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hey, am i student from the United Kingdom and am studying international marketing. Ive been asked to find primary research on weather people in the UAE eat desserts and cakes like the ones over here. Is there a market for puddings? Is there a market for fancy rich tasting cakes? Is there a market for fruit pies? Any information would be great and hugely appreciated




Do businesses sell products like dessert cakes, puddings or fruit cakes/pies?

Are there many companies that match the above?

Are they popular?

Are there any other products that have not been mentioned?

Do you eat any of these products?

What sort of prices do they range from?

Where are you from? Are you a citizen of the UAE or are you an expat?

Do you think an English bakery would be able to compete in the UAE?

Reasons for the last answer?

Regards, Mike

Hello Mike, in case you don't get any replies from others that actually live in the UAE I will tell you what I know. (I live in the UK but have a place in Dubai so do go there quite regularly).

I don't find the supermarkets that different from the UK, to be honest. They carry a lot of the desserts you see back home. You also see a lot of Arabic sweet stuff in the bakery isle. I think the locals are quite fond of sweets
I can't remember seeing fruit pies though, but I've never looked for them to be honest. I did treat myself to a very large slice of Schwartzwalder torte when I was in my local supermarket in Jumeirah but it was a weak moment and I put it in the bin when I got back to my flat (it's a woman thing!). It was about 80p.

There are bakeries in the Malls, such as Le Pain Quotidien . Ive just googled them and they have a website. http://www.lepainquotidien.us. They sell really nice cakes, muffins and breads, much like you see in the UK, but nicer I think. There is also Pauls. They are both along the same lines.
The prices are about the same for a good quality bakery in the UK.

We have Greggs where I live in the UK (north). I think they would have to up their game a bit to survive in the UAE. Their market leader seems to be sausage rolls and bacon sandwiches, and some dodgy looking bread rolls!

Anyway as i said, I hope this helps. With any luck you will get someone who lives in the actual UAE to give you a bit more info! Dillon likes his food, he may come in with some good advice on your project if you are lucky.

Thank you very much for this information, it has helped me and I am using this Le Pain Quotidien as a potenial competitor in my report. The company i am basing my assignment on is called Lathams Bakery, based in Lancashire. If it is no trouble, i was wondering if you could quickly just google them and tell me if you think they could compete against Le Pain Quotidien. Do you think this is the sort of bakery you could see in a UAE mall or highstreet. i have research that there is a massive increase in western cuisines. I have to focus on products such as biscuits and puddings though, because of the shipping difficulties. Thanks



Regards, Mike

No problem. ill do it in the morning if thats ok and let you know! Im in bed and watching Blue Bloods!

MichaelGarnett , Hi Mike. If you would like to get responses from more people you may find it convenient to create a survey using SurveyMonkey and publish and email the link so that people can fill it out for you. http://www.surveymonkey.com/ Good luck with your assignment.

The Lime Tree Cafe was one of my favourite places to eat in Dubai. The carrot cake was amazing, and so were the brownies. http://www.thelimetreecafe.com/ BM already mentioned Pain and Paul's - both had delicious sweets as well.

I think an English bakery may be able to set up business, but adding some products to suit local tastes may help the business thrive.

Mike

I just googled lathams Bakery and there are two, both in Lancashire! There's lathams of Broughton and lathams of Southport.

I looked at both websites and thought that the Broughton one was a much better website. There was much more on their about their products. It is quite hard to tell whether it could compete in the UAE without actually visiting the shop as anyone can make a website look nice. Is there anything in particular you want an opinion on?

I do know of one bakery that I think would be able to compete and that is the famous one based in Harrogate, Bettys. Do you know it? it is very traditionally English. You can sit down and have a scone with a cup of tea, that sort of thing seems popular in Dubai. Most of the bakeries serve drinks along with their food, on the premises.

Prepackaged stuff would be ok in a supermarket but not so much in a bakery, where all the products appear fresh (as in unwrapped).

Don't forget that on no account should any of the products contain alcohol.

Thank you for that website, they may be easier to get answers and information. It was actually the Lathams of Broughton bakery that we are using, and we are trying to find if the cakes on that website will be able to sell in the UAE market.

We have looked into all the restrictions/laws and morals etc...we have found subsitutes for alcohol so that some of the cakes/puddings would be accept into the country. We are aware that religion differences are greatly different and must be respected. Basically, all we are trying to find is if these cakes biscuits and puddings that Lathams produce would sell abroad. Different groups have different countries, think we got the hardest one if am honest. Way more cultural differeneces and regulations. Also the furthest away,which means shipping is a hassel...as cakes only have a short life span. The aim is to get established with some demand for the biscuits and puddings, if these prove to be successfull, the company would make the decision to set up a bakery and start producing cakes....tea could be involved aswell.

--- Feb 29, 2012 ---

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CZTVHDM

MichaelGarnett wrote:Basically, all we are trying to find is if these cakes biscuits and puddings that Lathams produce would sell abroad. Different groups have different countries, think we got the hardest one if am honest. Way more cultural differeneces and regulations. Also the furthest away,which means shipping is a hassel...as cakes only have a short life span

Yes Mike shipping would be a hassle and the cost of the end product may price it out of the market.
I think they would find it hard to compete with the producers who actually produce their cakes and bakery items locally. There is nothing like going into a bakery and seeing the goods on the shelves which look as if they've just come out of the oven.
Tim Hortens do really nice freshly baked bagels. Nothing could compare to those.

Tim Hortons is all pre-made or pre-packaged and shipped from the central manufacturing site, then they taken from the freezer and baked in the individual stores. A long time ago things were made fresh by bakers in the stores, but not anymore. Apparently this saves money, but it has greatly affected the taste, in my opinion.

There you go Mike. Straight from the horses mouth.

I thought the bagels were nice but not as nice as they were when freshly produced.