The advisory panel for the Caterer Middle East Food & Business Conference met at Jumeirah Al Qasr, Dubai in early January 2016.
As the Middle East F&B industry continues to develop, the Caterer Middle East Food & Business Conference grows alongside it.
In 2016, for the first time, the fifth annual food and business conference will be an all-encompassing one-day event dedicated to the F&B arena — the business of food, the kitchen and nightlife. Reflecting the united efforts of the F&B industry in the Middle East to put the region on the culinary map, the conference will bring more than 150 owners, F&B directors, chefs and general managers together to learn from one another.
Prior to finalising the conference agenda, Caterer Middle East met with F&B experts based in the UAE to assess the state of the industry and discuss some hot topics of interest to the industry.
Consumer demands and behaviours
The first trend the panel discussed was the ongoing shift among consumers towards making healthier dining choices. Today’s food landscape looks very different to ten years ago, with a growing interest in knowing what goes into the dishes we all eat. Additionally, with a never-ending stream of diet-related fads gaining attention, the definition of ‘healthy’ can be ambiguous and linked to specific diets, such as gluten free. If restaurants do not respond to specialist health demands, do they risk losing customers?
The panellists agreed that while awareness of health is a huge trend, the idea of ‘healthy’ food is hard to define, and can be subjective.
Sergio Lopez, co-founder of Bull & Roo Hospitality & Investments, commented: “What is healthy? Is it being vegetarian, vegan or paleo? Everyone looks at health in a different way. For me, it’s about balance and nutritiously getting the grain, protein and vegetables that you need. Many people take healthy [eating] to the extreme.”
Dirk Haltenhof, resort executive chef, Madinat Jumeirah, said: “Healthy eating is one of the biggest trends, especially in the UAE. We as F&B people have a responsibility [to provide healthy options] and I have focused on this in this year’s business plans.”
Darren Velvick, chef patron, The Croft, agreed: “It’s up to us educate people. I’d love The Croft to go fully, fully healthy but I’m worried people won’t jump on that bandwagon.”
It’s all about marketing, according to The Cutting Edge Agency founder Duncan Fraser-Smith who said: “The public is never going to have an issue with being given really great quality product but branding it as healthy will cut the market in half because the expectation is, ‘it’s going to have no flavour, it’ll be bland, it’s going to be boring’.”
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