There’s increasing pressure on food and beverage industry businesses – bars and restaurants – to provide faster, more seamless, more personalized and healthy offerings for customers.
Adaptation is key to staying in the food and beverage landscape – but how can you adapt if you’re not sure what to change? With trends switching swiftly, it can be difficult to pin down the major changes within the industry to pay attention to.
Following Gulfood 2022, a large F&B event that was held in Dubai earlier this year, Simon-Kucher and Partners – a global strategy firm – used its expert insight to establish three key trends that F&B-related businesses should be focusing on this year.
Indeed, it’s critical to make sure consumers know that you’re adapting to their needs so they’ll continue to visit or support your business as a result.
Here are the three key trends to consider for your business.
1. An Increased Focus on the Environment
It’s difficult to not come across discussions on being eco-friendly these days. From diets to ways of living to tips and tricks, consuming while being conscious of the environment is one of the trends that has stuck it out throughout the last few years, and it doesn’t show any signs of going away.
Consumers want to eat better, both for their own health and mental wellbeing, but also for the health of the environment – favoring organic and environmentally responsible products, including every step from packaging to delivery.
This enthusiasm for eco-friendly and sustainable food choices is encouraging innovation within the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), where we’re based, is driving great results. UAE’s Sarya Holdings, responsible for the vertical farming concept Smart Acres, has even created its own health-conscious food-line called Fit Farm, while a new F&B-dedicated Innovation Lab has been built in the UAE for concepts related to sustainability, environment, health and convenience.
These innovations are likely to have a big payoff – nearly 90 percent of consumers in the Middle East are looking for more environmentally conscious food choices to pick from – and they’re also willing to pay extra for them. Meanwhile, 60 percent of UAE consumers believe that if a product is sustainable or natural then this will influence their purchasing behavior.
Of course, this trend is not just in the MENA region – it’s a global trend. And leveraging this trend can not only increase your revenue but can decrease your carbon footprint too, as companies look at revising current products offerings and menus to include more of a focus on healthy and sustainable features that fit this popular market.
2. Think About Cloud Kitchens – They’re Not Going Away
A Cloud Kitchen – affectionately known as a “ghost” kitchen – has been one of the trends that was considered just a passing phase for many a couple years back. Utilizing a commercial kitchen, which can house multiple brands under one roof, this new model – deemed radical by some – can have serious advantages, competing aggressively with traditional kitchen models. Cloud kitchens can lower investment, provide for an easier expansion for businesses, and even increase efficiency, and this new industry is expected to exceed US $71.4 billion by 2027.
Examples of success include Kuwait’s first cloud-kitchen operator, KLC Virtual Restaurants, which has achieved prestige with its cloud kitchen model as to plan to double operations in the next few years, adding 10 new kitchens in Saudi, with plans for kitchens in Bahrain and Qatar to follow. UAE-grown brands Kaykroo and Sweetheart Kitchen are following suit, together aiming to open 45 more stores in Saudi Arabia by the end of this year.
With more than 70 percent of dine-in players considering investing in cloud kitchens, it’s worth thinking if this model would positively affect your business. Other outsourcing models could also be a way of leveraging this trend whilst sticking to the values of your business, and a thorough assessment of the trade-off between commissions and rent compared to the opportunity to grow revenue is needed if you are to consider any new model.
3. An Increased Need for Personalization
With nearly 90 percent of consumers in the UAE more likely to buy from an e-commerce platform that personalizes content – whether by product recommendations, promotions or direct communication – it’s no wonder that leading companies are now leveraging the data they collect across various platforms to better target their existing and potential customers.
This smart way to get in touch with your customers is increasing revenue like never before, and consumers are now expecting to see personalized touchpoints on their purchasing journey. Add to this the increasingly digital environment, and this trend is set to become even more influential, with a majority of consumers in the UAE now actively seeking out online stores that will take the time to offer them dedicated personalized content. Of course, expect to see this trend around the globe.
A great example to look up to is Carrefour, which is using its centralized database, as well as real-time data and data from IoT devices, to make sure its customers are matched with the promoted products that best fit them on their preferred channel.
To use this trend to success, focusing on the customer is the name of the game. Food and beverage businesses – including bars and restaurants – will need to invest in increasing their personalization capabilities, as well as on their communication and customer engagement, to keep customers loyal to their products and receiving what they need, when they need it.
Looking to the Future
These three trends are increasingly becoming more established in 2022. With the ever challenging and highly competitive environment within the food and beverage industry, opportunity is often tied up with risk. Businesses that do their research and leverage these trends will continue to stay on the top of their game.
Farah Thalji is a director at Simon-Kucher & Partners’ consumer practice. She has nearly 10 years of management consulting experience, focusing on tourism, leisure and entertainment, retail and economic policies. Her work with clients typically includes corporate strategy, market assessment, business development and transaction advisory, pricing and go-to-market. Simon-Kucher & Partners is a global consulting firm with more than 1,400 professionals in 41 offices worldwide. To learn more, visit Simon-Kucher.com/en.
Plan to Attend or Participate in
Bar & Restaurant Expo, March 27-29, 2023
To learn about the latest trends, issues and hot topics, and to experience and taste the best products within the bar, restaurant and hospitality industry, plan to attend Bar & Restaurant Expo, March 27-29, 2023 in Las Vegas. Visit BarandRestaurantExpo.com.
To book your sponsorship or exhibit space at Bar & Restaurant Expo, contact:
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e: [email protected]
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Tim Schultz
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e: [email protected]
p: (917) 258-8589
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e: [email protected]
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