F&B preview: The Hotel Show Dubai 2016
The reinvention of the traditional dining experience to keep pace with the Middle East’s casual eating revolution will be a running theme at this month’s The Hotel Show — the largest meeting place for the hospitality industry in the Middle East and Africa.
Taking place from September 17-19 at Dubai World Trade Centre, the annual trade show dedicates half a day to its fourth annual Vision Conference.
During this, a series of expert-led discussions and features will see 15 industry professionals gather at the event’s to assess opportunities, challenges and trends in F&B.
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Discussions will range from how best to revamp dishes for a younger customer to how to provide the variety and value that millennials seek, while maintaining a restaurant’s identity.
“We have seen a huge shift from fine dining to casual all across the region. People are more value focused now. When they are offered a casual dining experience, people expect to be paying a lower price for great food and want to feel more relaxed in their dining. There is now big time demand, so much so that all of the top brands around the world are now going casual or upper-casual,” said F&B consultants Kroma managing director Nicholas Couvaras, who will be part of the conference on September 19.
Kuwaiti chef Ahmed Al Bader is set to give the keynote speech that will kick-off a series of panel discussions focused on the Middle East’s developing F&B scene. The topic of his talk will be ‘Food as a Feeling: trendsetting in the GCC, reinventing classics and loving food’ and he will be followed later in the day by a six-person panel discussion called
‘The casual revolution: street food, sharing caring, grab and go, menu engineering for new trends and improving revenue performance along the way’.
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Featuring hospitality and hotel owners, directors and operations managers, this feature will provide an insight into the global trend that is driving consumers away from high-end restaurant experiences into casual dining.
The Hotel Show Dubai event director Gary Williams commented: “The casual dining revolution is changing the way friends and families eat out. The demand is now for high-quality dishes derived from popular street foods that people enjoy in a nonchalant environment. Millennials in particular are focused on social and cultural F&B experiences.
“Keeping up with this swing in consumer desire is vital for restaurateurs to consider, therefore this opportunity to hear the viewpoints of so many experts on this fast moving topic at the Vision Conference is set to be hugely engaging and intriguing.”
New for this year’s event will be a feature on the show floor that aims to provide an insight into the food truck scene currently sweeping Dubai, and the wider UAE.
Other discussions taking place at the Vision Conference include ‘Chef entrepreneurs —the secret of success’ and ‘Trends in kitchen and eating spaces —reviving your concept for improved performance’.
The Hotel Show 2016 has partnered with ITP Business Publishing's Hotelier Middle East and Caterer Middle East again, marking them as 'exclusive official publisher' for the event.
Visit www.thehotelshow.com to find out more and to register to attend The Hotel Show Dubai 2016, including the Vision Conference, at no cost.