Organised by Snap Events, To The Table returned to the Middle East & Africa region for the third time in an effort to serve the region’s hospitality and food & beverage industry. The event took place on September 6-8, 2016 at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers Abu Dhabi, with Caterer Middle East and Hotelier Middle East exclusive as the regional press partners.

The aim of the event, as with every edition, was to connect senior F&B leaders from high-profile hotel and restaurant brands with suppliers of relevant products and services, and promote future business between buyers and suppliers who attend. The business-to-business forum included a programme of pre-arranged one-to-one meetings, seminars sessions, networking functions and dinners. Only the most senior buyers were invited, and attendees were able to choose one-to-one meetings specifically as well as network with the attendees.

Meetings and more

This year, for the first time, To The Table EMEA was split to form To The Table MEA and To The Table Europe, adding to Snap Events’ roster of events, which also includes To The Table Asia.

To The Table MEA 2016 hosted 50 buyer and 60 supplier attendees, and Snap Events and To The Table director Debbie Wilson told Hotelier Middle East: “This year saw our best ever list of senior decision makers attending from the most prestigious hotels and restaurant groups across the MEA region.”

A major part of the event was one-to-one meetings, all of which were scheduled in advance by the organisers. Snap Events and To The Table director Justin Wall commented: “We had a diverse list of the highest quality F&B suppliers attending the event and they were able to have private, pre-selected and pre-scheduled meetings with the industry’s most senior decision making buyers. The meetings programme ran like clockwork and so many fruitful discussions took place. The suppliers all collected lots of leads for future business, so we are happy with the success of the event.”

In addition to the meetings, a series of networking evenings were held. On September 6, Bice at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers hosted a welcome dinner, followed by official drinks reception and dinner on the next evening at The St. Regis Abu Dhabi.

The final evening saw a farewell party sponsored by Scottish Development International at Ray’s Bar within the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers. The event’s wine sponsor for all networking was Treasury Wine Estates. Jumeirah at Etihad Towers executive chef Oliver Jackson and chef de cuisine Niels Van Oers also held a chef demonstration with a limited number of selected delegates to showcase the produce and wine offered in the hotel.

Seminars

To break up the three-day event of meetings and networking, seminars were held with experts in the industry to talk about a diverse range of topics, with ITP Business Hospitality Group senior editor Devina Divecha as the seminars’ host.

Wilson noted: “We had the most engaging seminar programme, with top speakers sharing their wisdom and experience. The team at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers also did an amazing job with the F&B and the service.”

After delegate arrivals on September 6, the next day started with a panel discussion on restaurant design, with Starwood Hotels & Resorts director of F&B EMEA Stefan Breg and Keane Brands founder and CEO Aidan Keane. Breg posed a question on how good design actually is in the restaurant business in this market, and also revealed that after conducting a survey on malls and F&B, some interesting results were produced.

“How many concepts in those sites are owner operated, franchised or independent? We found that 44% of F&B venues in the Dubai Mall were franchised, and as much as 70% of the Beach Mall is franchised,” he shared.

The problem, he points out, with restaurant design is cookie-cutter concepts, with a few exceptions of evolution. While Keane commented that the market has come back “better than ever”, he added: “X Factor is killing music by pasteurising the music, and the same thing is happening in this region with F&B where they’re shipping all the trophies but there’s no originality. Any foodie scene has to have originality.”

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