Inspired Edibles

When you spend decades looking closely at an industry, you witness every little ebb and flow in it. That’s how our expert, Inspired Edibles, a seasoned food-blogger from Kuwait, learned that trends will come and go but authenticity is forever. We wanted to dive deeper into the nuances of the trends in the F&B space, and this conversation was our modus operandi. 

Having started as a food blogger in 2013, our expert feels that the newer generations are looking up to social media creators in every aspect. The urge to catch a trend is real. But in that pursuit, there has been a decline in authenticity. High-paying brand deals and sponsorships, combined with increased user demand for ‘influencer content’, are slowing down the need to innovate, specialize in a space, and serve the audience better.  

Even when influencers are working with brands, the mindset should be to offer their audience more than cool trends, i.e., relevant, useful, and original content targeting all niches and become more credible. “That’s why we are trying to be more up-to-date and specialized, and come up with more original ideas. 

This is the reason why we don’t create generic posts such as ‘coffee shops in Kuwait’ and focus on something like ‘coffee shops that sell specialized beans roasted in Kuwait’. We want to be more specific,” he says. 

Our expert stresses that originality is among the primary differentiators and helps stir a favorable emotion in your audience’s mind. 

A key driver of this emotion is a brand’s journey, and that’s what the consumers want to see. They want the CEOs and the faces behind the brands to step forward and address their concerns. People have seen enough content on recipes and products. Now, they are craving for real people talking about their company experiences, things they are working on, and how they are addressing consumer challenges, among other things, because that is the most credible source of information they will find. 

Packing value, not calories 

For our expert, value comes first. Business owners must pack it not only in what they offer, but also in how they offer. Despite businesses becoming increasingly innovative with their marketing campaigns, conventional methods such as digital marketing have not lost their taste. 

Our expert attributes this to the clear ROI system that some of these channels boast, allowing businesses to compare how much they are spending versus what they are generating. While there is a lot of value for business owners to gain through such channels, there is sparse for the consumers. 

Even in initiatives to increase outreach, businesses must prioritize ways to incorporate consumer gain. However, slapping calorie labels and flooding social media with pictures of food are not among them. 

He opines, “I don’t want to see the food. If I want to see the food, then I’ll look at the menu.” This displeasure stems from restaurants and cafés unrelated to health and wellness doing just that to attract consumers who are into it. 

He strongly feels there has to be more than visual satisfaction when it comes to food-related social media content. Citing one of his campaigns as an example, he says, “We are trying to post things related to our consumers’ overall wellness, such as how many times they should change their running shoes, how bad sugar is, and the importance of hydration, among others. So, when you’re following the account, you are doing it because you want to gain more value.” 

On a similar note, meal-subscription companies offering consumers a competitive price as value is not enough to convert them. In fact, he feels that prices should go up but not for nothing. 

He feels that companies should use the hike in price to bring in Kuwaiti chefs, prepare freshly cooked food, and create effective systems. He says, “When you have this kind of value proposition, it becomes challenging for anyone to compete with you and the consumer benefits from it. It’s a win-win situation.” 

Putting faces to flavors

Our expert believes that when the trends settle and the kitchen smoke thins out, people will return to the staples. With restaurants relying more on offering experiences unrelated to food to pull a crowd, he feels that their credibility as food establishments takes a hit. 

The increased focus on entertainment impacts the experience of the people who are and (or) want to be there for the food alone. His opinion is that this shift in focus will make room for purely culinary destinations that specialize in a particular cuisine or way of cooking. 

However, for them to be fully successful, our expert suggests that the restaurants put a known face behind the counter. He says, “I think the only trend that will never die is having a credible person behind the counter who can hold the place together and become the face of the brand.” 

Supporting his statement, he recalls the success of a homegrown pizzeria started by two Kuwaiti brothers nearly ten years ago. He adds, “Anyone can bring people in to conduct a show at a restaurant, but finding a credible person who can smoke the meat to perfection, is much harder and, therefore, all the more memorable for the consumers.” This is even more important when you take into account that the majority of the food establishments procure raw food materials from the same source.  

Sustainability as a spice 

When it comes to sustainability, restaurant and café owners feel it is too spicy for their current taste. More than restaurant and café owners, it is the customers who are pushing for the integration of green initiatives. 

While there are food businesses that are using eco-friendly packaging, non-plastic straws, etc., our expert thinks that the sector could progress much faster if there were set guidelines with respect to them. “Sustainability can be many things — it could be about the way you use water, amount of food you waste, or how much electricity you use, among other things.

Sustainability needs to have a top-down approach. Its widespread adoption is unlikely unless there is a clear direction from the regulatory bodies on how businesses can drive such measures,” he says. Our expert does not discount the need for sustainability-related education. 

He feels that the smallest of steps such as unchecking the option for cutleries on food-delivery apps can make the biggest difference, but bringing about that will require both awareness among people and government backing, especially for those who are driving such initiatives. 

Surviving the kitchen that’s Kuwait

A winning recipe is not enough to successfully setup and run an F&B business in Kuwait. Given the country’s highly competitive landscape, businesses must first try their ideas in a relatively less challenging market in the region before entering Kuwait’s F&B space. 

He says, “Kuwait has diverse requirements. It is home to about 1.4 million Kuwaitis and about 21,000 restaurants. This means that we’re all fighting for the same customers. That’s why many restaurants have tried fulfilling them and failed in the past. 

While there is no fixed formula to having a successful food establishment in Kuwait, it helps if you are not focused on catching trends and work towards your specialization.” He concludes that considering Kuwait’s unique challenges in terms of market share and consumer bases, surviving requires a steady cash flow and even steadier support.