HOTELIER AWARDS 2012: Final five F&B managers

These five finalists will compete for the F&B Manager of the Year 2012 title in the Hotelier Middle East Awards to be held on October 31 at The Ritz-Carlton DIFC.

Below you will find extracts and testimonials from the shortlisted nominations for each of the five candidates...

Ahmed Saeid, director of food & beverage, Fairmont Heliopolis & Towers

About Ahmed
With 20 years of hospitality experience and a proficiency in the field of F&B, hmed has occupied various posts in many prestigious five-star hotels including Hyatt, Starwood, Four Seasons, IHG and Fairmont. He joined Fairmont Heliopolis & Towers in Dec 2010 as food & beverage manager in charge of 14 outlets and after one full year of success and great achievements he was promoted in Jan 2012 as director of F&B in charge of the banquet & outlets. He holds a bachelor of commerce and majored in business management. A highly recognised business management professional he is adept at enhancing the organisation’s bottom-line through a customer-centric approach.

Above and beyond the call of duty…
Ahmed Supports the marketing team in all events by being present at all times even on holidays to ensure that events are turned into remarkable ones. He accommodates last minute requests and challenges effectively and pleasantly. For instance, Ahmed handled the challenge with ease and resolved the situation when the expected number of guests in our annual corporate Iftar held on August 8th, 2012 was 300 while the actual number of attendees reached 550 pax. He organises at least two outings per month for his team to foster a positive relationship and enhance team work The result of 2011 colleagues engagement survey at the F&B Division was 4.50 out of 5, as all colleagues are engaged and satisfied about their job. He works very close in a supportive manner with the team and follows up on their progress with a clear development plan to ensure that they are on the right track. A star of the month competition increased the satisfaction of the team by selecting a star from each department based on performance such as up-selling, service, punctuality. Ahmed is passionate about everything he does; he exerts maximum effort to provide warm, sincere and engaging service that ensures guests feel valued and that moments are turned into lasting memories.

Testimonials for Ahmed
"Ahmed demonstrates a strict dedication to quality; invests the time and care to consistently apply Fairmont’s standard. We are always confident when Ahmed handles any request." Director of marketing, Noha Mansour.

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Marino Gherardi, Hilton RAK Resort and spa

About Marino
Marino started his career with Hilton at the Hilton Sorrento in Italy in 2003 as assistant F&B manager. In the last nine years he has become a food & beverage specialist holding a number of positions as Food and Beverage manager in Hilton from Amsterdam to London, to Cairo to Seychelles and most recently joining the management team at the Hilton Ras al Khaimah Resort & Spa in May 2011.

Above and beyond the call duty…

During his short tenure here he has achieved remarkable things such as increasing customer satisfaction in some areas by more than 30% and generating an additional incremental revenue of more than $600K for 2012 through an innovative approach to menu design and analysis. Team member engagement survey for his team was at an all-time high this year with 98% reporting back fully engaged and motivated. Marino has shown all the flair he has for food & beverage with a number of promotions he has introduced which has resulted in the resorts restaurants becoming THE place to dine within Ras al Khaimah. From Picania & Caipirinha nights in our South American restaurant to Calzone & Parpadelle flambé in our Italian. Really good success for White sensation and Red party in our Esprit Bar. Lastly the seafood BBQ offered every Friday by the beach cannot be forgotten as it was especially successful within the local Emirati residents in RAK .All promotions have been the talk between resort and local community diners alike. All these above promotions and many more have resulted in overall F&B revenue being currently ahead of budget by $1.13M and is being forecasted to be ahead of budget by the end of 2012 by $1.95M or 14% ahead of budget, a truly remarkable result. YTD 2012 he has organized training for a total of for 9.000 hours (for 120 TMs). His F&B passion and skills are well known within Hilton as he has been asked on a number of occasions to take part in regional meetings and has been involved in the decision making of F&B brand standards. A few months ago, we had a guest last minute checking in who was a VIP staying in one of our most exclusive suites. Upon check in he announced that he only eats organic food and had some special requests that he wanted to eat that night, such as organic lamb & organic pomegranate juice. Being Friday and also in RAK this seemed like an impossible task at 4pm. Marino was contacted and surprised us all when he called back shortly after and said he had used his contacts to keep a member of staff in an organic shop in Dubai waiting with the products and that Marino was already in his car driving to Dubai. All the required organic produce for the dinner that night and breakfast the next morning arrived at the resort at 7pm on Friday evening in time for the special meal to be put together. The guest was extremely pleased with our efforts and has since become a regular. A true example of Marino nothing is impossible attitude. He has taken the lead during absence of the resort manager, making sure to continue to deliver high standards of service in all the departements with consistent follow up with guests and team members.

