Food education is key tool in driving F&B business

Participants get to work at the first L'ateliers des Chefs class, held at its new Le Meridien Dubai venue.

The growing consumer trend for learning to cook doesn’t necessarily spell the end for regular restaurant visits — in fact the trend could help increase business and customer loyalty, say chefs

Whether it’s down to tough times, the rise of celebrity chefs or the growing global trend for health food, there is no doubt that consumers are increasingly turning towards chefs for more than good grub: today, they want a culinary education.

“I think part of this learning trend is the surge of going back to healthy food; people want to eat what is good for them,” said Suzanne Husseini, presenter of Arabic Food Network cooking show Fatafeat.

“They’ve gone down the path of fast food and quick food and I think now people are reverting back to cooking real food, wanting to know where their food comes from, how animals are treated before they are slaughtered, where their vegetables are grown, whether pesticides are used — all these factors are increasingly important as people become more educated,” added Husseini, who also teaches private cooking classes.

According to celebrity chef James Martin, popular culture has also boosted this trend for knowledge.  “People are watching cookery programmes and buying cookery books, so it’s a knock-on effect,” he explained.

Victoria Crick, organiser of Dubai’s annual Taste of Dubai show — which this year catered for the food education trend by featuring the Spinney’s Cookery School — commented: “People want the opportunity to understand what goes into the dishes and to learn how to put something together themselves; good food doesn’t have to be limited to fine dining restaurants.”

So what does this migration to home cooking mean for the region’s outlets: can feeding the hunger for culinary education be good for business, or will it decrease consumer spend on dining out?

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“I think it’s important for businesses to educate consumers at showcases like Taste of Dubai, because then it leads them to the hotels,” he pointed out. “If we give them a little taste of what we do, we can encourage them to then come to the hotel and try the whole experience for themselves.

“Every year different restaurants are opening and more well-known chefs and well-known brands are entering the region, so you need to make sure you do enough to make your outlet stand out in all that.”

Matthew Pickop, executive chef at Hilton Dubai Creek’s Verre by Gordon Ramsay outlet, added: “Rather than putting ourselves out of business by everyone eating at home, we’re showing people that there aren’t any secrets, but that when they come to us there’s that extra touch of expertise and service that make it a truly special experience.

“On top of that, by introducing them to new products we’re opening people to new ideas, which then provides us with the right atmosphere to develop the quality, styles and types of food we can feasible offer on our menus,” he continued. “And it just makes it so much more exciting for us, for the industry as a whole.”

Michelin-starred chef Vineet Bhatia, patron chef of Grosvenor House Dubai’s Indego restaurant, agreed that educating the general public broadened a chef’s options.