High-end foodservice suppliers are reportedly facing challenging times, as the Middle East market recovers after the economic slowdown.
Speaking at the recent French food fair L’Apéritif à la française, held at Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach, Lactalis International sales director for the Middle East, Dany Abi Khalil, said the biggest challenge in the market today was that “everyone is tightening their belts and decreasing F&B budgets”.
“Being a quality brand with quality products, it’s a bit difficult, because we do not want to compromise on that,” he said. “But then we do need to meet the needs of our users.”
EMF Emirates general manager Pierre Feghali agreed that “many customers are looking more at price than quality”.
“They are increasingly ready to jeopardise quality to get a better price — and this is because they are having difficulties with budgets,” he observed.
Feghali noted that following high occupancies in previous years, hoteliers were under pressure to generate similar revenue today, despite changes in the economy.
“After lowering room rates, which is where the majority of hotel revenue comes from, they have to make budget cut-backs somewhere, and all too often that area is F&B.
“But hopefully we will see the market moving back towards quality in time,” he added.
L’Apéritif à la française organiser Sopexa Middle East’s managing director, Eric Santier, said he believed the cost of quality items was “probably one of the biggest issues facing F&B professionals today”.
“I think chefs are under more pressure to drive revenue, so they have to really check everything that’s available in the market,” he asserted. “But hopefully quality — of the sort we have seen here at the show — will speak for itself in the long term.”
Commenting on the success of the 2010 edition of the trade event, Santier added that he felt there was still growth potential for French products in the region, “particularly in the foodservice area”.
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