Caterer caught up with Figjam managing director Sanjay Murthy in the run-up to the seventh annual Caterer Middle East Awards.
Why is it important for your company to support the Caterer Middle East Awards?
The Caterer Awards recognise the industry’s talent and we want to be part of supporting this and celebrating their achievements. Our company motto is that we design stories through food… well, the Caterer Awards creates heroes through recognition!
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What are you looking forward to the most from the event in June?
Finding out who the winners are of course and celebrating their success. Okay, I suppose the sensible answer is that the nomination process for the awards is very extensive and as a design agency working exclusively within the F&B industry, the winners all represent F&B excellence. From the winners we can determine successful factors or to put it plainly; what it is that these restaurants teams and individuals are doing right. This is a great insight into customer demands and the future of the sector.
What is the one trend you think is, or will be, popular this year in the F&B industry?
Trends! We try and avoid talking about trends. What immediately springs to most minds is that trends conflict with sustainability. That said, you can’t ignore them. When we begin any design concept our fundamental objective is to develop a modern yet sustainable outlet. We implement strategy that overcomes the need to rely on trends and instead focus on designing something that is capable of incorporating relevant trends when necessary moving forward, as let’s face it, you don’t want to be redesigning your restaurant in two to three years because you focused too heavily on a trend that has now fizzled out.
But that’s not what you want to hear about right now, so… trends, well I think first and foremost there’s no getting away from the food truck and food stall trend, as well as the pop-up restaurant; these have all seen a huge rise in popularity throughout the last 12 months. I think it’s safe to say this growth will continue throughout 2015 due to the ongoing restructuring of laws that had previously made it difficult for outlets such as these to operate.
Healthy eating, farm-to-table and traceability have all also continued to gain ground with increasingly demanding customers. And only those living under a rock would have failed to notice the technological revolution taking place. Generation Y now dominates the adult consumer demographic; this is the first truly tech-savvy generation, having had access to computers from an early age. To win [their] custom, brands across the globe are rushing to incorporate tech platforms into their offering.
Any news we can expect from your company in the next 12 months?
The next 12 months will be an exciting time for Figjam, with continued company growth and increased presence throughout the Emirates. 2015 will also be a significant year in our development of clients’ food brand projects outside of the traditional restaurant scope.
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