10 F&B TRENDS FOR UAE IN 2017

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Mark Patten

Atlantis, The Palm Dubai

1.

According to a recent Mintel study (a global and award winning provider of market research) titled “Free-from Food Trends,” 43 percent of consumers agree that free-from foods are healthier than foods without a free-from claim. With this in mind, combined with the health conscious attitude of so many Dubai residents, we will see this claim creep onto the menus of many restaurants across Dubai in the coming year.

2.

The option for gluten-free alternatives is only going to become more popular with better products on the market. No longer just a dietary fad, the gluten free market is already worth USD 973 million and is growing fast. For example, in our Italian restaurant, Ronda Locatelli, the past year has seen us go from one or two gluten free requests per night to an average of seven to eight. These numbers look small but add them up over a year and that’s quite an increase, and that number is only going to get bigger.

While there has been a growing demand for hot and spicy food products for quite a while now, in 2017 diners will move away from the heat and look toward exotic and aromatic spice blends such as harissa, dukkah and ras el hanout. The F&B industry will also be embracing spices and chilies in unexpected ways such as in beverages, ice cream, and chocolate.

Persian cuisine is on everybody’s radar and must be one of the most exciting untapped cuisines in the region. Additionally there is lot more to come in terms of South American and Korean cuisines, which is so rich and diverse with enough weight to be developed in the region.

Based on the popularity and success of branded experiential pop-up bars in the likes of NYC and London, the region is sure to be influenced by this type of activity going forward. For example, the likes of Hendricks and Tanqueray, are investing heavily in Gin Gardens which, because of Dubai’s weather and Expat community, I see doing very well over here.

The year will see a change coming to Dubai’s Steakhouses. There is a huge trend in NYC currently for unusual steakhouses, particularly whereby artisan butcher shop’s fuse with restaurants, offering diners unusual cuts of meat and styles of beef from many different countries.

With Black Tap opening in the coming months and a general increase in unusual milkshakes making their way onto Dubai’s menus, I think the freakshake freestyle milkshake trend is here to stay. This also plays well into the increasing trend of ‘instagrammable’ food which is also only going to gain in popularity.

The craft stout and porter trend is worth keeping an eye on as it’s always evolving. We will see some more unusual takes on the traditional craft make up, from nitrogen-carbonated beers like the Guinness nitro-ipa to the wine-like Craft Cider.

With the rising popularity of Roasts on Dubai’s menus and an ever growing number of British expats an emergence of ‘Roast Shops’ is on the cards, selling home cooked roast dinners and sandwiches for delivery and eat-in.

More beach clubs will pop up, focusing on live, commerciallydriven entertainment.