PUBLISHED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SWISSCOM HOSPITALITY

Transcription

1 How Barack Obama will affect the US hotel industry Economic woes in 2009 : Managing in a downturn Four CIOs join our first Technology Roundtable The GM of the «Best Hotel in the World» tells us where luxury is heading Thoughts on 2009 from the CEOs of Scandic and Mövenpick PUBLISHED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SWISSCOM HOSPITALITY

2 food & beverage How the world will eat next year Hotels are not only places where we meet, mix, and sleep we also eat in hotels. And since F&B makes up a vital part of a hotel s revenues and profits, managers must be attuned to the ever-changing trends and tastes in this most eclectic aspect of the business. GRETEL WEISS, Editor-in-Chief food-service/foodservice EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST identifies for us eleven key trends that will have an impact on Food & Beverage in In the foodservice business, the following P s have high priority : professional performance, profile and profit. There is no success without great ideas, powerful concepts and, most importantly, entrepreneurial energy. Continuity is what counts. At the same time, there is a tremendous change in the market. Keeping an eye on that change and transferring it to the specific individual formula is in your own best interest for the future s sake. That s why future trends are so significant for our business. They seem to belong to professional foodservice s temper. Have a look at these 11 trend theses - the latest findings resulted from my daily work : the perspective observation and analysis of a fantastic & fascinating industry from fast food to fine dining. Facts about future trends are meant to be stimulating and inspiring. They want to pave the way for growth and turn it into a road to success. 1. More interfaces with work, leisure, retail, transport Nowadays, the central question in all industries is : how can we achieve more growth? Looking ahead, what does the future have in store for us? Most of the additional revenues will be generated at the interfaces with work, leisure, retail and transport all the way from fast food outlets, takeaways and sports stadiums to event catering and back. Locations where the key threads of our lives criss-cross, where networks are created and somehow platforms are built locations that are booming and very promising for the future. curricula vitae. To get it straight : for breakfast, they have a healthy muesli. At lunchtime, they gobble down a hamburger and fries, then in the evening they make their way to the most expensive Italian restaurant around. That s real life! Healthy living is OK but it definitely shouldn t become dogmatic. The result : a mix & match of fast & fine dining, discipline & pleasure. Menus are becoming more and more feminine ; people have enormous expectations when it comes to freshness ; and their desire to be served individually is high up on the list. The challenge in 2009 will be to create a harmonious duo out of what used to be a contradiction in terms : health and pleasure. 3. Coexistence of the world s culinary heritages As consumers, we will find ourselves between market place and world market, between traditionally domestic and ethnic cuisine. Modern foodservice stands for the peaceful coexistence of the world s culinary heritages. More and more local ingredients are now available around the globe. Asian inspirations and Asian food are massively popular and likely to remain so. Thai cooking has the greatest culinary appeal to European taste buds. And Thailand s position in Asia is comparable to Italy s in Europe. Moreover, in 2009 a wave of enthusiasm for all things Indian will follow in the wake of Bollywood s success. Creating new taste experiences is both the biggest challenge facing the foodservice sector and its biggest opportunity. New adventures for the consumers are on demand new taste profiles, new products, new cooking methods. And : outdoors will be mega- in in The more time we spend working and being indoors, the greater our hunger for leisure time in the open. In a nutshell, «The garden is tomorrow s living room.» 2. A mix & match of fast & fine dining, discipline & pleasure For millions of people, the pattern of culinary consumption has long since become as much of a patchwork as their 4. Regional dishes will be «in» again Regional cuisine has taken off again, and people are once more enjoying local dishes. In the past, local food was always in the spotlight shaping us, from a culinary standpoint, for our entire lives. Naturally, what we consider to be «local» is also a question of the generation to which we belong. The motives behind the comeback of local cuisine include a yearning for things familiar, for security and HOTELyearbook2009 2