Testimonials for Marino
“A giant pepper mill that needs two waiters to operate -Mojitos and Pina Coladas in goldfish bowl sized glass -Magnums of Champagne with poached Lobsters ....reminds me of Marino. I had the pleasure of working with Marino for a several years, and he always thinks "BIG". He constantly innovates new promotions, and delivers his F&B with panache and excitement. One quickly realizes that Marino is an expert in creating guest moments and memories, but that he also has keen eye for commerce..... Guest comments often mention Marino by name, and the consistent comments are about the wonderful memories or events that he created. In Ras Al Khaimah Marino has made a great impact in guest satisfaction and revenue, driving our guest satisfaction scores up by 10% in overall service and F&B revenue by 18% year on year. He is always involved in regional projects, and has been instrumental in driving our UAE wine by the glass programme, and was a key player in creating a series of training videos and e learning modules for our 60 hotels. Most importantly, Marino is seen as a mentor for young F&B professionals, he has mentored and groomed several waiters, bartenders, supervisors and outlet managers on to bigger and better positions. His immediate team and regional team always call on Marino as a trainer, and an inspirational figure for young talent. Marino is a real Italian gentleman, team player and F&B expert who I am sure will make it "Big" in the future.” Simon Lazarus VP food & beverage Hiltom MEA.

“Marino is a dedicated and passionate hotelier, with significantly high energy and creativity. His dynamic personality is well-looked up by his team members as well as colleague, while his relevant skills and talent coupled by his valuable experiences is instrumental to the successes of his department and the hotel as a whole. I am proud to have a highly skilled manager in my team, and his success including his future role as Director of Operations of Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah speaks well of his achievements.” Mohab Ghali, country manager Hilton RAK.

“I have worked with Marino for one year and half and he has an exceptional commitment to quality of service, and constantly works to deliver his clients with a perfect customer experience. His attention to detail is outstanding, and Marino's management and leadership capabilities are instrumental in making his staff achieve results. His enthusiasm, energy, and professionalism make Marino someone you want to work with Jason Kladidis, F&B coordinator Hilton RAK Resort and spa: I have known Marino since September 2011 when I joined his team at the Hilton Resort in RAK. During this time he has been key figure in shaping me into the professional I am today and I can honestly say a key factor in the success of me in my current role. Throughout my time in RAK Marino has led the F&B team by example being constantly around and available for anyone to see him, from restaurant managers to back of house polishers. He has installed the belief of success through everyone working together and has always been a motivator for anyone who has suggested new ideas, always accepting them and guiding them in a manner that will result them in becoming a success. Marino’s passion has filtered throughout the team as can be seen through the increase in drive of the team, their attention to detail and customer focus throughout the whole year. He has guided me through a number of large projects in the past knowing exactly how much guidance was needed, knowing when and how much to push and allowing me to take fall and take ownership for what I have done in order to slowly but surely increase my confidence and skill set. He has not acted in this manner only to me but applied the same principles of motivating and people managing the whole team. In short Marino is a true F&B specialist who has a wide knowledge and experience which he is eager to share with his team in order to promote their success.” Jacques Claudel, resort manager Hilton RAK resort and Spa.

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Frederic Farah, Crowne Plaza Jeddah

About Frederic
Frederic Farah has been working in the food and Beverage field for the last 27 years starting his experience with Family Business Restaurants till International Brand Hotels. From 1985 until 1999, he worked in various different type of owned restaurants from snacks to fine dining. In 2000 he moved to IHG group in Riyadh Saudi Arabia with Minhal Holiday Inn 2000 till 2006 as a management trainee and was promoted as assistant banquet manager to a banquet manager and assistant of food and beverage. In 2008 he joined Crowne Plaza Jeddah as food & beverage manager where he built a great F&B team.

