11.15: As the morning break comes to an end it must mean its time for the next panel session.
Entitled 'The Staff Catch 22', the panel is moderated by Naim Maddad, CEO of Gates Hospitality who is joined by:
Sascha Triemer, Vice President Culinary, Atlantis The Palm
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Patrice Gouty, Area Operations Manager, The Crystal Group
Francisco Araya, Programme Director, SCAFA
Tackling the tough topics of empowerment, engagement and retention, the panel will investigate whether there is a silver bullet for ensuring your staff are at the top of their game?
Sascha from Atlantis starts with a warning for ambitious chefs in the ME,as 'sometimes people get put into a position too early, that doesn't help them, it destroys their careers'.
Patrice Gouty reiterates the importance of a strong culinary team, likening restaurants to a Ferrari that 'doesn't have a driver.'
12.00: Our next session is excitingly called 'Margin Call', and will investigate whether restaurant's operations and ingredients are keeping them open to maximum profit?
Our moderator will be Sanjay Murthy, managing director of Figjam, who is joined on stage by Emma Cullen, GM of the Capital Club Dubai; Ryan Waddell, head chef of the Reform Social and Grill Dubai; Ghazi Azzabi, general Manager of Fine Dining Ltd (Ruth Chris’ Steak House); Jenny Lorenzo, chef de cuisine at Marco Pierre White Grill, Conrad Dubai; and finally Ernesto Tonetto, head chef of Cavalli Club.
Ghazi at Ruth's Chris outlines his 'settled operation, that can go to 'suppliers en mass and arrange prices for our outlets for the next six months'.
'Because we have a brand people are prepared to pay for that,' says Ghazi, admitting that he has had to absorb Rising meat costs of over 30% from last year' in order to ensure there use the quality for customers.
Emma at Capital Club admits that menu prices have gone up, but they are still not as high as 2007 levels.
'That is because there are a lot more suppliers in the market than in 2007,' interjects Ghazi.
Sanjay asks the panel about the use of special offers to save costs, and the panel are adamant they would never run a special item on the menu in order to shift an oversupply of certain ingredients.
'We don't do deals, or specials' says Emma,'we upsell quality products that have a higher cost, not to lower costs.'
Ryan Waddell admits that specials can be a way to get rid of oversupply, but that they should be used to enhance the menu rather than to shift bad stock.
Ghazi uses the example of Ruth's Chris deciding to cut their own steaks, bad they now use the parts they can't use to sell as burgers at a lower price to bring in the 'business market.'
12.45: Our final session before the attending chefs pick over the lunch menu is titled 'The Art of Reinvention'
Moderated by Duncan Fraser Smith, the founder of The Cutting Agency, he is joined by Jason Myers, the GM of Jumeirah Group (Restaurants & Bars) & managing director of Jumeirah Restaurants LLC; as well as Max Grenard, culinary Director of Dubai Golf.
This esteemed panel will investigate how a restaurant knows when to reinvent its menu, venue or concept, and if there is ever a failsafe strategy?
Jason from Jumeirah comes out firing by stating that ROI is 'one of the worst things to be associated with F&B' and is an insufficient method of judging the success of a restaurant.
However, Max at Dubai Golf says that restaurants in Dubai are expected to make a ROI in three years, compared to five in Europe.
Talking about menus, Jason bemoans the venues with 100s of different items on their menus that 'confuses customers'.
Then goes on to the problem of changing a venue's names, and gives the example of a London restaurant that was making £170,000 a week, changed the name, and is now closed. 'Building a reputation and getting a customer to understand your brand, is very difficult.'
Duncan wonders whether location is still king, and whether you can drive people to obscure locations.
Max wonders why Jumeirah customers are unable to cross the Dubai Creek, and he may struggle to attract them, but that his venue is able to do well enough from the local market.
14.00: After lunch it's time for the day's master class workshops to begin.
Our first is a 'Red Meat Masterclass' by Tarek Ibrahim, executive chef for Meat & Livestock Australia.
In his class Tarek really gets hands on with his subject bringing out a impressive cut of meat and demonstrating how it can be cut, prepared and cooked to maximise a restaurant's menu.
He also tells the crowd the benefits of ageing, vacuum packing and how to tell your marbling from your connective tissue.
14.30: After Tarek it's time for the HACCP 'Hygiene and Food Care Workshop' from Dr. Rafiq Al Khatib, managing director of RMK-The Experts.
He outlines the basics of a HACCP hygiene workshop, and the real benefits of the HACCP system that range from a Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points and managing the food safety habits of your staff.
15.00: As our final workshop draws to a close there is just time for Caterer Middle East editor Devina Divecha to say her thanks to the days panelists, delegates, sponsors and attendees and bring the event to a close.
Make sure you keep tabs on hoteliermiddleeast.com over the coming days as we investigate some of the news and developments to come out of this years show.
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