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PUBLISHER'S VIEWPOINT
December 2002
Rocks on the Road to One World
This
annual Worldwide Buyers Guide symbolizes the globalization of
the market for foodservice equipment, supplies, furnishings and
related products. But there are sometimes rocks on the road to
one world. Since this is our one international platform
annually, I’ll mention a few we’ve witnessed this year.
Here in the
United States, many of the internationally active restaurant and
hotel groups have pared back international development during
the past two or three years. This is partially a result of the
first economic downturn that has affected nearly all world
markets simultaneously. And then, of course, this downturn was
aggravated by the terrorist attacks in the United States and
elsewhere, and their effects on tourism. But pared back does not
mean stopped. Yum! Brands announced last month that it will open
1,000 restaurants outside the United States in 2002. And while
McDonald’s new-store cutbacks have been widely broadcast, our
friends in Oak Brook, Ill., still open a lot more outside their
home country than inside.
We must never
forget that supply channels and pricing also have a large global
aspect. I received a phone call a few months ago from David
McCulloch of Enodis alerting us to the impact of American
“anti-dumping” tariffs on the price of cold-rolled steel. While
stainless is the primary component of most equipment,
cold-rolled is used extensively in structural elements in
refrigeration, fabricated items, ranges and a host of other
products. This has forced many U.S. suppliers to raise prices,
if only moderately, in a very difficult market.
This fall, a
strike by dockworkers on the U.S. West Coast created havoc,
particularly for the supply of smallwares and tabletop items. A
lot of the supplies used in U.S. operations are made in various
locations in the
Pacific Rim.
For more than a month, nearly all this product was stranded in
containers off ports from
Seattle
to San Diego. A few suppliers we know actually routed ships to
Mexico,
Canada or through the Panama Canal to the East Coast. The
situation is clearing itself, but it was a lesson in the
fragility of trade.
But I want to
emphasize that these events are only rocks. We’re not talking
about roadblocks. As our coverage in this issue of the big
German Hogatec show and the FCSI Annual Conference, held this
autumn in Barcelona, make clear, foodservice and hospitality
remain very much a worldwide business. May it remain so.
All of us
here at Foodservice Equipment Reports wish you a
healthy, happy and prosperous 2003.
Peace,
Robin Ashton
Publisher
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