Above and beyond the call of duty…
In the Last 12 months Frederic did the following with great success: - A Decrease of 4.49% in total expenses comparing to last year 2010. He also increased revenues by 33.05% compared to 2010 and 10.49% more than the budget. We were a pioneer in Saudi Arabia in implementing the Bio chemical usage which is one of the Green Engage Initiatives launched in Crowne Plaza Jeddah for cleaning the grease traps and kitchen drains in environmental friendly. Participated in planting trees in the yearly green engage tree planting. Celebrating the Star of The month, for the staff of food and beverage that did something really extraordinary and did the step ahead, like one room service staff went and assisted a special needs guest during all his stay in hotel. This is turning to have staffs with more will to do this step ahead. Launched the Smiling Program, created a concept to make the F&B Team always smiling reflecting positively back to our guests when they see happy faces.

Testimonials for Frederic
“Frederic create a vision, a picture of the future, of where he wants to take hotel F&B, He improved both the quality and acceptance of the vision by partnering with his peers, executive team, key employees throughout the hotel or outside customers. He inspires everyone in the hotel to get onboard. Directly face the strengths and weaknesses of his department, as well as their external opportunities and threats. He is interested in ROI. Achieve what he sets out to do before launching new initiatives. Can bring others to his point of view using logic reason, he displays high degrees of emotional intelligence, and thrive on finesse and likeability. He can make decisions quickly as he is direct and straightforward. He sets clear performance expectations and holds people accountable; and always seeks feedback about his performance through direct conversations.” Area director of revenue, InterContinental Hotels Group KSA West Region, Sherif Rahouma.

“Frederic is a true hotelier is a person who brings dream into life. His knowledge and experience has brought our restaurants into renowned place in town. His commitment of making more profit without loosing service and standards is a key for his success. Ever since he joined our hotel he brought the entire F&B department on the heights of success. He is a great team player and by using his leadership quality he opened two new fine dining restaurants with different themes successfully. During his time the hotel has witnessed making high revenues in F&B department. The time has proved his abilities and success. F&B department was winner of “department of the year” for 2011 and two years back. Not only had this he won the slot of “department head of the year” for 2011 as well.” IT manager, Crowne Plaza Jeddah, Mirza Ehsan.

“As a peer in the management team, I observed a big improvement in F&B department particularly the quality service and the products he deliver to our guests. This could not be possible without a quality leader like him. This Ramadan 2012 was very successful and well competed with other competitors and we stood ahead in the market due to his well organized action plans, menu engineering, coordination with other departments, good PR with the reputed customers etc. Not only this, he gave me support by releasing meeting rooms, kitchens, outlets on time to the engineering department for the preventive and building maintenance which is very important for the smooth and trouble free operation.” Chief engineer, Crowne Plaza Jeddah, Ravi Dabare.

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Marcus Dudley, Moevenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach

About Marcus
Marcus Dudley joined the Mövenpick Jumeirah Beach as Director of F&B in January 2011. He has been in the hotel F&B industry for the last 21 years, firstly as a Chef before crossing over into front-of-house F&B operations in 2008 as the Pre-opening Director of F&B at the Zabeel Saray Hotel on Dubai’s Palm. Prior to this appointment, Marcus was the Executive Chef at The Ritz Carlton, Dubai, from 2006 -2008. He had worked his way through the ranks to become the youngest Executive Chef in The Ritz-Carlton Company worldwide at that time. A passion for travel as well as Food & Beverage has brought Marcus to work throughout Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, gaining extensive knowledge and skills in his field. Before coming to Dubai, he spent two years as Executive Sous Chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Doha, where he was responsible for 10 food and beverage outlets and 14 kitchens. His previous working experience includes time with Mandarin Oriental in Thailand. He then joined the Mandarin Oriental London property as a member of the refurbishment team and was a key member who took the Hotel to a Michelin star and five AA rosettes; he was a member of the team that received the Conde Nast award for the best deluxe hotel in the United Kingdom. He has also worked for The Orient Express Hotel group, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Luxury collection and the world-famous Hayman resort, where he was the hotel’s fine dining Chef de Cuisine. Marcus is affiliated with a number of trade associations including Les Toques Blanche and the UK’s Craft Guild of Chefs, and is regularly consulted for specialised advice.

