The advisory panel for the Caterer Middle East Food & Business Conference met at Jumeirah Al Qasr, Dubai in early January 2016.
“You’ve got to do your kids menu in line with the cuisine you’re doing in your outlet. Unless you’re a burger joint, don’t put a burger on the menu for kids; unless you’re an Italian, don’t put spaghetti bolognaise on the menu for kids. Keep it in line with your concept,” urged Fraser-Smith.
Speaking about one of his Dubai outlets, Lopez said he had “tried to do a healthy kid’s menu” that swapped chicken nuggets for a chicken breast, but parents asked for typical children’s meals, which Evans attributed to parents wanting to placate their children.
Evans posed the question: “Are parents going to move to venues where their kids are most happy or are they going to choose venues where they are most happy that have reasonably healthy options for the kids?”
Fit to burst
No discussion among F&B experts would be complete without talk about how saturdated the F&B market is in certain areas, particularly Dubai. Velvick said: “When I first came to Dubai there were 5,000 restaurants and now, two years later, it’s something like 8,000.”
Thesleff added: “I just read an article that said in the next 18 months there are 6,000 more outlets coming in. if you just look at Dubai Canal, there are 550 outlets along the canal alone.”
While contemplating what will happen once these open, and all the other outlets in different locations, the panel raised several issues relating to retaining staff and decising on a fair pay scale, which will be disussed in depth at March’s conference. Contact sarah.jacotine@itp.com for more details.
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