Macau (MNA) – The president of the United Association of Food and Beverage Merchants of Macao, Chan Chak Mo foresees that “more trendy boutique restaurants” will be opened in the city in the coming years.
Speaking on a panel about the F&B industry during the International Gastronomy Forum 2018 held on Thursday, Mr. Chan said that more creative menus and recipes would be created in tandem, as well as creative food packaging designs.
“More celebrity chefs, more films and books on gastronomy and cooking [will emerge in the coming years],” Mr. Chan suggested, adding that “more opportunities for crossover collaboration with other cultural and creative industries” will also be created.
The president of the association, who is also a local legislator, also listed out the challenges that the city’s industry is currently facing, as well as opportunities currently available.
He pointed out that in addition to the administrative procedures for obtaining a restaurant license, shortages of human capital, increasing operating costs and fierce competition are some of the challenges that the industry is currently facing.
On the other hand, improvements in the world economy, the fast growth of the world tourism sector, the city’s positive economic prospects as well as the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) are key opportunities that will allow the city’s food and beverage industry to keep growing, according to Mr. Chan.
Meanwhile, Mark McWhinnie senior vice-president of resort operations and development of Sands China Ltd, argued that customers nowadays want “authenticity” most of all from restaurant experiences.
He also said that social media has exerted a significant influence over the development of the F&B industry.
Moreover, apart from retaining local talent, Mr. McWinnie highlighted that it is also necessary to continue to introduce international talent to the city so as to “help germinate and feed the passion and the pace, that we could improve, and to develop the industry itself.”
He also pointed out the need to improve the logistics in food supply availability in the city.
“I still believe we tend to be a little bit challenged in Macau in terms of being able to acquire the fresh produce from a variety of countries that we sometimes need,” remarked Mr. McWhinnie.
