The total number of operational restaurants and cafes in the Emirate of Dubai reached 11,813 at the end of 2018, according to the Department of Economic Development (DED), making Dubai the gastronomic capital of the Middle East. In 2018, the number of fast food chains in the UAE reached 996, followed by coffees and teas in around 850 outlets.
“Regardless of how society develops in the future, consumers will continue to drink tea or coffee – or karak chai – depending on their lifestyle. Therefore, it is important to talk about this important sector that generates so much income and to talk about those whose livelihoods depend on this important industry – starting with the farmers who grow the ingredients, the workers in the processing factories of the tea and coffee, suppliers, restaurateurs. and the people who serve them to consumers ”, Mini Jacob, co-founder of Oddbox, organizer of the Fast-Food & Café convention.
“The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges as well as opportunities for the sector. It is important to find the best way forward for the industry, in line with sustainable agriculture, sourcing and a new way of serving consumers.
The one-day Fast Food & Café convention will feature key industry executives including Ajay Jain, CEO of Rebel Foods; Tapan Vaidya, CEO of Papa Johns in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia; Damian Conway, Dubai Restaurant Group Advisory Board Member; George Kunnapally, Managing Director of Nando’s; Karim Hajjali, CEO of Foodquest; Ketaki Shah, Marketing Manager at Jollibee; Ravi Chandran, CEO of Liwa Minor; Savia Vaz, Marketing Manager at Citymax Hotels and Foodmark; Abdul Kader Saadi, founder of Eighty6; Mohammad Al Madani, Chairman and CEO of the Al Madani Group; Mohamed Al Fayed, CEO of Grubtech; Prashanth Menon, Director of Operations at Pizza Express, UAE; Naji Haddad, Managing Director ME at Deliverect; Nadine Benchaffal, founder of Abfab Foods and Stéphane Cherel, CEO of O’Tacos, among others, who will discuss the main issues facing the industry and the way forward.
The Fast Food & Café convention was launched in 2017 in India with an ambitious vision to create a platform for all stakeholders in Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), Coffee, Fast Food, Casual Dining, cloud cooking and food and drink. industry. Following its success in India, Oddbox launched the Middle East version in Dubai, which will be co-located at the Middle East Retail Forum at the Conrad Dubai Hotel.
Innovation, food technology, cloud cooking, changing consumer behavior and changing customer touch points are some of the major industry trends that were reported at the event.
“As economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE is leading the recovery through its effective management of the pandemic. With the faster return to normal and the opening of the country’s borders to coincide with Expo 2020, this is a perfect case for the launch of the Middle East edition of the Fast Food & Café Convention in Dubai ”, Mini Jacob said.
“At the Fast Food & Café convention, delegates will get a clear focus on where the industry is heading, including challenges and opportunities, so attendees can rethink their growth strategy.
The global restaurant and catering industry is worth approximately US $ 34.25 billion and is expected to reach US $ 56.3 billion by 2027. According to estimates for 2020, the global number of catering establishments was of about 23.13 million. Only about 300,000 of them were based in the Middle East and Africa, according to Statista.
With the high purchasing power of UAE residents, the market is getting more and more robust with each passing day. Food stores in the UAE are now synonymous with a place to celebrate occasions and enjoy with family members.
High disposable income, cosmopolitan environment, varied dining choices from Mexican to Korean, the United Arab Emirates is a diners’ paradise – from fast food to casual dining to fine dining – the country offers the best in food choices. food and catering live.
A report from Mordor Intelligence shows that nearly 32% of Emiratis are willing to spend 100-300 Dh on eating out. Those who are willing to spend 50-100 Dh represent around 39%.
In 2018, in the catering sub-sector, fast food restaurants had the highest sales value in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with around US $ 3.6 billion. Fast food restaurants are expected to reach a sales value of approximately US $ 4.5 billion in 2022, followed by full-service restaurants with a sales value of approximately US $ 1.9 billion in 2018.
The Fast Food & Café convention is supported by Ecolab, Grub Tech, Vio Life, Deliverect, among others.
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About Fast Food & Café Convention
The Fast Food & Café convention was launched in 2017 with an ambitious vision to create a platform for all stakeholders in the QSR, Cafe, Fast Casual, Cloud Kitchen, casual Dining and F&B industry which we are delighted to say it, has gradually become a reality – the event has grown over the past 4 editions and we are overwhelmed by the incredible support from the industry.
We are now moving forward with the greed and enthusiasm of children in an amusement park and we hope to bring the whole community together on this adventure!
Having established our footprint in India, we believe it is time for us to bring this platform to the international restaurant community. We struggled with the big question – Where next? We dug and our research corroborated our choice of city – Dubai!
We have found that the MENA sector is showing a lot of resilience and promising growth, especially in QSRs, Cafes, Fast Casual, Casual Dining, Ghost & Dark Kitchens. And that is precisely what brings us to this part of the world.
Needless to say, the challenges facing the QSR & Café industry and more recently the booming Cloud / Dark kitchens are unique and very often different from the rest of the hospitality industry. Add to that the after-effects of a global pandemic! This is precisely why there is a need for a platform like this that brings this amazing community together, to share and overcome concerns, for the advancement of business.
Media contact
Pan-Asian media
Address and contact details
Contact
Muhammad Yusuf
Company address
PO Box 39865, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Email: [email protected]
© Press release 2021
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