Caterer launches casual dining team award for 2013

A new category, Casual Dining Team of the Year, has been launched for the 2013 Caterer Middle East Awards, which will be held on June 12 in Dubai.

The ‘casual’ category was introduced as part of a Caterer’s ongoing mission to involve the wider industry and to recognise the volume of these type of outlets that have come online in the last couple of years.

Compared to fine dining, the casual outlets have a more relaxed approach and a lower average spend.

“We’ve witnessed an influx of these sorts of outlets in the last year, both in the independent market and even within hotels,” said Caterer editor Hannah Abdulla.

“It came to a point where we knew these guys needed to be recognised, but they couldn’t really fit in the restaurant or bar categories and compete against the same criteria due to different pricing and operating strategies. That’s why we made the decision to introduce the casual dining team category.”

The market appeal of these outlets, whether Lime Tree Cafe or Jones the Grocer, has been spotted and there are many indications the industry will continue to head in this direction. Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai earlier this year announced it had eight casual outlets in the pipeline.

With the introduction of the new category, the Caterer team hopes to attract a lot more interest from the wider industry across the region.

“For this particular category – the best way to measure it seemed to be on average cheque. The casual outlets will have an average spend per head of AED100-AED150 per head,” said Abdulla. 

"To be eligible for the award they must be table-service restaurants, but I reiterate that this could be either a hotel-based outlet or an independently operating outlet.”

To nominate an outlet, please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F7GZ3KC and to nominate an individual please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F9CVMFN

The deadline for the Caterer Awards Nominations is April 11, 2013.

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