3 transparency. Television chefs have made a big contribution to this renaissance. In 2009 the optimum mix to assure successful, modern offers will be 70% familiarity, memories of the past, warmth and security, and 30% elements of surprise, such as lighter, crispier, fresher. What guests will want is trendy-traditional. 5. Baking will gain in popularity Due to the demand for quick service, bakery products are finding increasing acceptance as real alternatives to cooked food for the away-from-home market. Our daily bread has a great emotional value, which underscores this development. In our everyday nutritional life, bread-based meals are genuine all-rounders. Thanks to modern technology, baking has become a thermal process that has been decoupled from its previous space and time constraints. This means that nowadays, fresh baked products are available any place, any time. No longer are there any limits on baking, filling, packaging and selling. Hand-held snacks and take-away food dominate. Hot bakery snacks and (milk-)coffee drinks will be 2009 s rising stars. And, of all meal times, the greatest unexploited potential is breakfast. The pool of innovations for bread snacks/bread-based meals is enormous. There s not only a German bread culture in this country, but a European, Arabic, Indian, American bread culture as well. Endless diversity and, with it, endless variety : hot and cold, sweet and savory. With a daily window of consumption that extends right around the clock. 6. Coffee bars : a powerful impact on the whole sector The most instructive lesson is currently to be learned from the coffee-bar, with the latte macchiato as its key product. Highly relevant to the entire drinking and dining culture of the coming generations. Coffee bars are public living rooms, islands of emotion within the urban hustle and bustle. What s more, they are posting the highest rates of growth and are powerfully influential on the whole foodservice industry. Excellent performance with milk-coffee varieties has become a strategic must for practically all quick-service concepts. Even the mix of players in the coffee-bar field is exciting, ranging from young entrepreneurs (in many cases outsiders who are simply fascinated by the category) to major corporate groups and Italian coffee roasters expanding by going vertical. Coffee bars are also incredibly appealing to young people: staff, clientele, entrepreneurs and shareholders. HOTELyearbook2009 3

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5 food & beverage How the world will eat next year cont. Incidentally, the new generation of coffee specialities has, for the first time ever, turned milk into an attractive product for adults in the foodservice business. After all, the first name of that bestseller, caffè latte, is coffee and its last name is milk. 7. Fresh quick attractive Many future-oriented new outlets/concepts are based on the formula «fresh quick attractive.» In other words, easy and healthy pleasure for people in a hurry who nevertheless want an experience : fast casual. This concept s frontrunner in Germany is Vapiano. In 2009, the key question will not be what we sell but how we sell it. Revenues are generated by the power of persuasion. And among the elements that make a foodservice product persuasive are the brand, product quality, service, price and style. The importance of the brand is growing, and brands are evolving. When professional foodservice is focused on the client, we may speak of branding. When it is focused on the kitchen and suppliers, then it is more appropriate to say we are speaking of systems. Typically the focus in Germany is on systems, while in America it is on the brand. 8. New beverages : revolutionary drinking rituals Revolutionary drinking rituals among young people are putting pressure on innovation in the beverages industry. At present, nobody knows how far the younger generation will take the new rituals with them as they advance up the age pyramid. One thing is clear, however : the revolutionary element has its roots in the foodservice business, not in the retail trade. Next year we can expect a whole wave of powerful impulses right across the spectrum from water to wine. The following aspects are almost always involved : taste intensification (bold flavors), unbounded mixing, added value, bottles that communicate lifestyle, top brands as anchors and advertising via events. Smoothies are synonymous with the new beverages, i.e., fruit and berries in beverage form. Liquid snacks. Not meant to be enjoyed with food, they are positioned as something quite separate. 9. Life style has replaced standard of living Lifestyle and feelings are the keys to success. Thus, mere functionality is «out», even at quick-service outlets. What is «in» is a communicative atmosphere where guests feel at home. 5

6 food & beverage How the world will eat next year cont. Everyone talks about design. However, what guests really want is style, character and pleasing aesthetics. Style identifies and underscores people s attitude to life, and lifestyle has replaced standard of living. More and more of disposable household income is being spent on health & beauty, entertainment & communication (being fit, looking good, going online). Our mindset is shifting. And gastronomic services have to be embedded in this context. Anyone who wants to play a part in the everyday life of their guests must offer a certain attitude to life. No matter whether the setting is a beer festival, a coffee bar or a sushi lounge, communicating a world of experience is of ever increasing importance. 10. Searching for a new system of values Hosts and guests both sides are searching for a new system of values. Guests are careful with their money when it comes to everyday items. However, they are very willing to spend on things they want because they attach greater importance to them, as, for instance, with sustainable production. And it is only because guests value these things more that hosts can impose higher prices on them (entrepreneurial value creation via innovation, a head start and/or better performance). The value guests attach to a product has nothing to do with its cost it is a subjective, individual quantity, and capturing this value must be the aim of all work on brands. 11. Guests don t search, they find In the first place, therefore, attractive innovations must be brought to guests attention. Only then is it up to them to start discovering. In every era, promising new concepts have features typical of their time : in 2009, innovations in the foodservice business must have four main attributes : they must be female oriented, personal, emotional and straightforward. All four values are invisible and revolve around relationships, guest knowledge, empathy and simplicity. The profile of the modern guest is more feminine, older, more experienced, more mobile, more likely to be foreign, less hesitant in making their choice, more under stress, better informed, more self-centred and more emotional than ever before. An increasing majority of our guests want to be seduced, not simply fed. 6