After moderating the Perfect Plate panel at Fast Food & Café Conference Riyadh, Stefan Breg wanted to keep one of the conversations going: if food is fundamental to an F&B concept, why aren’t the people responsible for creating it always at the table from day one?

I had the pleasure of moderating the Perfect Plate panel at FFCC Riyadh this week, exploring a deceptively simple question: what actually defines the perfect plate?

Profit? Delighted guests? Ideally, both.

Alongside Ghazi Ghorayeb, CEO of Trinity Hospitality; Joanne Limoanco-Gendrano, Executive Chef – Arabia at Unilever Food Solutions; Mohamed El Fakharany, COO at Barns; and Mohamed Zaki, Group COO at PJP Investments Group, we explored the balancing act between innovation, guest expectations and commercial reality.

There was plenty to discuss. But two subjects in particular stayed with me.

Where exactly do menus come from?

We now have increasingly sophisticated tools to help us make decisions about F&B concepts. We can analyse markets, demographics and demand. We can test positioning, determine the right F&B space and interrogate the commercial potential of a concept long before the first plate leaves the kitchen.

But once that concept has been defined, who really shapes the menu? The chef? Culinary team? Consultant? Food technologist? Cost controller? And, increasingly, AI?

There’s little doubt that AI will play a bigger role in menu development. Its ability to process information around trends, pricing, customer preferences and operational efficiency creates some genuinely interesting possibilities.

Could it identify an emerging flavour before it hits the mainstream? Help us understand what different audiences are looking for? Spot opportunities to improve margins without compromising the guest experience?

Absolutely. But should it define what ends up on the plate? That’s where things become more complicated.

One point that came through strongly in our discussion was the importance of retaining human instinct, creativity and insight. Data can tell us an enormous amount, and AI can help us make better-informed decisions, but great food isn’t simply the product of an efficient equation.

There still needs to be someone behind it who understands the guest, the ingredients, the kitchen and the idea we’re trying to create.

Which leads to the bigger question. Where are the guys in white?

I’ve been involved in hundreds of concept-development projects over the years, and something has always struck me. Remarkably often, the person who will ultimately put the food on the plate isn’t in the room at the beginning.

This is particularly apparent on major new-build projects. Architects are there. Designers are there. Consultants, kitchen planners, development teams and operational representatives are there.

But where is the chef?

Too often, the chef or wider BOH team enters the process later, when many of the fundamental decisions have already been made. They can effectively inherit a kitchen plan, equipment list and concept that have been largely defined without them. And that disconnect matters.

We can develop a compelling proposition and a brilliant guest experience, but ultimately someone has to deliver it every day. If the chef or food developer hasn’t been part of those early conversations, how do we make sure the menu, and ultimately what arrives on the plate, remains true to the original idea?

More importantly, what could we gain by having their perspective in the room earlier? Earlier input, greater ownership?

Interestingly, my experience of refurbishment projects has often been different.

Chefs tend to be engaged earlier, and I can’t help feeling that the level of ownership over the end product is greater as a result.

The same can often be seen in founder-led and family-owned concepts, where the chef or culinary lead is closer to the initial development process. The relationship between concept and food can consequently feel much more joined up.

Larger developments naturally present a different challenge.

Many hotel groups have excellent F&B and culinary teams with enormous experience. But when development pipelines span multiple brands, markets and continents, how can those teams realistically provide meaningful input into every concept at the point it matters most?

There isn’t necessarily a simple answer. Nor does involving a chef earlier mean handing every decision over to culinary.

It’s about bringing the right perspectives together at the right time. The strongest F&B concepts balance creative ambition with operational reality and commercial performance. Design matters. Brand matters. Data matters. Technology increasingly matters.

But food matters too. And the people who understand how that food will actually be created, delivered and experienced surely deserve a voice in defining the concept around it.

So perhaps the question isn’t simply how early are chefs genuinely involved?

Perhaps it’s this:

If food is so fundamental to the guest experience, why does culinary so often have to wait to be invited to the table?

Thanks to the FFCC Riyadh team and my fellow panellists Ghazi Ghorayeb, Joanne Limoanco-Gendrano, Mohamed El Fakharany and Mohamed Zaki for a conversation that gave us plenty to think about – and one that I suspect is far from finished.