Joël Robuchon, named “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” in 1976, “Chef of the Year” in 1987 and “Chef of the Century” in 1990, is the world’s most starred chef to date.Once again, the world’s foodservice industry is set to take center stage at SIAL Paris, thanks in no small part to one exceptional patron – highly-accomplished French Chef Joël Robuchon. He has been Fleury-Michon’s partner for the last 28 years and is the most Michelin-starred chef in the world (26 stars!).
In 2014 Robuchon participated in SIAL’s “50 years, 50 chefs” operation. This year, in addition to serving on the SIAL Innovation Awards committee and participating in September’s press conference panel, he will speak on SIAL TV on October 16 (opening day) and set up a restaurant-themed itinerary, selecting exhibitors’ best products for a basket bearing his name.
Bringing out Talent of Tomorrow
For the first time ever, SIAL Paris will be awarding a New Talents of Gastronomy prize. Open to chefs, sommeliers and front-of-the-house staff, the competition, organized by Le Cercle, will shine light on up-and-coming professionals from all over France.
“Our aim is to allow tomorrow’s talent to express itself in SIAL’s international environment,” said Michel Blanchet, honorary president of the Chefs of France organization. In addition to offering its participants wide media coverage, the competition provides visitors a glimpse at how the gastronomy of the future is being invented.
La Cuisine Culinary Demonstrations
The ongoing La Cuisine special events at SIAL consists of 30-minute culinary demonstrations performed every day by famous chefs. This unique show-and-tell performances stage SIAL Paris exhibitors’ products on the basis of current topics including locavore cooking, trends and textures, made in France, institutional catering and more.
La Cuisine and the VIP restaurant have been serving inventive and audacious recipes to guests since 2012. This year, students from Paris’ Ferrandi school will serve as hosts. The school upholds France’s revered gastronomic tradition, centering its teachings on practice and the accuracy of culinary gestures, as well as the acquisition of both fundamental and technical skills. The school’s students (studying for bachelor degrees in restaurant management) will assist the Michelin-starred chefs throughout the five-day fair during all the cooking demonstrations and at lunchtime in the restaurant.
Rungis International Market Partner
SIAL Paris has renewed its partnership with the Rungis International Market, so once again, the largest produce market in the world will provide all participating chefs with quality ingredients to use in their gastronomic creations.
SIAL OFF: Gastronomic Tour of Paris
SIAL OFF has existed since 2012 and provides an exceptional opportunity for visitors and exhibitors to explore Paris and its establishments. In a booklet of gourmet addresses selected by Gault&Millau, each café, restaurant, bar and artisan boutique profiled provides special offers to enable participants to get the most out of Paris during the event.
The restaurant industry is constantly reinventing itself by moving with the times to satisfy the increasingly complex demands of food enthusiasts.
“It’s a permanent laboratory where the trends that impact the entire food sector are started and diffused,” said Anne Claire Paré, the founder of Bento consulting. “The creativity and imagination of chefs who travel, plus the ongoing interaction between restaurant owners and their ever more demanding clientele, combined with the arrival of new entrepreneurs with different visions of the sector, makes for an explosive cocktail – one that’s favorable to innovation.”
Healthy Eating Trends
This year, watching what one eats is both a statement and a sign of sophistication, as people assert their “food personalities” by choosing alternative suppliers, nutrient-rich ingredients and “soft” cooking methods, including raw foods. In line with this, gluten-free is becoming widespread throughout the world, with experts predicting a 3 billion-euro market for it by 2020. Vegetarian cuisine is also on the rise – largely thanks to the creativity of chefs.
Artisanal Everything
The word “artisan” has become synonymous with “quality” and “luxury” as establishments seek out small producers to illuminate their manufacturing methods as well as theatrically reinvent their regional savoir-faire.
This quest for innovation is boosting an already growing sector. In Europe the catering market grew by 3.5% in 2014, valued at 94 billion euros. Elsewhere, Canada alone is home to 76,297 restaurants. Quebec boasts some 21,000 establishments, 15,000 of which are independently owned.
Expertise On the Up
As consumers become savvier and the number of food establishments rises, caterers must innovate more than ever. Indeed, having a signature specialty is no longer enough to stand out from the crowd. Nowadays it’s all about mastering an ingredient, a recipe or a region. This is particularly true for sweet food, where the need to eat less means people are turning to quality products, making educated choices and indulging with finesse.
Food Delivery
Now ringing up about $90 billion per annum, which equates to approximately 16% of the global foodservice market, the food delivery sector is booming across the world. Turnover increased 67% in 2015. Kick-started in France just a few years ago, the market is now seriously on the up – proving that like other Western populations, the French are enamored with life-simplifying solutions.
Eye on Global Growth Markets
Foodservice in the Middle East is a booming industry. In Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) a 50% rise in sales is expected by 2018. Revenues from home food delivery transactions are expected to reach $218 million by 2020 in this region, where the market has enjoyed a 67% sales increase in one year. From 2019 onwards, the overall foodservice sector should generate revenues of about 90 billion euros.
In China, foodservice sales rose by 1.5% between January and May of 2015, reaching the colossal figure of $190 billion.
Asia as a whole is seeing increases. Indonesia, for example, where 45 million people now belong to the middle and upper classes, has become the world’s leading market for halal foods. Foodservice sales all across its islands are expected to rise 9% by the end of next year.
In the Philippines, foodservice sector revenue is projected at $12.7 billion in 2017, and food chains are also expected to see their revenues grow by 7% in one year.
