Chef Middle East’s Vendor Show offered a day of live cooking demonstrations and tasting sessions giving F&B professionals the opportunity to network and find out more about Chef Middle East’s products and brands.
Chef Middle East hosted the third edition of its highly successful Vendor Show on Tuesday 21 February at Prego’s restaurant in Media Rotana, with a day of live cooking demonstrations, tasting sessions, networking and special guest appearances.
There was an excellent turnout for the event, which offered a platform for chefs, bar managers, pastry chefs and purchasing managers to network and find out more about Chef Middle East’s range of products and brands.
Vendors from France, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy and Spain were in attendance, showcasing a range of products including seafood, meat, pastry and bakery among others.
Speaking at the event, Chef Middle East CEO Steve Pyle said: “We were involved in other events for more than eight years but found that having a meaningful conversation with customers or prospects during other events is quite difficult; you literally have thousands of exhibitors and people have a small amount of time to spend with you.
“With this event, we invite our own database of customers, and this is the third time we have done it now. At every one of those events we have more people coming in; the last event we did in September saw more than 400 customers come through the door, which is great for us.”
Pyle said the event allows for interaction from a supply partner perspective, giving them the opportunity to show what they can do with product development.
He said: “We can let people taste what it is they are talking about. I think it is a much more customer-centric way of talking to our customers and prospects about what we do and what our suppliers do.
“Our commitment to the market is to reach into kitchens and build relationships with people, understanding what they need and meet that need. That’s been the DNA of the business since its inception.”
One of the biggest attractions at the event was the presence of renowned chef Paul Gayler MBE who had also performed a series of demonstrations at Chef Middle East’s new facility in Dubai Investment Park the previous day.
“With Chef Middle East, who I’m working with through Braehead Foods and Made In Scotland, the demonstrations showed it is not just about knocking back product, it’s about educating,” he said.
“People are travelling the world, but just because they come to Dubai doesn’t mean they necessarily want to eat Middle Eastern food. They still want to be eating European style food, which is why the hotels here are grabbing those great chefs.”
He described the F&B scene in the Middle East as vibrant and predicted great things for the future.
“It’s a great market. Our business moves all the time,” he said.
“I can only see the operation at Chef Middle East moving up more and more. We want to bring in great artisan products, like we do in Scotland.
“There’s great scope here. The way things are going, Dubai will become a culinary vision for the future.”
In Pictures: Chef Middle East Vendor Show
