Independents' day
All too often, when you think of F&B outlets in the Middle East you think of hotels — fair enough, in a society where such a large portion of dining out does indeed happen at hotels.
But as the mall culture takes off across the region, while a multitude of mixed-use developments come into play, independent outlets are coming into their own — and not even the economic downturn appears to be dampening spirits.
According to Casper & Gambini's Worldwide chief executive Anthony Maalouf, business so far this year has been good, with “seasonal trends similar to previous years at an increase in revenue on the regional level by 10%”.
“The mall trend is ever on the rise — people have adapted greatly to the ‘one-stop shop’ system, thus business in malls in general has been better than ever,” he asserted.
The brand has established a holding company, Ant Ventures Holding, which will manage Casper & Gambini’s as well as two new concepts — Eatalian, a modern take on traditional Italian dining, opening in Lebanon; and Falafel Nadia which aims to revive the falafel tradition with gourmet falafel sandwiches and salads, opening in Kuwait and later Lebanon.
This strong pipeline displays real confidence in both the market and the product — and this company isn’t the only one feeling positive.
Egyptian brand L’aroma Gourmet Coffee’s partner and operations director Nadder Montassir said that its café concept had been “lucky enough not to experience any major effects of the global recession so far”.
“In fact, our forecast for this year indicates a healthy increase in sales over last year,” he continued. “This, we believe is attributed to the nature of our business, as people still socialise in cafés, coupled with the relatively stable economy in Egypt.”
Al Tayer Trends’ brand manager for Caffe Nero, Simon Holroyd, was similarly positive about the brand’s launch earlier this year, which he said was met with “a very enthusiastic response”.
“Early March saw us launch the Caffe Nero brand in the UAE, with our flagship store in The Dubai Mall, followed by two more stores in Dubai Marina Mall and Al Hamra Mall in Ras Al Khaimah soon after,” he explained.
Of course, even with such a positive outlook, there are necessarily certain challenges to be faced, as Casper & Gambini's Maalouf pointed out.
“We have revamped our traditional image to a more modern, nature- and people-oriented one, providing tasteful products to people who love their taste in life, taste in service, taste in clothes,” he explained.
“It was a big challenge, to successfully launch our new identity across our 23 regional operations, from delivery and catering materials to the outlets themselves. We had to do all this and also ensure that we remained an industry leader, on both the coffeehouse and restaurant levels.
“But we are continuously looking for new offerings, enhanced products, the latest trends, and whatever it takes to stand out as a brand; and it is this forward-thinking ethos that has moved us to where we are today,” he said.
L’aroma’s Montassir said the major challenges he had noted across the Egyptian F&B industry were the scarcity of qualified staff and high staff turnover.
“For some reason, the F&B profession is still looked down upon as a ‘servant profession’ as opposed to a ‘service profession’,” he commented.
“It is often a last resort for many young men and women, who only enter the industry as a temporary arrangement until they find a ‘real’ job.
“We try our best to invest in our employees through training and proper career development paths, which keeps most of our staff members motivated to excel and move up in the ranks.”
Meanwhile Al Tayer Trends’ Holroyd said although newcomer Caffe Nero had not faced any particular challenges pertaining to brand response, he appreciated that “in the current environment, customers are more discerning about where they spend their money”.
“As a result, the emphasis now, more than ever, is on value-for-money and a strong quality offering,” he said.
“The team’s endeavour at all times is to ensure that the entire customer experience at Caffe Nero is a very pleasant one; ensuring that our coffee is made perfectly every time and that our food is fresh and made to our exacting standards.”
It seems that things are looking bright for independent operators, with companies remaining upbeat, taking a positive attitude towards expansion and spreading that attitude across the market.
But what does the future hold for the aggressively-expanding independent names?
Casper & Gambini's Maalouf says the brand will “grow more, in more locations and more countries”.
“Our mission is to expand our unique all-day restaurant-café concepts worldwide,” he revealed.
“As a holding company, we will grow within the F&B industry with more unique and successful concepts.”
L’aroma’s Montassir said the Egyptian brand would “strive to stay one step ahead of its competitors” in future.
“Moving forward, we will continue to invest in our food offering, in order to customise it to the needs of our customers.
“We have several new initiatives in the food area that we are hoping to launch in the near future,” he added.
Al Tayer Trends’ Holroyd said Caffe Nero would continue to expand to KSA and other GCC markets in the near future.
“Caffe Nero plans to open at least 50 stores across the GCC over the next five years,” he revealed.
“Ensuring good customer experience will continue to be our priority, but menu innovation and encouraging home-grown musical talent are some extra elements that you can expect from Caffe Nero.”
There is clearly a lot to look out for from these operators — and many more besides.
And it is this kind of forward-thinking and proactive attitude that will raise the Middle East F&B market up sooner rather than later.