Event review: Gulfood 2016
The 21st edition of Gulfood took place in Dubai from February 21-25, and saw a number of trends, new products, and launches at the Dubai World Trade Centre. As always, the show was privy to investment plans and futures being planned for the region’s foodservice industry. Here is our detailed report, boiled down into ingredients, equipment, and essential supplies.
INGREDIENT NEWS
Starting off our ingredients section with chocolate, French chocolate firm Valrhona has re-affirmed its relationship with its farms with the launch of new products after years of R&D. Valrhona area manager IMEA Zeyneb Larabi revealed that Gulfood 2016 marked the official launch of these new items. She said: “We have two new unique products: one is Mananka, it’s a single origin from Madagascar with orange. And then we have Itakuja, a pure origin from Brazil with passionfruit.”
Larabi explained: “What is very unique is that after more than 10 years of R&D with our planters, we developed a process where at the stage of fermentation we add fruits so it gets infused and gives a very natural subtlety to the chocolate.”
In addition to the new fruit-infused chocolate, Valrhona has also added a few more items to its organic and fairtrade range — these include Andoa (70% and 39%), Acaoba (60%), and Waina (35%). “In terms of R&D and relationship, we are very close to our planters,” said Larabi. “Our approach to sourcing is very unique as well; we have two people travelling across the world to find the finest cocoa beans. Innovation is very important for us, and planters and CSR as well.” With poultry, innovation can be seen in the local market as well. A new farm in Abu Dhabi being built by Emirates Modern Poultry (Al Rawdah) to produce fresh chicken and frozen chicken products will more than double the company’s current output. Paul Farhat, head of foodservice, said that while the company’s farm in Dubai occupies around 5,000km2, the development in Abu Dhabi will be even bigger, partly due to the Emirate’s regulations that stipulate the slaughter house not be located inside the farm.
“It is going to double our capacity and we are looking at a late 2016/ early 2017 finish. Today we slaughter 45,000 chickens every day. When this farm is finished we are looking at up to 100,000 a day,” Farhat shared. He added: “The farm is by Liwa, near the Saudi border, and like our farm in Dubai, we want it to be a zero-waste concept.”
The addition of a farm has been driven by consumer demand with Farhat remarking that the company is “currently running at full capacity”, attributing the rising demand for its produce to a growing awareness “about how chickens are raised, what they eat and how they are slaughtered”. Al Rawdah chickens live cage-free, are fed a home-made 100% natural diet and are slaughtered by hand as per halal regulations.
In the beverage product market, Nordaq Fresh, a water filtration system from Sweden, distributed by La Marquise, is currently experiencing growth in the Middle East, according to La Marquise marketing manager Olga Mirtova.
She said: “Demand for Nordaq Fresh in this region is strong; the products are already popular in Europe, but they’re new to the Middle East, we are the innovators here, and we’re seeing very good response from the market. Nordaq Fresh filters tap water, removing all the impurities, while keeping all the minerals, producing Michelin star quality water for use in hotels and restaurants.
Midrange and luxury hotels can benefit from this product; we just need to calculate the water consumption levels to ensure there is good return on investment — if they use a lot of water — then the star rating becomes irrelevant – all hotels can profit from Nordaq Fresh.”
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PRODUCTS AND EQUIPMENT NEWS
Boncafé Group CEO Tony Billingham revealed to Hotelier that the group has evolved and introduced new products. This includes the Thermoplan Black & White 4, which is in prototype stage, and production will start end of May.
He commented: “That just opens up a new price bracket of machines.” Other products the group is offering includes the “revolutionary PUQPress which is an automatic coffee tamper”. Billingham also cited the San Marco Smart Grinder, which is an intelligent grinder with an infrared strobe and can detect whether it’s a single or double and dispenses accordingly. “The other big one: we’ve launched four Nespresso compatible capsules which is a long black coffee, an espresso, a ristretto and a decaf,” said Billingham.
He said: “Everybody’s jumped on the bandwagon of having a Nespresso capsule, we too have had to. It took a lot of development, and getting the coffees right took a lot of time.”
Laundry systems provider Alliance is set to launch a brand new electronic control platform that is able to sense various wash conditions and garment types.Rick Pyle, president, Alliance International said: “The basic mechanical structure and design of a washing machine is fairly standard. But the electronic control platform will add a new dimension to the wash patterns. For example, the machine will shut off if it senses the garments have dried before its wash cycle. This means that if you set the timer to 20 minutes, and the garments dried in 10, it will not continue running. The electronic control systems allows the user to operate the washers most efficiently and with the lowest cost of ownership.”
Joining the new launches at the show, Swiss-based Gastros unveiled a new product offering at Gulfood this year — the InductWarm Series 130.
Gastros marketing and sales manager Valerie Stumpf said: “The brand new thing we have released is InductWarm, so we are building induction into the counters — it’s seamless, easy to clean and there’s no cut out. It’s ideal for room service and can also be used for the buffet.”
Gastros can customise outlets to incorporate the new offering, keeping food warm until 95°C on four different temperature levels — without heating the surface itself, as long as it contains no magnetic material. “We can build the induction device underneath and we can use any material — wood, glass, stone, marble, granite,” Stumpf added.
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ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES NEWS
Just one year after launching the Uniforms by Ronai catalogue, A. Ronai design and production manager David Sprakes has revealed the developments that clients can expect in the next few months.
Speaking to Hotelier Middle East, Sprakes said the last 12 months has been good for the range, with “some items are becoming firm favourites with people and bestsellers for us”. One of these, he revealed, was the Harrogate chefs’ jacket.
He continued: “People are really loving the garment builder; it lets them have some control over the design, and they get a product that’s a little more unique for them without all of the time and hassle and expense of going through the whole design and bespoke process.”
Due to requiring a small minimum order, A. Ronai customers find it an easy method to buy uniforms that look bespoke. Saying that there are no immediate changes planned in the current range, Sprakes confirmed A. Ronai will expand the garment builder section to give customers a more varied choice of details, as well as new fabrics.
Moving on from uniforms to design products, Intermetal, which was FSC-certified eight months ago, debuted its sustainable range of products for the hospitality industry. Intermetal marketing manager Cathy di Savino said: “Intermetal is well renowned for our aluminium stacking chairs; we have expanded with a new joinery within our factory, and at this show we’re promoting our sustainable products.” One of these products is the fully customisable ‘Dining Pod’, which provides privacy and personal space to those who use it. She said: “The dining pod was a concept that we thought was interesting because people today with technology are sitting privately with their own little hub.”
Another product it has launched includes a range of “high and low” customisable seating, which can lend to a casual and cozy feeling between bar and dining areas in restaurants. Talking about the company’s sustainable accreditation, she added: “We’re a FSC-certified company for eight months now. People want to procure from responsible suppliers, so it was a step we had to take — and the response has been excellent.”
Overall, the sentiments expressed across all verticals at Gulfood 2016 were positive, setting expectations for a beneficial 2016 in the industry. The show is all set to make a return in 2017, with dates finalised for February 26 to March 2, 2017.