Issue 05/09: Market analyses from Russia and the USA – interview with Whitbread CEO, Alan Parker

The fifth issue of the year is on its way to readers in over 50 countries around the world - as always jam-packed full of facts and analyses, market data and reports - plus a whole mass of visual inspiration. Here is a quick look at some selected topics from this issue:

 
People will always have to eat. Live music, apparently, is also a sine qua non. Music festivals are among the niche products in the leisure market that seem to have been relatively unaffected by the recession. In fact, the word is that visitor numbers at very many of this year's big festivals have remained constant or are even on the increase - quite a few of these outdoor events, most of them lasting several days, see hundreds of thousands of people come through the gates. In our pan European survey we throw the spotlight on the increasingly significant F&B elements - and in the second part, we focus on the most important events in France, Denmark, Holland, Sweden and Hungary. 

 

• Hot Trend: events and their design tend, these days, to be simple affairs rather more than grandiose ones. More than ever, it is all about the right backcloth for people to enjoy a feeling of well-being, about settings that are good for the spiritual self. Our tour of Europe illustrates the stylistic approaches and decorative features that event caterers and agencies are currently using to foster emotional appeal. The arsenal ranges from presentation of the food and the table decoration to staged settings using media technology and architectural lighting effects - the hot topics are nature and sustainability, tradition and interaction.
• Market research: we take a look at the Russian foodservice market in the recession year 2009- including the very latest rankings for the top 20 players (according to number of outlets), plus a rank order of the most widespread foodservice  brands in Moscow. The capital alone has 315 of the street-food brand "Stardog's", but home-grown coffee bars are also prominently represented. Shifting to the USA, we document the rankings for the top 50 restaurant brands, together with their global revenues for 2008  (based on the annual census of the top 400 by the US trade journal "Restaurants & Institutions"), as well as the 20 largest independent restaurants, with the Tao Las Vegas unassailably at the top. Our report on this year's Hot Concept Award winners provides a pleasant contrast to the big hitters - the award has for many years been sponsored by Nation's Restaurants News, another leading trade magazine in the USA.
• Interview: Alan Parker, CEO of British Whitbread plc - once the very epitome of beer (brewing) and pubs. Today Whitbread are about casual dining and the coffee-bar formula Costa, with a presence in 24 countries. They are also in the budget hotel business. Parker gives his views on questions about brand management and particularly on the topic of sustainability and CSR.
• Our Middle East section revolves around large multi-brand companies in the region - preferred partners for western foodservice companies with ambitions for expansion in the Gulf States. A portrait, by way of example, of the Jawad Business Group from Bahrain which today has 18 foodservice brands in its portfolio - from Dairy Queen to Quiznos. Plus: a journey in pictures through Japan - a quite unique culinary culture with a strong attachment to tradition and yet still lively and open to change.
• Excursion into tourism: oblivious of the recession, cruises continue to be one of the most expanding segments of the tourism market - at least as far as passenger numbers are concerned and in Europe at any rate. Larger and larger ships are banking on an ever more extensive, trend-dominated foodservice portfolio - we report on the latest trends in food and experience aboard ship.
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  And what else? Smell is the key - fascinating findings by German researcher Prof. Hanns Hatt on sensory perceptions relating to smell, taste and feeling(s). The latest data on Yum! brands in Europe. Nordsee's expansion plans, with an emphasis on Eastern Europe. The multi-unit manager, a key figure in effective operations management according to guest writer Jim Sullivan. This and more - over 68 richly illustrated and informative pages.