FACULTY OF HOTEL AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT

UiTM TERENGGANU KAMPUS DUNGUN

FORUM REPORT (FOOD SERVICE FORUM - SIMON STENNING):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF5Vxqno1q8&ab_channel=LondonProduceShow
%26Conference

MANAGEMENT FOR FOODSERVICE ORGANIZATIONS (HTF683)

PREPARED FOR:
MADAM NOORAZLIN BT RAMLI & SIR ABD RAZAK ABU KASSIM

PREPARED BY:
NURUL AINA BINTI MUHAMAD SUKOR
2020993545
HM242 5Bb

SUBMISSION DATE:
10th DECEMBER 2021
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................1
DISCUSSIONS...............................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................7
 INTRODUCTION

The forum started with a moderator named Jason Danciger giving a small talk before introducing
another person to present for the first slot of the forum. The panel named Simon Stenning is
speaking first at the 2019 London Produce Show’s Foodservice Forum with the title “Eating and
Drinking Trends, Where To Next?” on June 5, 2018. Before the forum was passed to Stenning,
the moderator was saying that Stenning is his favorite fortune teller and one of the brightest and
nicest guys that he has ever known. Stenning was known as a “Strategic Advisor and Futurist”.
Stenning defines himself as a jack of all trades and master of them all. It’s an applicable
explanation, considering his colleagues call him one of the best crystal ball forecasters in the
UK’s Foodservice Industry.

With 30 plus years of experience of analyzing, developing, working in, and commentating
on the United Kingdom foodservice or hospitality industry, Stenning is capably positioned to
guide on what will happen in the future such as acknowledged as the leading predictor of the
market today and recognized as an expert in making sense out of all the data and insight
available, Stenning is now making sense of the future in our industry (Simon Stenning, n.d.).
Stenning said that he started to forecast about the future as a personal interest only, and for three
years Stenning said it was pure guess work only. Hence, he is very good at guessing so he used
this opportunity as a business (Prevor, 2019). The business that Stenning has worked with before
are Hilton, Trusthouse Forte, Allegra Strategies, Pret a Manger, Compass Group, and much
more.

The purpose of this forum is to educate people about the future of the Foodservice industry
as Stenning is a suitable person to be giving a talk on the forum. Producers, wholesalers, and
foodservice providers discover the changing face of purchasing as the demand for Fresh Produce
continues to grow. The forum basically focused on the view of the United Kingdom foodservice
markets, what’s affecting consumers behavior, what consumers are doing thrilling down the
growth of opportunity of food to go and Stenning will take some extracts from their menu and
most recent food trends report of their organization, MCA Insight. As this forum was way before
the Covid-19 pandemic, the panel’s perspective towards the foodservice industry is different
from the current situation.

1
 DISCUSSIONS

The panel started the forum by introducing himself and his business, he explained about his
accomplishments with his business and he talked about the challenges that took place and he also
talked about the brands in the markets. The main focus of his talk was on the market in the
United Kingdom. It would be great if he could compare the UK national market with other
countries so that we know who our competitors are among the world markets.

Certainly, as entrepreneurs, they need to meet the needs of customers and try to satisfy the
demands of their customers. If it cannot satisfy the customers, then there is will be an increase in
inflation, the changing in consumer’s confidence, cost increased and this has put pressure on the
whole market. Stenning then advised the suppliers that worked with operators to optimize the
levers of sales growth without going into a lot of details of analysis but those levers that are
around menu engineering. Stenning mentioned that the new operators can use delivery to boost
their business and not simply open the new store without doing any improvement. It amazed me
how the delivery’s users are growing numbers each year until now.

