LIVE FROM THE CATERER MIDDLE EAST CONFERENCE DUBAI
8:15am: Bright and early and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel conference centre is already buzzing with the good and the great from the region's F&B industry.
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Having a quick chat with Aku Patel, co-founder, Paperchase Accountancy who is in Dubai for a few days to host this afternoon's workshop 'Developing a return on investment plan'. He counts celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal among his clients. He says he's enjoying his stay in Dubai, but as a vegetarian, he finds there is a lack of good vegetarian options on menus.
9:00: A warm welcome from ITP Business hospitality group editor Louise Oakley before the first panel session kicks off.
9:10: The start of this morning's Great Debate: Can hoteliers run restaurants?
Moderator Stefan Breg, founder, Tribes Restaurant Creators welcomes the panel comprising: Markus Thesleff, co-founder, Okku Luxury Japanese Restaurant and Lounge; Walter Hall, chief operating officer, RMAL Hospitality and Duncan Fraser-Smith, director of food and beverage - MEA, IHG
The panel sessions will all be covered in detail in Caterer Middle East, but here's a snapshot: One hot topic: celebrity chefs. Breg asks: "What happens when a relationship turns sour?"
IHG's Duncan says: We view relationships with chefs as they're brought into the hotel rather than them coming in to run outlets. They will come in and help shape the outlet, but it’s our guys running it.
"So if we had a falling out with Pierre - which isn’t happening, but just as an example – because Pierre is out here two or three times a year he helps develop what’s on the plate, but we have an incredibly talented team of chefs so Reflets at InterContinental Dubai Festival City is an outlet that stands on its own two feet .
"We view it more as a joint venture arrangement, we wouldn’t give it completely over to a celebrity chef. From a hotel outlook – if there’s a complaint – who’s responsible for the outlet, you need ot be be able to manage the customer experience the whole way through."
10:10: Next onto the burning issue of 'Recruitment, retention and renumeration' with moderator Mark Patten, VP culinary, Atlantis The Palm Dubai introducing the panel comprising: Uwe Michel, president, Emirates Culinary Guild and director of kitchen, Radisson Blu Hotel, Deira Creek; Joseph Chalfoun, area GM, Food Fund International and John Cordeaux, executive chef, Fairmont Palm Jumeirah.
Chalfoun says in Europe often restaurants will have half the number of staff compared to a restaurant of the same size in the Middle East, reflecting training and recruitment flaws.
Michel: "We’re a victim of our own success – there are too many hotels and restaurants opening – we have missed the training part of it. We’re under pressure with budgets, do our owners think our staff are valued. I think [the answer is] no. In a lot of companies the stock holders are the most important. We have to go back to focusing on our people. We have a lot of people on the floor that haven’t been trained. When a new hotel opens they get a promotion, another opens they have another promotion – thre are a lot of management-level people who aren’t ready for their roles."
Patten: John, you’re recruiting – just about to open a new Fairmont. Does you have a philosophy behind you’re hiring? What is it?
Cordeaux: "At the end of the day we hire for passion, not neccesariy skill but the ability to deliver a great guest experience. We hire those who are excited and motivated. Training is what it’s all about. Up to 60% of our time is spent in training, mentoring and delivering skills."
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13:00: Random fact of the day from Caterer's Charlie Lyon who's just been chatting to Harold from the Dubai World Trade Centre: In the World Trade Centre when catering to large events such as weddings the team cooks up to 50 camels and 1000 lambs per day! Nice thought just as we sit down to lunch.
14:00: The first panel of the afternoon looks at 'Recouping ever-increasing costs' with moderator ITP's Louise Oakley and on the panel: Simon Lazarus, senior area director of F&B, Hilton Worldwide, Sumeet Jinghan, country operations manager for Qatar and Kuwait, Foodmark; Gus Moustakas, executive chef Grand Millennium Al Wahda and Ryan Hattingh, international operations director, Gaucho.
It's not long before the question 'should I be using flash-sales sites/group-buying sites to boost volume? comes up, and most of our experts answer 'no' .
Hattingh: "We’ve never done it and probably never will. It generates the business for a short while – depends on the level of business and what market you operate in but it attracts a crowd who won’t always come back. Our strategy has not been to discount but enhance quality and the value you give to people. It’s proved a much healthier strategy for us for us in terms of longevity."
Lazarus: "Discounting is a long and slippery slope. In terms of going out there and giving 50% off it’s not something we’d do unless we had a really dwindling restaurant and needed to increase volume, such as in a crisis situation."
Moustakas: Once you open that door you can't close it and you have to think - is that the clientele I want? Or are they only going to come back when I discount. You get a reputation for discounting.
15:00: iConsulthotels' Martin Kubler takes the stage as moderator for the panel on the popular topic of 'Social media marketing'. He welcomes Felita Figueredo, assistant digital marketing manager for Jumeirah Group; John Hayes, entertainment manager, McGettigan's, Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers and Tiina-Maija Bergman, managing partner of Table4ME (who's kindly standing in for Ian Ohan, area developer GCC, N_K_D Pizza who unfortunately could not make it).
Figueredo says restaurants should stop obsessing over fan numbers and get a strategy, after all who needs 100,000 fans if you're not going to bother telling them anything?
"A lot of people get into social media because their competitors are on there. They think 'I should be on there too', but that’s a mistake. What’s your strategy? Do you know what you want to do with your fans? One of the challenges now is there are so many channels – do I have to be on all of them? It’s about looking at your fans and channels and using them to help your brand."