Even as the coronavirus pandemic made the UAE rethink its food security strategy and look to local farmers for creative solutions as demand for local organic produce soared, UAE agriculturalists reported an exponential rise in home delivery orders for their produce.
Reaping benefits
Emirati farmer, Rashed Al Ketbi, while speaking to Gulf News in April this year, said, “The virus has put pressure on global food supply chains, and countries like the UAE, which rely heavily on food imports. The nation is now looking at local farmers to address the gap.” Reaping the rewards of an increase in demand for local produce, Al Ketbi reveals having recently introduced home delivery options while continuing to supply wholesalers and supermarket stores. “We have also ensured that we have enough labour force to guarantee that food can keep moving.”
The initial closure of restaurants during the lockdown also aided organic businesses to profit from greater home delivery orders. Local UAE farm, Greenheart Organic that operates out of Sharjah with a sales and distribution outlet in Dubai, reported a similar increase in home delivery orders for organic produce in the wake of the pandemic. Speaking to local media, Elene Kinane, Founder, Greenheart Organic, said, “Deliveries have more than tripled, over three-fold. There was also a shift. While hotels and restaurants closed down, the produce that was allocated to them really went into home delivery.” The brand currently conducts between 100-110 deliveries each day.
The move towards maintaining healthier dietary habits across homes in the UAE as the nation fights the coronavirus has reflected positively on sales and home delivery orders for organic produce and foods among local organic food brands as well. In fact, suppliers and distributors of organic produce in the UAE have seen delivery sales spike as much as 300 to 400 per cent as residents become increasingly health conscious amid the coronavirus pandemic, say industry insiders.
At Organic & Real, we have experienced a huge spike in demand, on our online platform, for not just organic but also vegan/plant-based food. And I’m happy to say we have been able to rise to the need almost overnight, by stepping up to cater to four times the number of deliveries from before, even in the face of challenging circumstances including shipment delays, shortage in supply, remote working arrangements, movement restriction and so on, all while maintaining the highest standards of sanitation and hygiene within our operations.
Healthy food, healthy home
“Yes, definitely. People have become more conscious and responsible consumers in the present context,” says Farzana Mohamed, COO of Dubai-based organic food store, Organic & Real.com while speaking to GN Focus. “They are looking for food that is naturally produced, with no toxic chemicals, GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and other unnatural additives, because there is more than one evidence pointing us in the direction that our health or sickness is directly proportional to what we put in our bodies as food.
“At Organic & Real, we have experienced this first hand with a huge spike in demand, on our online platform, for not just organic but also vegan/plant-based food. And I’m happy to say we have been able to rise to the need almost overnight, by stepping up to cater to four times the number of deliveries from before, even in the face of challenging circumstances including shipment delays, shortage in supply, remote working arrangements, movement restriction and so on, all while maintaining the highest standards of sanitation and hygiene within our operations.”
We’ve had more inquires on organic products directly from customers through our online shop [after Covid-19]. As a business, this meant ensuring we had enough stock even if it meant importing from our suppliers paying higher freight prices and facing delays.
Davina Shah, Managing Director of premier UAE health and organic food supplier and distributor brand, The Goods Collective reveals enjoying a similar rise in interest within her customer base. “We’ve had more inquires on organic products directly from customers through our online shop [after Covid-19].
"As a business, this meant ensuring we had enough stock even if it meant importing from our suppliers paying higher freight prices and facing delays,” says Shah. The increase in demand has also seen new business customers looking to list organic produce on shelves at The Goods Collective, she adds.
Home delivery for keto foods sees growth in demand
The telling need to maintain a healthy and nutritious diet during the Covid era has seen a rise in demand for foods that cater to specific diets such as Keto.
We have especially seen an increased interest in Keto and low-carb living as people have realised the strong link between diabetes and metabolic health and how an individual is able to fight Covid-19. Up to 40 per cent of Covid deaths in the UAE have been in diabetic patients, and Keto’s role in reversing much of the disease is becoming more well known.
While speaking to GN Focus, Dr Khadija Al Ameri, Owner, Ingfit, the UAE’s first and only one-stop Keto shop, says, “There has definitely been increased interest in healthy food options in the home delivery space during the Covid-19 pandemic. This links specifically to our USP, we began as the UAE’s first one-stop Keto shop, and we have evolved into a wider-spectrum, truly healthful store that strongly believes in the power of food to influence healthfulness.
"We have especially seen an increased interest in Keto and low-carb living as people have realised the strong link between diabetes and metabolic health and how an individual is able to fight Covid-19. Up to 40 per cent of Covid deaths in the UAE have been in diabetic patients, and Keto’s role in reversing much of the disease is becoming more well known.”
