Akhilesh from Malt & Salt was invited to speak & present at this very prestigious, highly focused international conference on the topic of developing an F&B business in the Middle East.
The audience comprised of leading coffee suppliers, café owners & operators, international coffee brands and industry leaders from across the globe. To give them a perspective about the Middle East, its F&B industry and to set up a venture was a very interesting yet a wide subject to be speaking about.
Bringing to the fore-front, Akhilesh focused on how the Middle East and in specific, the UAE has emerged as the destination of choice for all leading F&B brands from the world over. An international customer demographic, high spending patterns, world-class retail exposure, ensure that all roads lead here.
The home-grown café environment was another key feature discussed & presented wherein local talent from the UAE have come forward and started entrepreneurial ventures and turned successful in the face of highly visible international brands and carved an identity for themselves.
It was great to meet and interact with industry leaders and share with them the future potential of doing business in the UAE and the wider Middle East. It was very interesting to see how coffee and its many new recipe formulations are taking the world by storm, including grab ‘n’ go healthy options focused on the millennials, thereby making coffee younger & trendier.