Joseph Khatoun. Joseph Khatoun.

These five finalists will compete for the Outlet 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...

Joseph Khatoun, Hilton Abu Dhabi

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About Joseph
Joseph Khatoun is the restaurant manager at the renowned ‘Vascos’ at Hilton Abu Dhabi. He joined Hilton Abu Dhabi in October 2010 from Beirut, Lebanon. Vascos is a popular restaurant in Abu Dhabi and has many loyal, regular and top V.I.P. customers coming for lunch and dinner on a weekly basis. Lebanese born Joseph developed his passion for food whilst growing up and joining the hospitality industry in Lebanon. He worked in food & beverage roles in four major international chains such in Philippines, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Lebanon. Later he managed the infamous ‘Able Food and Beverages services’, a fine dining Company in Cebu City Philippines with 2 international restaurants concept, mingling with the young, rich and beautiful diners of Far East. In recognition of his work and ambitions, in 2006 Joseph was able to create new style for the pre opening of “Table 7” Fusion cuisine and it was the first in Cebu City. Joseph has a strong background and interest in Asian and Far Eastern cuisine as he has worked and travelled throughout the different countries and tasted its intricacies on the way. Joseph’s most interesting food experiences is a fusion dish of Onion Curry Risotto that he found in a side street of central of Visayas Cebu Philippines. His favorite dish is from his mother’s home cooking, the typical Lebanese “Fish Syadieh”, a combination of brown rice and fish with all the Arabic spices.

Above and beyond the call of duty…
Joseph implemented effective operation procedures, up-selling initiatives and promotions at Vasco’s. His first change in the restaurant was the introduction of a new reservation system by organizing the bookings in two different categories early and late bookings. He was able to increase covers by 15% and revenue by 10% versus budget. Joseph changed and added vibrancy to the existing guests by visiting their offices regularly and getting familiar with all their needs in terms off favorites promotions and by sharing the information’s to all his team and gaining much more all the guests trust. Through his team he also sold added up selling and incentives program “REVMAX” with all the team that help in generating additional revenue by 6% versus the budget. Analyzing his outlets peak periods, Joseph introduced the Week-end Family Brunch, where guests can choose different food menu items for their kids as well and the live cooking stations. As a result the revenue doubled on week-ends from 8% per week-ends to 16% per night and securing a minimum of 8% sales revenue on a quiet evening. For Vasco’s 10th Anniversary, Joseph created a children’s cooking class what was received with enthusiasm by the parents and children alike. During the holy month of Ramadan in 2011, Joseph was involved in managing the annual Sohour tent at the Hiltonia Beach Garden, this tent is one of the most popular Sohour tents in Abu Dhabi. The team practiced for four weeks long under his supervision and brought back the highest revenue as the tent sales was increased by 12% compared to previous years. Joseph dedication and team spirit at the Hilton Abu Dhabi can also be seen in is his assistance to other outlets. If one of the other restaurant managers of the hotel is on leave, Joseph will take over the day to day operations of the outlet on top of his own Vasco’s duties. Joseph uses his knowledge and experience to advice on new procedures and standards to his fellow restaurant managers. Joseph was able to introduce and implement after the management approve his idea to sell Premium Cards membership (the Hilton Abu Dhabi food and beverage discount card) for all outlets on spot, and was able to increase regulars with clear increase in revenue by 4 %.

Testimonials for Joseph
“I had the pleasure to work closely together on the Ramadan project with Joe in the last two years. Am very impressed with his leadership skills, creativity and finesse, am proud to have him in my team.” Hany Ahmed, director of business development Hilton Abu Dhabi.

“Joseph has integrated himself to the Hilton family and Vasco’s immediately and made a great contribution to the entire F&B division. He is a great team player; he always sees the bigger picture and just his part of the job. He has generated great group business for the hotel after the Abu Dhabi Volvo Ocean Race event; he was able to review the cost and was/is able to deliver fantastic conversion ratios. Josephs’ pro-active leadership enables him to grow within very short time from a restaurant manager to a manager who is overseeing over four outlets and has been a key player in the opening of our latest Ocean Cafe.” Christian Hoehn, director of operations Hilton Abu Dhabi

“I have been working in Hilton since 27/02/2001,started as waiter in complex(Hemingway-Jazz bar-Tequilana now Cinnabar) after 1 year I have been promoted to captain, than I have been promoted to headwaiter and moved to Vascos, and that was the time Mr. Joseph joined the company, I was very happy in the way how Mr. Joseph handle his staff such he is very well motivated and he listen to all and he have been fair to everybody, we had a conversation me and him for my future career growth and we set trainings and mentoring as we went far beyond his counseling and coaching and he was very dedicated on how I have to execute all my tasks and how to make a clear plan in my work place. He is such a very appreciated manager I have learned a lot from him on how to manage my team by being a leader not a boss he teach me how to show in actual our staff on how things should be done rather than give it as an order, and here now I am handling the position of assistant restaurant manager in Room Service and applying all the methods that he use to train me in applying all the SOP and the hotel standards and how to be initiative with all the team and create new procedures to achieve all the business targets. Nishanta Gunawaradana, Vascos supervisor.

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