Ahead of Gulfood Manufacturing, Tetra Pak Arabia Area’s Konstantin Kolesnik on supply chain resilience, shifting consumer tastes and what food security really looks like on the shelf.
Walk into any supermarket in the region and the shelves look simple enough: juice cartons stacked in neat rows, milk cooled and ready, staples within easy reach. What shoppers rarely see is the machinery of planning, packaging and logistics working behind that shelf, holding the whole picture together. Tetra Pak is one of the businesses inside that machinery, a global food processing and packaging company whose cartons carry milk, juice and countless other everyday products to households across the world. Konstantin Kolesnik, Managing Director of Tetra Pak Arabia Area, spends his working life inside that machinery, and ahead of this year’s Gulfood Manufacturing he opened up about what food security actually demands, how the business is holding steady through a turbulent industry moment and where consumer tastes are heading next.
What Food Security Looks Like On The Ground
For Kolesnik, the idea of food security is not something that lives in a report or a policy document. It shows up in a supermarket aisle. “Success is measured in the everyday experience of consumers, walking into supermarkets and seeing shelves fully stocked with every day staples as well as consistent access to essential food products that provide the right nutrition,” he says.
Getting there takes deliberate work. Tetra Pak has been drawing on its global network to keep supply lines open even when familiar routes run into trouble, aiming to “leverage our global network to identify alternative shipping routes and channels to maintain business continuity and keep operational disruption at bay.”
The company also stays close to the businesses it supplies, plugging directly into their planning instead of waiting to react. That closeness, Kolesnik says, allows the team to “anticipate the needs of food and beverage producers and respond with agility.”
Holding Steady Through Industry Pressure
Supply chains across the food and beverage world have been under strain, and Tetra Pak has responded with a mix of internal preparation and outside collaboration. On the production floor, that has meant building in extra capacity ahead of time: “we have increased safety stock production for packaging material at our factory to ensure continuity of supply to our customers.”
Listening plays just as large a role. Rather than treating customer check ins as occasional, Tetra Pak keeps the conversation running, “continuously listening, understanding their evolving needs and adapting quickly to support their business continuity.”
Consumers Are Asking For Something Different
The conversation eventually moved away from logistics and toward people, and what they now want from the food and drink they buy. Tetra Pak’s own Trendipedia research on Amplified Experiences points to shoppers looking past basic function.
“Consumers today are seeking more than just functionality, they are looking for playful, multi-sensory and memorable experiences that elevate everyday moments,” Kolesnik notes.
That appetite is showing up in a handful of ways. Shoppers are reaching for bold, unfamiliar flavours and limited edition releases, curious to try something new. Nostalgia is pulling just as hard, with familiar tastes returning in updated form. Packaging and digital touchpoints are turning ordinary purchases into something interactive, and small affordable treats are becoming a quiet source of pleasure in busy routines. Underneath all of it sits a desire for honesty, with shoppers wanting to know exactly where their food comes from and how it reached them.
Kolesnik frames this as a genuine turn in the market, one that is moving “from purely product-driven consumption to experience-led consumption, creating new opportunities for innovation across food and beverage.”
Tetra Pak’s Plans For Gulfood Manufacturing
Tetra Pak Arabia Area will return to the Gulfood Manufacturing floor this year, an event Kolesnik treats with top priority given the access it provides to the wider industry. “Gulfood Manufacturing provides an important platform for us to showcase Tetra Pak’s latest innovations across food and beverage processing and packaging,” he explains.
Members of the company’s global executive leadership will join the delegation again this year, giving customers and partners a chance to speak directly with the people setting strategy at a global level.
For a sector working through shifting consumer habits and ongoing supply pressure, that kind of access carries weight. It is where ideas get tested in real conversation and where the next set of packaging and processing solutions begins to take shape.
Q&A with Konstantin Kolesnik, Managing Director, Tetra Pak Arabia Area
What does food security and resilience mean for your business this year?
For Tetra Pak Arabia Area, food security and resilience mean ensuring that our customers in the food and beverage industry receive their orders reliably and on time, without disruption. In an increasingly complex environment, this requires proactively addressing supply chain challenges by leveraging our global network to identify alternative shipping routes and channels to maintain business continuity and keep operational disruption at bay. We work closely with our customers in the region, integrating into their demand planning cycles to anticipate needs and respond with agility.
How are you navigating current industry pressures?
We are taking a proactive and integrated approach, combining both internal resilience measures and close external collaboration. We have increased safety stock production for packaging material at our factory to ensure continuity of supply to our customers, while working closely with our customers to align on demand planning cycles. From a supply chain perspective, we are leveraging our global network to identify and activate alternative shipping routes, helping us mitigate disruptions and maintain service levels.
What are you preparing or looking forward to at Gulfood Manufacturing?
Each year, Gulfood Manufacturing provides an important platform for us to showcase Tetra Pak’s latest innovations across food and beverage processing and packaging. We value the opportunity to connect directly with our customers, exchange insights and explore how we can continue to support their growth. This year is particularly exciting as we will also be once again joined by members of our global executive leadership.
What are the key trends you are seeing in the market?
We are seeing a clear shift in consumer expectations, with food and beverages increasingly being used as a source of enjoyment, discovery and emotional connection. This is translating into a growing appetite for novelty and experimentation, a strong pull toward nostalgia and comfort and a rise in immersive, interactive brand experiences. Authenticity remains critical, as consumers want to understand the story behind their food while still enjoying products that feel exciting and relevant.
Conversations like this one are exactly why Gulfood Manufacturing stays on the calendar for anyone working in food and beverage production across the region. Packaging innovation, supply chain planning and shifting consumer demand all land on the same show floor, giving the industry a place to compare notes and set direction for what ends up on shelves next.
Register now to be part of the conversation at www.gulfoodmanufacturing.com.
