World Plate

There are huge opportunities for Kiwi cafés and restaurants to take advantage of the growing consumer need for pre-packaged, ready-made meals.

Driven by rising urbanisation and busy lifestyles, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) prepared meals sector is forecast to reach US$38.4 billion by 2023. GlobalData’s report ‘Opportunities in the Asia-Pacific Prepared Meals Sector’ revealed that ready meals emerged as the largest category which is expected to register the fastest growth in both value and volume. The report identified Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan as the high-potential countries based on GlobalData’s unique scoring system, which involves the riskreward analysis derived from multiple metrics.

These metrics include market size and growth assessment, and political, economic, social, and technological assessment of 19 major economies in the APAC region.

Ready meals align well with timestarved consumers. Your café may already be a quick stop for takeaway coffee but imagine the revenue a fridge full of ready-made meals could generate. For many consumers, being able to grab a ready-made dinner from their favourite café while on their coffee break could be a game changer.

The data identified that ready meals are on the rise over ‘meal kits’ which still take time to prepare. “Consumers in the APAC region lead hectic lifestyles, leaving them with little time to cook a meal from scratch,” said Priyanka Jain, consumer analyst at GlobalData. “This is resulting in the growing demand for prepared meals, as these are ready to eat or quick to make.”

The ready-made meal also fits seamlessly into the routine of health-conscious consumers with the opportunity to create meals with specific dietary needs in mind.

The increase and availability of eco-friendly, plant-based packaging also means that the ready-meal no longer has to be a guilty pleasure

for the conscious consumer. Fully recyclable and compostable packaging is beginning to be the new normal so there are really no excuses as to why your business can’t take advantage of this current and future surge of the ready meal market.

CORONAVIRUS FEARS AFFECTING CHINESE RESTAURANTS

Since news of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus business at Auckland Chinese food establishments has dropped by up to 60 percent and the NZ Chinese Cuisine Association says many may be forced to shut.

Association board member Harry Cai said most of the association’s 500 members were “bleeding” and struggling to keep afloat. Cai, who is the general manager of Guangzhou Hotpot in Newmarket, said his restaurant has had more than 200 cancelled bookings since the coronavirus epidemic started.

Cai wants Government to run a campaign to get locals to support Auckland Chinese restaurants. “Many of the fear is unfounded, there is not a single case of

MARGARITA PATRÓN MASTERCLASS

The team behind the much-loved Besos Latinos restaurant have brought to New Zealand the first Latin American Ceviche Bar that specialises in seafood made with the best and freshest produce from around the country.

To celebrate, owners of Besos Latinos Restaurante and Ceviche Bar, Luis Cabrera and Cecilia Mijangos, will be hosting an event for every Margarita-lover out there.

Besos Latinos (Latin kisses) is the only and first ever restaurant in the country to have its own premium single barrel tequila specially selected, bottled and labelled for the restaurant by Patrón.

The Margarita Patrón Masterclass is coming soon to Auckland. Grab your margarita-loving bestie and let the experts introduce you to the unique world of Patrón tequilas. Learn to create your own Patrón Perfect Margarita while enjoying delicious treats from Chef Luis.

Do not miss this chance to sample the best Latin American food in town and the ubiquitous tequila from this unique restaurant.

Tickets are limited and booking in advance is recommended. coronavirus in New Zealand and we need the officials to tell people that it is safe to eat out.”

A Restaurant Association NZ survey found business to be down by as much as 60 percent at Chinese restaurants here. Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said the survey showed there had been some effect on businesses with restrictions on travel through China resulting in fewer visitors.

“We are hopeful that once the restriction has lifted, business will return to normal,” Bidois said. “We enjoy a vibrant and diverse dining scene in New Zealand, and we want to see that continue.” The association was offering extra marketing and mentoring support to affected businesses.

BREAK THE MOULD A major burger chain has broken the mould with its rather disgusting new advertising campaign.

Burger King is running print and TV ads in Europe and the US depicting its signature Whopper burger covered in mould. The campaign has been made to highlight that the burger chain is removing artificial preservatives from its iconic burger.

The company has turned the campaign up a notch by including a time-lapse of a decaying Whopper on Twitter.

Burger King has said that it has removed artificial preservatives from the Whopper in several European countries and some of its restaurants in the US. It plans to remove artificial preservatives from Whoppers served in all its restaurants this year.

ROBOTS IN YOUR RESTAURANT?

Secretive Seattle based start-up Picnic, an innovator of food production technology and Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) solutions, has announced that it was selected by Hospitality Innovation Planet (HIP) as “The Most Disruptive Company” in the Robotics category and will be presented with the award at the Foodservice Robotics Pioneers event sponsored by HIP.

The modular system created by Picnic is the first of its kind. It can perform any number of food assembly tasks in any order.

Currently it only makes pizza, but soon it will be able to make a wide variety of foods including sandwiches, salads and more.

One worker is all that is needed to keep the machine stocked, the system can then produce 300 12-inch pizzas or 180 18-inch pizzas in one hour.

While the technology is incredibly impressive, it is also a little scary. This robot can vastly out-perform real humans. The name of the HIP award Picnic is set to receive seems spot on, it will be interesting to see how this kind of technology disrupts the QSR industry in the future.

ICONIC AUCKLAND FOOD COURT SAYS GOODBYE

an era – Last Orders 1st May 2020.”

Food Alley opened in 1992 and was Auckland’s first dedicated Asian food hall, containing 12 specialty kitchens. The closing of Food Alley comes after the October 2019 closure of another iconic Asian food court in Auckland, Mercury Plaza, off Karangahape Rd close to make way for the new City Rail Link.

On Food Alley’s Facebook page was the message: “We would love for you all to gather up your friends, families and lunch buddies to give this old girl, and amazing people who work here, a great send off.”

While Food Alley says it won’t be relocating, some of its individual kitchen owners will be opening their own standalone places around Auckland.

Heart-broken regulars took to social media to express their love for Food Alley.

DOMINO’S DOMINATES Fast food icon Domino’s Pizza Enterprises has boosted its global food sales by a massive US$151.3m to US$1.58bn. The impressive Domino’s results were unveiled at the company’s half year

2020 presentation, which also revealed the brand is on track to crack $3bn in global sales this financial year.

In the Australian and New Zealand market, Domino’s reported a 3.5

percent lift in store sales to $613.2m, with six new outlets added to the mix, butit hasn’t been an easy half for the Australasian venture. Reports of franchisee dissatisfaction and dwindling store profitability saw the chain’s decision to reintroduce the $5 value range into question. However, Nick Knight, Domino’s Australia/ New Zealand CEO suggested the return of the value range was the driving force behind the increase in sales.

“We have listened to our customers and returned our value range to $5 nationally from mid-December, which has brought these customers back to our stores,” commented Knight. Domino’s is also surviving the ‘delivery storm’, having been very vocal about the chain’s refusal to outsource delivery, saying it helps the chain maintain quality and control costs. Despite this, you can find Domino’ss on UberEats in Auckland.

Many in the QSR industry have been stung by the surge of third-party delivery and trends show a move towards more businesses keeping delivery in-house. With third-party delivery, as soon as the food leaves the shop restaurants lose control of their brand, this risks damaging the brands continuity, reliability and food presentation. This will in-turn affect customer loyalty.

Domino’s owns and designs its own delivery technology and so maintains this control. Its new GPS system allows stores to accurately see where drivers are, adding to the efficiency and quality of the delivered product. By embracing the right technology and listening to their customers Domino’s looks like it will continue to dominate the field.