Competition forces chefs to rethink F&B offerings

From left to right: Pierrick Cizeron, David Contreras, Michel Jost and Lloyd Cremer discuss how to tackle increasing hotel restaurant competition

The increase of dining hubs in Dubai and ongoing launch of licensed standalone or internationally branded restaurants across the UAE – from Gaucho and Caffè Florian in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to celebrity chef endorsed restaurants such as the Gary Rhodes outlets at the upcoming St. Regis Abu Dhabi Corniche – has forced hotel chefs to reassess their in-house restaurant offer.

Rather than create new concepts or hastily adopt emerging trends, the executive chefs Caterer Middle East spoke with – all in charge of wide-ranging dining options at UAE hotels renowned for their food and beverage offering – said they were investing time and money in sourcing better produce and delivering quality dishes.

The Westin and Le Meridien Mina Seyahi complex executive chef Stephane Buchholzer said the entrance of new branded restaurants had pushed hotels to improve their F&B product.
“It’s good to have competition in the market to lift up quality,” said Buchholzer.

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“I think the problem with hotel restaurants is they’re driven like supermarkets, it’s a range of standard food, standard products that are sellable to the mass market.

The fact that we have standalone restaurants enter that are licensed, like in DIFC, means you raise the bar to something — they’re doing something different, they push the hotels to realise that they can do things better to compete.

“I see the difference between when I arrived in Dubai seven years ago and today. At most of the hotels in Dubai the food was below average – it’s changed a lot.

“Seven years ago everything was driven by the price and since then people are demanding quality, and hotels are spending a lot more money for quality and are trying to deliver a better product – and this is due to the fact we had a lot of standalone restaurants that came and to celebrity chefs that are raising the demand for better product,” he explained.