Above and beyond the call of duty…
Over the last 12 months, Marcus has had many successes in the enhancement, running and profitability of the hotel’s F&B operations. In addition to the successful implementation of HACCP standards and accreditation, he has increased year-to-date departmental profit from -17% to +41% in 2012 versus the opening year, reduced departmental staff turnover from 48% to 12% and improved the departmental employee satisfaction survey score from 34% in 2010 to 86% at the end of 2011. He has seen the hotel make the Time Out Brunch ‘Hot List’, be named in the Top 5 Brunches in the UAE and Top 10 Bars in Dubai listings by ‘What’s On Dubai’. His implementation of the West Beach Bistro design and concept change led to an increase in AED 3.7 million turnover and taking the outlet to a 54% profit in 2011 and a 36% increase year to date in 2012 on turnover. Under his direction, the West Beach Bistro was shortlisted for Best New Outlet in the Hotelier Middle East Awards 2011 and Best Bar in the Time Out Nightlife awards, while Marcus himself was shortlisted for ‘F&B Manager of the Year 2011’ in the Hotelier Middle East awards. He has demonstrated a great commitment to growing talent from within and recognising fine performance with the promotion of four supervisors in the F&B team to Managers, promoting the Meeting and Events Manager to F&B Operations Manager, and delivering 25 other line-level promotions in F&B service and Culinary/Stewarding within the last six months. Under the direction of the VP F&B Middle East & Asia, Marcus has also been responsible for F&B promotions for the corporate loyalty programme across Mövenpick Hotels (Middle East & North Africa); for the re-concept and roll-out of the Mövenpick ‘Meet & Dine’ Events standards for Middle East collection hotels; and for the re-concept and roll-out of the Mövenpick ‘Food for Life’ Project for Middle East & Asia. Over the last 12 months, he has also been a key member of the Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach Executive Team that achieved four major awards: the 7th MENA Champions of Service Quality Award, the Silver Award as Best Five-Star Business / Corporate Hotel in North Africa and the Middle East - the highest honor the industry can grant – and the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence award, given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveller reviews on Trip Advisor. Marcus’s strong Food and Beverage background and commitment to his role have helped in placing the outlets at the Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach at the top of the market. The Jazz & Bubbles Friday Brunch has been continuously voted one of the top 10 Friday Brunches in Dubai (Hot List What’s On Magazine, Time Out Dubai, Time Out Dubai Kids, Ahlan Hot 100 Restaurants and many more). He devised along with the hotel General Manager an extension concept for the pool bar, converting it into a modern shisha lounge in the evenings. With minimal investment, guests and local residents have been given a choice of more than 30 different shisha flavors, an à la carte mezze menu, live charcoal BBQ and Saj bread stations, complemented by oriental music. The Layali Shisha Pool Lounge concept has increased revenues for the outlet by 44%. Marcus’s outdoor extension of the lobby lounge terrace is another success story. He managed to create a street café on The Walk - the only property with such a facility - serving Mövenpick Coffee, house-made patisserie products and Swiss Mövenpick Ice Cream. Supported by smart creative outdoor guerilla marketing activities, the outlet has increased revenues by 55% year on year. He has introduced a range of other improvements, including introducing Mövenpick Coffee and Swiss Mövenpick Ice Cream, the in-house design of the sports bar concept West Beach Bistro & Sports Lounge, introducing ‘An Evening With’ ex-football players and English Premier League managers for a Q&A in the West Beach Bistro on a monthly basis, building the Talk Bar Salsa night each Friday to the most successful regular Salsa evening in Dubai with a regular following of 250+ guests, and revamping the Conference and Events line-up of themed coffee breaks to bring new offerings for guests, including the sports bar themed meeting package.

Testimonials for Marcus
“Since joining the Mövenpick at JBR ,Markus has turned around the f&b department into a very positive and consistent operation . A Food & Beverage Directors job is with a great certainty one of the most demanding of all hotel jobs , from Marketing , PR, Finance , Hiring & firing , being present in the operation during busy periods , being aware of staffing issues , over and above The F&B Director must at all times be approachable and must have good relationships with his peers , Markus does all this with a lot excellence ,great confidence and patience , over and above his regular duties , Marcus also assists me with certain projects and does so with a great deal of passion and reliability . Marcus is a great asset not only to the JBR operation but to MH&R as well!” Peter Drescher Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts VP food and beverage – Middle East and Asia.