As an expert in forecasting and analyzing the future business in markets, Stenning presented
his organization’s view on the restaurants for the past few years estimate up until 2017 and then
looking forward at the restaurants' growth to 2020. Stenning said that during 2018, he and his
organization still forecast the branded restaurants will grow at around 4 percent for about the
next few years, driven by some outlet growth but with a slower rate which he predicted at 1.2
percent only. He was saying that the branded restaurant is actually the carrier for the growth in
the total market as in 2018. This is because the independent restaurants are still having a hard
time with the challenges that the branded restaurant had faced before such as increased cost with
investment, changing consumer’s expectations and demands. This proves that it is not easy to do
business and adapt in the market moreover there are many more formidable competitors. There
will be obstacles and challenges that operators in the foodservice industry will have to face
before they can achieve success.

2
 Stenning said since the referendum in 2016, he saw the pressure on consumers which the
consumers’ confidence from the GfK study has been in negative territory for a long time.
Stenning had done a simple survey that asked, “How confident are you about the economy in
your lifestyle?” and many people answer negatively that they do not feel confident. Stenning also
touched on the issues of low rate of employment and the pressures of wages on the couple of
months overtaken the GDP on an inflation. Inflation rates have rebounded everywhere and it has
affected consumer confidence to get out to eat and drink from their homes. However, despite the
slow market, it is still growing as many new branches are opened. Stenning asked people the
question of “Do you believe that consumers will be eating and drinking out more frequently in
the future?” and by the end of 2017, fascinatingly there is an increase of confidence in people
saying that they will be seeing more people going out to eat and drink. The prediction was true
as, before the Covid-19 era people have been frequently eating and drinking out of their homes.
When the Covid-19 cases are rising, people have been prohibited from dining in the restaurant
and have been advised to eat inside their home only. Given the current situation which has
calmed down and many have been vaccinated, customers are already beginning to be allowed to
eat again inside the restaurant.

Stenning added on about the retail market that is changing as the number of each meal
occasions that are being consumed in retail locations has been increasing that equates to 1.6
billion visits which increase up to 6 percent over the past few years from 2018. It is quite an
improvement for the entire market actually. From previous surveys, the reason people eat at
retail locations is no longer because of shopping. They most probably went to find a good service
offered by certain foodservice organizations. Besides eating good food, the consumers will most
likely prefer that foodservice organization based on their great service and environments. So, all
of the property companies are now looking at this data and looking at how they can incorporate a
greater food services presence as the retail looking to build on their foodservice offering because
back then it was so much critical compared to now.

3
 Food-to-go has been the key driver and has grown at over 4 percent but slightly coming
down in the year 2017. Stenning said that food-to-go supplied food from especially street foods,
sandwiches, or fast food which have been strong players for their good-to-go. However, Stenning
has forecast that their food-to-go growth is only going to be at 2.8 percent in the year 2018.
Stenning also explained that there are key drivers for the consumer's demand on the food-to-go
as many of the consumers is travelling quite far from home to get to work and it contributes to
their needs for convenience and speed to be able to get stuff on the go. As we’re living a busier
life, we want to fit more in and that is where food-to-go can play a big part to help us. People
who live a busier life wanted to consume something that can fill their stomachs but at the same
time, the food should take a short time to consume or prepare. For this reason, I think there is an
improvement in the food-to-go businesses. People tend to demand for broader food-to-go options
and better food quality products (Stenning, 2017).

Stenning said that he will come back with a healthier products, more affordable price in the
market, and also using technology to drive convenient. Stenning also present the menu tracker
products which tracks in detail the data in every single words of every menu across 150 different
operators restaurants, fast food and many more including pricing. Stenning has analyzed the data
from few brands across the chain restaurants, fast food and etc. The data has shown that the
vegetarian population is only 0.55 percent compared to chicken and beef consumers as in for
protein. Thus, the number of vegetarians is in a smaller proportion but are still growing to this
day. Stenning also analyzed how the courses of the meal were eaten by the eating panel are
decreasing into two or three meals per day and most likely to eat fruits with the meal, not as
desserts. In my opinion, people should have consumed fruits before they eat the main course
every day because it is good for our digestive system.

