The Caterer Middle East Food & Business Conference has kicked off in Dubai, with a strong line-up of chefs and F&B leaders discussing the most pressing issues facing the industry and upcoming trends.

Taking place at Grosvenor House Dubai today, Tuesday March 8, the fifth edition of the event has attracted more than 150 F&B professionals from hotels, independent restaurants, bars, clubs, catering companies and quick service restaurants.

Leading the line-up of speakers this morning was chef Michael Mina, who is in Dubai to open his Firebird Diner concept at Four Seasons DIFC.

A further 23 speakers will, throughout the day, discuss upcoming trends and consumer behaviour; managing an outlet's online presence; food fads; generating footfall; catering for children and managing food waste.

There will also be an on-stage interview with Tom Arnel and Serg Lopez, the founders of Dubai-based outlets Tom&Serg, Common Grounds and The Sum of Us, followed by an open panel where the audience will be able to put questions to a panel of their F&B industry peers. 

The one-day event will round off with a troubleshooting session looking at what restaurateurs and nightlife operators can learn from past failures. 

Full coverage of the Caterer Food & Business Conference will be in the April issue of Caterer Middle East magazine.

The sponsors of this event are Acqua Panna & S.Pellegrino, Douwe Egberts, SIAL Middle East, Pulsar Foodstuff & The Gourmet Olive Market, Al Rawdah, Rational, MBK Foods, American Garden Professional Host and Prologic First.