Challenges

We asked chefs to name the three biggest challenges affecting their outlet’s performance and the majority picked increased competition, labour shortages and reduced consumer spending.

Di Reda from Boca, which is based in DIFC, tells Caterer that this rings true in his experience.

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“Dubai has more outlets than ever had before. As a result, it’s a big challenge to maintain the current staff with all the competition despite all the effort to compensate them, not only monetarily but also with added benefits for a better work life balance.

“Reduced consumer spending is also an issue as consumers are now more aware that there is bigger competition and they are more careful about where they spend their dirhams. In addition, giving the consumer the right products at the right price also makes cost management an extra challenge,” he shares.

This year’s top challenges differ slightly to last year’s; in our 2015 survey, the cost of importing the required ingredients emerged as the biggest issue faced by chefs, whereas this year this polled fourth. It’s difficult to ascertain without further research whether suppliers’ prices have reduced or whether consumer spending has fallen so sharply in 2016 that it has overtaken prior concerns. Reports of the region attracting fewer tourists from Russia and China this year, combined with uncertainty surrounding the devaluation of the pound following the Brexit vote in the UK, could be contributing to concerns in the hospitality sector about customers spending less.

Reduced consumer spending was, in fact, cited by numerous chefs in the survey as their biggest challenge to overcome at their outlet in the next 12 months.

Meanwhile, in the 2015 survey, 27.6% of respondents said low wages was one of the biggest issues they faced and this year that percentage has jumped to 34.1%, which could mean that salaries have stagnated or, with living costs in the region as high as ever, chefs have less disposable income.

Several chefs also said that both staff retention and “not having enough qualified staff” will be issues for their outlets in the coming year, which will not be easy to address if salary concerns prevail.

The Caterer Middle East Head Chef Survey 2016 has revealed that chefs are passionate about buying local produce and raising standards in order to cement the region’s status in the culinary world, but they are facing the ongoing challenges of reduced consumer spending, labour shortages and increased competition. How will chefs tackle these issues in the next 12 months?