Dubai's F&B is following, but not leading trends

Sep 21, 2016

The Vision Conference "Trends in kitchen and eating spaces" took place as part of the three day Hotel Show in Dubai

During the Hotel Show, held in Dubai from September 17-19, the Vision Conference “Trends in kitchen and eating spaces” looked at the progress and concerns for F&B projects, primarily in Dubai.

During the conference, Thomas Klein International principal & managing director Daniel During argued that the emirate is inclined to follow culinary trends, rather than to lead them.

“It mainly stems from investors, who are not prepared to take risk,” During explained. “What I see is clients saying, I have seen this concept in London, or in LA, which I want to replicate here,” he continued.

During’s sentiments appeared to be shared by a number of experts on the panel, including Greg Goulot, executive chef and acting director of Dar Al Dhiyafa, who referred to Dubai’s mentality towards culinary trends as “copy, and paste”.

During continued, telling the forum that his advice to clients is often “look at the trigger that makes trends happen, rather than the trends.” The examples During gave were the current interest in nose to tail eating which he dubbed “the weirder cuts of meat”, as well as traditional home cooking, and comfort food saying “oldschool is cool”. During also cited interest in healthy eating, and the move to towards more casual dining.

Also discussed in the conference, the speakers debated what KPIs a restaurant should consider the most important indicators of success. Goulot argued that number one must be satisfaction of the clientele, adding “without that there will be no revenue”.

Harold Oberander, director of kitchens DWTC agreed in so much that satisfaction is important, adding that his new project Trader’s House has implemented iPad questionnaires, which are given to guests to gain feedback. Crucially, the system has been set, Oberander detailed, so that any negative feedback will trigger a message notification to the restaurant manager. “This is so that the restaurant manager can react before the guest leaves. What stays in your mind is how you were treated before you leave a restaurant,” Oberander added.

Oberander when on to outline other KPIs for the outlets performances, which included daily revenue (but not against covers), bottom line over two years, and ROI.