Regional variations
In Kuwait City, assistant food and beverage manager at Radisson Blu Hotel Kuwait, Jose Joseph, acknowledges the supply issues that restaurant owners are increasingly having to get quality cuts of steak to the country.
“There are two established steakhouses,” he reveals. “Al Boom at Radisson Blu and Terrace Grill at JW Marriott, with the Gaucho Grill and The Meat Company recently opening. There are also brands like Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s and Ruby Tuesday, which are popular with younger Kuwaitis.
“Al Boom only serves US Certified Angus Beef,” he continues, “however, sourcing quality ingredients is still very difficult in Kuwait due to the limited number of five-star hotels and the lack of leisure tourism. Common products that are available in other GCC cities become much too expensive in Kuwait,” which he says is due to the lack of volume in orders for suppliers.
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“Prices are sometimes inflated with exaggeration and we cannot pass on this cost to the customer,” Joseph adds.
Keeping quality
Atlantis at the Palm Dubai has set up an innovative sourcing strategy to ensure the four tonnes of beef they serve every month is top quality. It came about in 2007 when competition between steakhouses was exceptionally high.
Mark Patten, vice president – culinary, explains: “We wanted a unique, high quality product no other competitor could use. I was introduced to Pat Dempsey, the MD of Australian Agricultural Company (AACO), Australia’s largest cooperative of farmers, and we had the idea to take the whole full set (meaning the entire animal) and label the product Atlantis Beef.
“We looked at the breed of cattle (Wagyu Score 4), which is not referred to as Wagyu but as Atlantis Beef, and its transportation to Dubai. It usually takes three weeks by chilled sea freight. We needed to understand the shipment requirements, as well as the volumes of how much we would require throughout the property.”
Patten and his team set about working out how they could use all cuts, if they were going to buy full sets. “We needed to work closely with the number of cuts we used throughout the resort.
There are 18 different cuts that come from the full set,” he explains. “These cuts are used for roasts, satay, braised dishes, hamburgers and more, while the prime cuts are only used for Seafire tenderloin, rib and strip loin.”
“Our first shipment of Atlantis Beef arrived in August 2008, three weeks before the opening.” Patten reveals: “75% of total beef for Atlantis now comes from this source.”
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