It's been a while since those in the food and beverage sector had something to celebrate. With the coronavirus pandemic upending schedules, a number of new launches have been pushed back or put on hold indefinitely as industry professionals adapt to the new environment.
Despite the challenging few months for those in the industry, Dubai chef Reif Othman is giving food lovers in the region much to look forward to with some brand new launches at Depachika Food Hall, located at Nakheel Mall, Palm Jumeirah.
The first concept is a cake and chirashi counter to be set up on Thursday, May 21, right in time for Eid. For those curious, chirashi is a Japanese dish of sashimi scattered over rice. The counter menu boasts 13 desserts with Othman's signature Japanese spin on classic comfort cakes. Customers can also expect four cold chirashi bowls with a base of quinoa or brown rice topped with sashimi-style protein.
Meanwhile, Friday, May 29, will see the launch of a donburi pop-up, which will operate every Friday and Saturday, giving customers access to Japanese bowls of fish, meat and vegetables served over rice. The pop-up features six rice bowls served warm with a variety of toppings, with a limited offering of 200 donburis per day.
The two home-grown concept introductions are a prelude to Kushi by Reif – another concept that will open at Depachika in Nakheel Mall later this year. The establishment will offer a mini-twist to chef Othaman's Reif Japanese Kushiyaki restaurant (which opened in August last year at Jumeirah's Dar Wasl mall) with a smaller menu of Japanese soul food.
“Every crisis also opens up opportunities. With demand for comfort food on the rise given the pandemic, I am keen to offer customers some savoury dishes and desserts now, as a taster of the Kushi by Reif concept that will launch later this year.
“Simple, classic cakes and Japanese rice bowls – all with my own trademark twist. With this new Palm Jumeirah location, we are now able to easily feed residents across that side of town as well as Jumeirah,” said Othman.
Prices start from Dh24 for desserts, Dh60 for chirashi and Dh62 for donburi. The dishes will be available for dine-in and take-away, with delivery to start soon through Deliveroo.
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What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