“Marcus Dudley is a star hotelier and a true professional. He is self-motivated, a  kind person as well as being very passionate aboutv what he does. Marcus has a very clear vision of his goals and clearly understands all the aspects of achieving those goals. He has always achieved his targets and has gone beyond expectations. Marcus believes in his team and always ensures every member of the team is happy and get what they deserve. He never hesitates in appreciating and recognizing someone for their hard work done or someone needs to be told if they had done something wrong.

"His style of management makes the work place better and better every day. There’s always something new to learn from Marcus Dudley. One of the very few executive committee members I have worked with who truly believes in running hotel business as his own. He is a great leader and an excellent person to work with. Marcus joined this hotel in a very crucial stage where the department was very much under performing as being a new hotel and only 10 months in operation. Marcus’s first task in the hotel was to ensure that Service and Culinary departments performance improves every day and the department will run as a team. Very quickly he achieved this major and very challenging task and from there on department started showing great results through guest feedback and very productive figures in revenue. 2011 had been very successful with great results and so many new activities in the F&B division which made the place to be in, and all of the credit of this success goes to Marcus. One of the major successes of Marcus Dudley is the launch and great success of West Beach Bistro Sports Lounge & Bar.

"This outlet was originally designed and planned for an American style bistro restaurant with a fine dining menu. Since hotel opened in March 2010 outlet did not show any performance and was unsuccessful. Marcus looked at this outlet from a very different angle and very quickly he realized the demographic in JBR and what is missing in JBR when it comes to bars or let’s say a Sports bar where people can enjoy any sport they like! Marcus presented the new design and plan for the outlet which previously named as West Beach Bistro as a new outlet West Beach Bistro Sports Lounge & Bar. Everyone liked the idea and project started and without even closing the outlet for any kind of refurbishment WBB&SL was launched with media and some guests in March 2011. From there on this outlet started producing great results and started to get recognised as Best new Bar in JBR & Marina. Marcus also worked very hard in order to get the Talk Restaurant & Lounge recognized and once again with his great idea of Jazz & Bubbles our Friday Brunch took a completely different turn and became one of the best Brunches in the city. Being in Dubai we know how tight the brunch competition is! Marcus did not get too bothered with Big names who are already very popular in the city and believed that Jazz & Bubbles will be successful. And once again he was right! Jazz & Bubbles became a hit!” Mohammed Waseemuddin Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach assistant F&B manager

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Khaled El Gammal, Dar Al Tawhid InterContinental

About Khaled
A Bachelor of Arts specialising in sociology at Al Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, Khaled Mohammed El Gammal joined Dar Al Tawhid InterContinental Makkah, Saudi Arabia as F&B manager in January 2002. Khaled has worked on his own development and has strongly contributed towards the business of the hotel. During his career, he was also part of the opening team at Semiramis InterContinental & InterContinental Hotel in Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt.

Above and beyond the call of duty…
From Royal dignitaries, diplomats and high profile guests, Khaled, has implemented strategic innovations in food & beverage. Working in a high demand culture, he utilises the “Know-Your-Guest” technique, introducing various theme nights, innovative presentations, while adding a special elegance to the service culture. Under his leadership he has re-engineered the service process, improved the product, F&B menus and selection of recipes which generated significant F&B revenue of $19 million. He re-engineered the minibar and generated revenue of 23% above budget. Studied and renewed strategy for banqueting services and generated revenue of 300% above budget in this segment. Khaled is proactive in food safety and took a lead role in the complete 100% implementation of HACCP. Khaled is also a front runner participant in his colleague’s welfare. During the main hotel staff party he takes a lead role in making the function arrangements and is very aggressive in leaving no stone unturned ensuring a successful event. He is highly popular within local charities for his contributions.

Testimonials for Khaled
“Colleagues and business associates admire his professionalism, creativity and the business sense. He is very popular in the business community for his sheer determination and out-of-the way approach for satisfying the guests.” anon.