael Oleynikov, who is charting the challenges in the UAE fruit and vegetable (F&V) market over a six month period:

Chefs in the UAE face unique challenges, not in the least issues surrounding suppliers and fresh produce. To understand this market, 4 Corners General Trading has entered into a JV with the largest grower of fruit and vegetables (F&V) in Spain, Grupocatalá.

Since September 2012, 4 Corners has brought fresh produce to the Middle East for the wholesale and supermarket trade with an increased demand to deliver to the foodservice market. It wanted to understand what the current market is like and how to ensure that chefs and food establishments get the ultimate level of service.

The requirements for F&V supplies is completely different and more critical — The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management is now involved through one of its students who is interning with 4 Corners for a special project.

Michael Oleynikov has been taken on for a six-month internship, during which time he will investigate what the challenges are in the UAE market for leading chefs. He started his work in July, and has already met with a number of chefs including Atlantis’ Sascha Triemer, Madinat Jumeirah’s Sebastian Nohse, Al Hambra’s Oscar Poquet, Fairmont The Palm’s Marcelos Salinas, and Rivington Grill’s Simon Conboy, among others.

His aim was to consult with chefs to understand their perspective of the current F&V supply chain, note current challenges and issues.

In his initial four weeks in Dubai, Michael has been out with the 4 Corners delivery vehicles, experiencing the ‘goods in’ activity, worked in its warehouses, and been on a number of occasions to the fruit and vegetable market.

At the beginning of August he went to Spain to understand the supply chain from seed to plate, feedback the chefs’ initial thoughts to the growers, work in the fields, the pack-houses and logistics facilities of Grupocatalá. He followed the stone fruit season, and at the end of August travelled back to Dubai to meet the container that left Spain by sea to track its condition.

In September, he will be meeting more chefs in Dubai, working on ‘goods in’ for fruit and vegetables with a leading hotel and also giving initial feedback from his Spanish adventure.

Michael will then return to Spain for another three weeks, this time tracking the tomatoes and salads season and learning about product seasonality, pricing, supply chain and varieties. He will travel back on the same airplane as a container of F&V goods, and will inspect the quality of the produce when it arrives in Dubai.

After this, Michael will spend time working in the kitchens of top hotels to see how the product is handled and the condition of the product as it arrives in the kitchens. He will also engage with QSRs and airline customers to get their views on the current supply chain, before spending time with local growers to see how they work within the UAE’s significant fresh produce industry.

And then it’s back to Spain for Michael for three more weeks, this time on citrus fruits. He will also work with Grupocatalá preparing for their presence on the 4 Corner’s exhibition stand at Speciality Food Festival in November. Michael will be on the stand and his journey will be storyboarded at the event.

After this he will prepare a presentation of his findings of the supply chain to showcase at the EAHM in December to his fellow Academy interns and all the chefs he has met.

The idea is to give someone a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will be incredibly valuable to them in the future, combined with the first time a thorough, professional study will be done on one of the most important food sectors to understand what the industry wants from its suppliers, and how 4 Corners and Grupocatalá can develop something that will tick all of their boxes in the very near future.

Michael Kitts is director of culinary arts at The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management. Michael Oleynikov is sponsored by food service experts 4 Corners General Trading and Spanish F&V producer Grupocatalá.