Mafbex bares latest market trends

Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.

THE Manila Foods and Beverages Expo (Mafbex) recently held its free webinar on June 1 titled “Food and Beverage Industry: Latest Trends and Opportunities.” This was the first of a series of “Mafbex Wired Talks” online seminars that stressed the importance of the digitalization of the food and beverage industry and its fate after recovering from the pandemic.

The three speakers featured in this webinar focused on the Philippines’ food and beverage business trends and its various possibilities.

Worth The Health Foods (WTH) Chief Executive Officer Stephen Co said that at the moment, the food and beverage business is focusing on technologies more and shifting to automated and digital platforms.

“It is a very exciting time to be in the food business right now as there are several food technology trends around the world right now. Some of them are also happening in the Philippines like synthetic biology where his company is, e-commerce like delivery services, artificial intelligence and IoTs (Internet of Things),” Co explained in his presentation. He then proceeded to talk about the benefits of plant-based alternatives for meat products and introduced several of WTH’s product line.

Afterwards, Tito Kusinero owner and executive chef J.P. Landingin discusses how the pandemic changed the fate of the food and beverage industry and how it needed to adapt in order to stay alive.

“The food industry was on the ropes during the pandemic. We were unprepared as we thought this would just be a temporary thing, but the situation turned for the worst and most food businesses were forced to shut down. All of us had to adapt to the current situation in order to stay afloat,” Landingin said during his presentation.

He then proceeded to the main topic of his talk which is the evolution of the take-out and delivery system in the Philippines and advice on how to maximize an online food business’ potential.

Appi Go Philippines country manager Randula Wijesinghe stressed the need for businesses to have an online platform and introduced his company which assists food and beverage entrepreneurs set up their online presence. “Why should your business go online? First, your customers are already there as Filipinos spend 10 hours per day on the internet. Second, your competitors are already there as well as 87 percent of Filipino merchants sell their goods online. Third, online purchases are growing steadily. Lastly, it is easily accessible,” Wijesinghe said.