4
 CONCLUSIONS

To conclude, this forum will actually help people who are in the Foodservice Industry to seek
help on their business with the panel as the panel can forecast the future markets. The panel also
has longtime experiences in this field so he could help other people to solve their problems in
their businesses. They can develop a few pieces of knowledge and skills to improve their
business. We could see from the forum, the panel has presented the data of the market from the
MCA which covers all branded operators, the total market, and a research survey with over
72,000 consumers each year, delivering valuable insight into what is really happening. People
who watched this forum in 2021 will know the many gaps between the market in 2018 and the
market in 2021. Therefore, those who run a business can fix and also improve whatever is
appropriate for their business and take a lesson.

The panel also said that they pick up that Instagram is the biggest use to promote their
food products and people would’ve been posting pictures of food they eat especially when they
are eating and drinking out of their home. Besides Instagram, people also use Facebook and
Twitter to recommend good places to eat or drink. This is good for the food operators that their
store has been promoted without needing to pay any charge for it. In terms of lifestyle trends, the
panel said that people have been aware of what they are eating or how beneficial can be as they
consumed less sugar in their meals. I think it is a good lifestyle improvement as people usually
did not concern with what foods or ingredients they are consuming and the aftermath is, they got
many diseases when they get older.

The data in the United Kingdom has shown that there are significant growth areas in
cuisine from other countries such as Korean, Japanese, Southeast Asian, Middle East Asian
cuisine that people consume until now. As in Malaysia, we have also been exposed to the culture
of many other countries starting from the dramas shown, the sale of popular food from their
country, their language and so on will make people want to travel to their country and vice versa.
This is a good opportunity to improve tourism as a major contributor to the socio-economic
development of our country.

5
 During the beginning of Covid-19 era, Stenning was forecasting that 15 percent of the
fast food and takeaway market will be operating by the start of May 2020, meaning 6,000 outlets
out of the approximately 41,500 thousands fast food outlets will be open. He also forecast that
further openings as the Lockdown is slowly released. Consumers have increased their use of
delivery services because the only way they can taste food outside is the solution, and Stenning
expects that this use will continue, even if Lockdown is loosened, as social incarceration and
health concerns will remain on their minds (Jellybean, 2020).

As the panel is doing future forecasting, he said in an interview that he couldn’t ask the
consumers about it. I think it is okay to ask the consumers’ opinion about the future foodservice
industry as it could help the operators to improve whatnot, or to know what exactly consumers
want in their perspective. The panel can also ask his audience's review or opinions too. This way,
many people can get ideas of what they want to focus on or improve in their businesses. As I
looked back at 2018, many of Stenning's predictions are true as he looks far ahead about what
areas are good and what areas need to be promoted in this foodservice industry. As he said about
the delivery services, many consumers now prefer to order online and eat at their own space as
the Covid-19 is a continuous virus that could spread even more. As a consumer myself, I also
prefer to use food and product delivery as they provide coupons under a few conditions. One
thing that I dislike about food delivery is, many of their menus are not available for delivery.
This means I can only eat them at their store because the packaging for the food is not suitable
for delivery. I wish food operators will change their packaging to something that can be durable
for food delivery.

6
 REFERENCES

Jellybean. (2020, April 27). A brief view of the future – Simon Stenning of future foodservice.
Jellybean Creative. https://www.jellybeancreative.co.uk/2020/04/27/a-brief-view-of-the-
future/

Prevor, J. (2019, June 4). Futurefoodservice.com’s Simon Stenning predicts Uk’s foodservice
industry as an astounding decade from now; highlights role of fresh produce. Perishable
News. http://www.perishablepundit.com/index.php?article=3294/

Simon Stenning. (n. d.). Simon Stenning. Simon Stenning. http://www.simonstenning.com/

Stenning, S. (2017, March 6). Food To Go - trends and opportunities. Linked In.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/food-go-trends-opportunities-simon-stenning