On Wednesday 8 July 2020, FCSI hosted a live and interactive webcast focusing on foodservice recovery, growth and opportunity in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Supported by Meiko, the webcast was presented by GlobalData’s consulting director Mark Dempsey and hosted by Michael Jones, editorial director of FCSI’s Foodservice Consultant magazine via Livestorm.
The webcast, limited to the first 100 registrants to sign up for it, explored foodservice trends and inspirations across EMEA, and assessed how the lockdown has affected its major countries and sectors.
You can watch a video of the full webcast below:
A time of change
“This is a changing world, so we should focus on change,” said Dempsey. “Where we live in EMEA is becoming increasingly like North America in style, with condos and apartments, so how we shop and eat will change. On every street corner, increasingly we will find convenience stores, fast food and fast casual restaurants.”
Despite the debilitating impact of Covid-19 on foodservice businesses across EMEA, and while acknowledging that Q2 painted “a pretty bleak picture” for the industry, Dempsey encouraged operators to “focus on the positives”, saying “the foodservice boom will bounce back.”
Indeed, he advised that those operators who were ready to act assertively would reap the rewards in the region. “Some operators in EMEA that are happy to be brave and bold and will move into merger and acquisition strategies may well be strongly in the position to be the winners in the future,” he said.
“Certainly at GlobalData we would recommend bold strategies – to grab the opportunity available to you now. Grow while you can.”
Delight your customers
Having discussed the dominance – or otherwise – of key EMEA foodservice trends, such as sustainability, ethical positioning, the migration of retail into foodservice, artisan and craft food, one final, key aspect Dempsey concluded the webcast with was in advising operators to keep striving hard to give customers a wonderful and fun experience.
“I’d remind you all to – not only find the right solutions in terms of product, price, assortment and how to partner – but to have fun in the foodservice industry. That’s what consumers will come back for. It’s what they’re looking to us for. It’s going to be a really critical element as to how we bring everyone back and really drive growth into the future.”
Further details:
If you would like a copy of Mark Dempsey’s presentation, please contact him directly and he will be happy to send you one.
Another live FCSI webcast, focusing on the Latin America region – also presented by Dempsey – will be broadcast on Wednesday 29 July at 4pm (BST). Registration, limited to 100 places, is available here: https://app.livestorm.co/progressive-content/fcsi-the-future-of-foodservice-in-latin-america.
Sponsorship opportunities are available for this webcast, so if you are interested in sponsoring it please get in touch with Natasha Merkel.
Michael Jones
