The Middle East market will see more focus on food waste and sustainability, according the our panel of hotel F&B experts.
5. Clean and green
In line with many other industries’ efforts to be more environmentally responsible, Gicquel identifies a key trend in hospitality as being “less is more” is in terms of focusing on “quality over quantity, from pricing to sourcing, to waste”.
Chakhtoura predicts the Middle East market will see “a big focus on food waste, and restaurants and hotels are going to start promoting that like they do sustainability”.
This is certainly true for Marriott International and Ritz-Carlton, with Van Den Bussche revealing: “Our buzzword for 2016 is ‘local’ — supply chain, customers, staff, ideas and network. It stems from the idea is that if your restaurant or bar in the hotel is attracting local customers, then you will by default retain your hotel guests. Go local is a bit of a cliché but it does manage to encapsulate the idea.”
Sparacino shares his thoughts, specifically relating to Dubai: “Dubai is still a fledgling market in food and beverage. They have a lot of brands here, but they’ve imported a lot of it. Dubai will transfer from bringing in to creating. Look at New York or London — slowly Dubai will catch up to that.”
He observes a greater focus on solidifying Dubai’s place on the world stage as a “gastronomic capital”, with part of that involving a greater focus on transparency and traceability in the supply chain. He states: “Globally everyone is in tune with what they’re eating and where it comes from. Provenance, farm to table, whatever you want to call it, it’s not going away anytime soon.”
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