Leila Masinaei

The first edition of “Restaurants Cafés & Lounges” Conference and Exhibition will be held from October 7-8, 2019,  at Roda Al Bustan Hotel in Dubai. The first-of-its-kind event in the region is organised by Great Minds Event Management, with the goal of gathering a selected group of F&B and hospitality experts, to discuss improving efficiency and delivering an improved holistic experience to cater to the rapidly changing consumer behaviour in the F&B sector, and to help restaurants, cafés, and lounge owners, and F&B stakeholders to discover the latest strategies that can drive innovation across all business functions to survive and grow in an ever changing business environment.

Leila Masinaei, managing partner of Great Minds Event Management said: “We are organising Restaurants Cafés & Lounges to bring together all the stakeholders who are involved in creating business models from menu selections, growth strategies, location mapping, to technology implementation, from across the Middle East & North Africa”.

“The number of F&B outlets in the region, with new concepts popping up daily, while the existing restaurants, cafés and lounges are actively scouting for new strategic locations to expand their business. However, we noticed in the last few years, the F&B sector has been struggling to catch up with the rapidly changing consumer trends, behaviour and habits. Technology disrupting the market greatly and the economy’s effect on consumer’s spending patterns have made many previously successful businesses obsolete, losing their business and customers to raising competition. We saw the necessity to invite top experts and stakeholders to brainstorm new strategies to cope with the ever-changing consumer behaviour and maximise the gains from technological advancements”, Masinaei added.

The event’s activities will include onstage celebrity chef interviews with Chef Thomas A. Gugler, President, World Association of Chef’ Societies, and Chef Manal Al Alem “The Queen of Arabian Kitchen”, in addition to Workshops and Emerging brands spotlight sessions.

Chef Thomas A Gugler

Chef Thomas A Gugler, President, World Association of Chef’ Societies commented on participating in Restaurants, Cafés, and Lounges: “I am looking forward to having some fruitful discussions, some exchange of thoughts and work experiences and to support the colleagues from all around the world. As I am running millions of chefs around the globe for me it’s a must in supporting the event and the organisers which has the credo to make the great minds of the world coming together and work on our future. ‘Knowledge’ is the key for success and the essentials of a good business and proper execution of work tasks.”

Restaurants, Cafés & Lounges discussions will focus mainly on consumer behaviours, habits, and trends affecting F&B business models in middle east, such as the changing pattern of dine-in versus, take-away and delivery, the change in consumer spending, discount culture and ‘offer’ driven sales, as well as technology inspired behaviours like the social media influence on consumers to choose fancy restaurants and food, and, delivery aggregators and how technology is disrupting the market, as well as consumer behaviour influencers with constantly changing diet preferences.