20/07/2026
This year, resilience wasn't theoretical. Supply chains held under pressure they weren't built for.
Resident demand carried grocery aisles and restaurant floors through a year nobody had budgeted for.
A shelf in a Dubai grocery aisle never ran empty this year, because someone had rebuilt the replenishment cycle long before the pressure arrived.
The regulars at a café down the street never had to repeat their orders, even on the nights the floor was short-staffed,
because someone had decided remembering mattered more than the shortage.
Neither decision makes a press release. Both show up, eventually, on a balance sheet.
In the review that turns into a repeat visit.
In the shopper who stops comparing prices because she already trusts the shelf.
Years of getting the small decisions right, the innovation right, the best practices right, are what actually held this year together.
Most of the industry never saw that work.
These two awards exist to name it.
IMAGES RetailME Golden Spoon Awards and the Food Service Awards are open for nominations for the 2026 awards season.
The Golden Spoon Awards, for excellence in MENA's Food & Grocery retail.
The Food Service Awards, for excellence in MENA's Food Service industry.
10+ categories each.
This isn't just recognition from the industry.
It's recognition among peers, the kind that sets the benchmark everyone else measures against.
Last Date of Nominations: August 24, 2026
Awards Gala: September 15, 2026. JW Marriott Marina, Dubai.
If your team held the line this year, this is where it gets named.
Nominate now.
