Sponsored article by Shenzhen World.

Nowadays, the old concept of “food that fills stomachs” no longer applies to today’s convention and exhibition F&B. Convention and exhibition catering was always mistakenly viewed as “window-catering”, meaning simple food, short gathering and dining time, high turnover rate. For most convention and exhibition venues, especially those who rely on exhibitions as their main business, F&B was not considered one of their core offerings; therefore, kitchen facilities were also overlooked. Instead, charterers would often outsource catering to school and company cafeterias. These cafeterias are capable of providing simple food at large scale. Exhibition venues’ F&B offerings now, however, are more important than ever after upgrades in the past few years. Exhibition halls have expanded into full on convention centers, hosting everything from conferences, events, performances, sports matches to even wedding ceremonies. This expansion brings with a more sophisticated and specialized demand for diverse F&B options. The old “food to fill stomachs” concept is long gone. For instance, culinary diplomacy is trending now for international summits; government meetings, confined by the Measures for the Administration of the Travel Expenses of Central and State Organs, mainly have buffet, fast food and takeaway meals; the same goes for committee conferences because of its tight agenda but with tea breaks and drink refreshments in between to promote communication; corporate meetings are more theme-oriented, such as corporate culture oriented catering and topic oriented catering. Theme-oriented catering emphasizes culture, ideas and cohesion rather than food itself.

In today’s new era, convention and exhibition F&B is a necessity to increase competitiveness and profits. Currently, the 6th and 7th generations of smart convention venues are sprouting up all over the place with rich business offerings and more specialized services. Catering service would become a high added value product, promoting the customer experience for venues who view it as their core product and would therefore bring in more customers. Catering profits sometimes account for more than 30% of the total revenue of many comprehensive convention and exhibition venues, which is more than rental profits. Boosting the competitive advantage of convention and exhibition F&B is key to compete within industry

The largest-venue-to-be, Shenzhen World, provides not only diverse F&B facilities and scale but also experience-oriented service. Clients find Chinese, western and halal restaurants with rich business offerings and specialized services in the venue. With a total F&B facility area of 50,000㎡，it is not hard to see that catering service of Shenzhen World would become a value-improved product, promoting the customer experience for venues and would therefore bring in more customers. It has two ballrooms offering diversified offerings and scale, convention and exhibition F&B also optimizing the menu, ambiance, decoration, tabling and service design to bring the best experience to customers. Shenzhen World has shown the true capability of convention and exhibition catering in the upgrade consumption era.

As a Chinese saying goes: “Nothing’s more important to people than food.” As the economy continues to transform, convention and exhibition F&B will be at the core of venue competition.

 

Sponsored article by Shenzhen World.