Murthy agreed, and added: “That perfect storm you’re talking about — that I agree with by the way — won’t come from the operators or the government; it has to come from the consumer. Consumer have to start voting with their feet in terms of just not paying [high prices].”
Drawing on his own experiences, Clague shared: ”We made a choice when we opened Rüya not to offer any truffle, scallops or Wagyu for the first three months. It’s only when we stabilised and got the numbers in, and people were asking for it, we have added some. But it’s still incredibly affordable — our menu isn’t expensive at all. And that’s what people want.”
Alex Economides pointed out that there is pressure to have a more solid concept as it is “not as easy to succeed as it once was” in the F&B industry, which isn’t helped by “the cost of living going up for customers”.
Continuing, he touched on the subject of rent, and said: “I hope that with the influx of so much retail in the market that developers will think about dropping their rates.”
Bruggeman said he did not see that happening as landlords have been used to “getting high rents for any space they lease out for the past 10 years”.
Neighbourhoods
The panel was in agreement that certain parts of the region, such as Dubai, are evolving to have various ‘silos’ that act as destinations in terms of attracting people.
“I think the neighbourhoods areas are having an impact, especially if you look at hotels, which are still building 400 or 500 rooms, and still having eight or more restaurants. The perception is that hotels still need to have that many restaurants because of alcohol licensing [rules]. But if you think about places like the Palm, there are six restaurants next to each other that all have alcohol licences but no hotels in that neighbourhood, so why would they go anywhere else when they can go easily there? Those neighbourhood areas are getting more important and hotels need to re-think if they actually need to have 10 restaurants.”
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Health is here to stay
As Caterer’s advisory panel stated last year, health-consciousness is growing among consumers around the world.
Banks stated: “Health is a big trend; I didn’t think it would be hitting the region like it is. The challenge facing operators will be is when we have to start doing nutritional analysis for menus. That is coming and unless you are supported by chefs who are incredibly savvy or you are supported by nutritionists, it will be difficult.”
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