THE FUTURE OF FOODSERVICE
“People are having to do more with less, whether it’s money or people. So, we have to help them navigate that in terms of space
or equipment”
renovation work happening there, and the bigger projects seem to be going ahead. But when you go down to the more micro level, on the restaurant side, markets in Singapore, Shanghai and China in general are struggling with the rising cost of living. Rents have gone up 50 or 60% over the last year and it’s hard to keep people. So, it’s a mixed bag. But our division has grown 31% in terms of membership since last year. We now have 120 members, and a lot of
those new memberships are coming out of Southeast Asia and India as well.
MJ: Eric, from your global purview how
would you sum up the worldwide picture? EN: Overwhelmingly, the industry is healthy, but we do have certain struggles we’re dealing with. One of the largest ones being labor. But everyone that I’ve spoken to seems to have full books, so the state of the industry is strong. I’ve seen some shifts due to the pandemic: the big corporate B&I office building projects aren’t strong right now, but we’re seeing a shift to manufacturing B&I projects, where new facilities are being built. So, that segment has shifted a little bit. Healthcare dropped off quite a bit, but now that’s moving again. Te other big, global challenge is inflation and those upfront costs on the equipment side of things when building a new facility. Luckily, that’s easing now in North America, so we’re seeing projects that sat on hold starting to take off. Tose interest rates will continue to fall now that inflation is in control.
MJ: What are the biggest challenges the industry is currently facing?
CG: People are having to do more with less, whether it’s money or people. So, we have to help them navigate that in terms of space or equipment and making sure we’re honed in on exactly what they need. People are struggling to find workers – even consultants are having a difficult time in hiring. When we hire somebody, it takes at least a year or so to onboard them. But the younger generation may not stay as long as previous generations did in their jobs. Te question is, how do you keep them in your company, so that they want to stay and be loyal to you?
MJ: How do you think the industry is
coping with these challenges? BG: We’re seeing more automated equipment coming in. It’s solving some problems. You still need labor to operate much of it, but you don’t necessarily need skilled labor. AI and automation in the kitchens is helping, but to get young people working in hospitality is hard. It’s not sexy to them. Over the next few years, automation will try to help solve things. But what is that exact solution? I don’t think anybody really knows at this point.
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WORLDWIDE
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