What started out as a butcher making high-end sausages to sell online has rapidly grown into a well-loved, up-and-coming Dubai cottage industry.
Irn-Bru sausages, haggis or black pudding may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the range of 18 specialist pork products sold by the British Butcher Shop in Mudon are going down a storm.
Three years since launching, former supermarket boss Mike Barker is now bringing his first plant-based range of burgers and bangers to the UAE.
I took a lot of persuading to launch plant-based sausages but I'm passionate about this now
The Plant-B range will land in Dubai next month – with a UAE production facility for meat alternatives also planned.
“I looked at plant-based recipes and thought we could change the arena for these foods as we have done with pork,” said Mr Barker, a father of two who has lived in the UAE for 24 years.
“There is a market, it is growing and I want to be one of the first to do it here with Plant-B.
“We already make an Irn-Bru sausage, a Cumberland black-pudding sausage and a haggis sausage using spices from Glasgow.
“I’m confident I can carry that innovation forward to the halal side of the business and meat alternatives.
“We want to have a go at making our own meat-free bacon from scratch, but I will only sell it if it is any good.”
What is in a meat-free sausage?
The Plant-B range will include a breakfast sausage, Cumberland sausage, an apple and sage sausage, meatballs and a burger.
They are primarily made from mushrooms, rapeseed oil, water, herbs, spices and breadcrumbs.
Demand for meat alternatives is on the rise, due to health concerns over processed meats rich in cholesterol, carcinogenic substances and saturated fats that can cause cancer and heart disease.
Environmental concerns and animal welfare issues are other factors behind more people turning to plant-based products.
According to market researchers Euromonitor, the worldwide fake meat market is now worth an estimated $20.7 billion (Dh76 billion) and looks set to grow an estimated $3 billion by 2024.
Beyond Meat is the current market leader, with the company’s burger passing a taste test to see how closely it resembled real meat.
Ingredients include pea and rice protein, potato starch, apple and pomegranate extract, vinegar and lemon juice.
It also contains dipotassium phosphate, potassium chloride, titanium dioxide and maltodextrin to retain a meat-like texture.
Mr Barker, from Hartlepool in England, originally dropped out of the supermarket business to start his own sporting events and media company.
When that failed he returned to his passion – the food industry.
An opportunity to set up shop in the pork area of Geant supermarket in Mudon was too good an opportunity to miss and since then his business has taken off.
The British Butcher Shop now has three stores, employing 22 people, with three more due to open this year, including a delicatessen in The Meadows.
“I was fed up buying sub-standard, imported pork products from supermarkets, so decided to sell my own,” he said.
“I am a butcher and meat trader at heart, so I knew what quality to look for and what people wanted.
“When we started, there were just two of us making sausages in a tiny area of this shared hotel kitchen.
“We had to make, pack and deliver the sausages from a chiller in the car park.
“Now we have an office in Motor City and a production area in Jumeriah Lakes Towers. We do everything ourselves with our own trucks, drivers and warehouse.
“I took a lot of persuading to launch plant-based sausages, but I’m passionate about this now.”
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
