Inside Fairmont Bab Al Bahr's staff cafeteria, Makanna, which serves around 350-400 diners per meal.
Fairmont Bab Al Bahr recently took over the catering for its staff cafeteria; Caterer Middle East looks at the changes implemented and feedback received
On September 1, 2013, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr executive chef Cladys Magagna took over the staff cafeteria, Makanna, for the entire hotel, a move which Magagna calls one of his proudest moments on the job. Previously managed by an outside catering firm serving more than 1500 meals a day, Magagna is happy to see the operation come under his control, with wholesome meals that take into account the preferences of the multi-cultural team.
RATIONAL AND OBJECTIVE
“Since I joined in September, 2012, I have worked on a lot of new projects. To name a few: the kitchen’s organisational structure, health and safety perspective, the usage of sustainable products (fish and other local items) and the conception of a business plan — not just from a food quality standpoint but taking into consideration the sizeable savings that can be generated from managing the operation alongside creation of a culinary brigade equipped with skills to manage a restaurant or banqueting operation catering of about 1000+ per day,” says Magagna.
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His most recent project was to take over the colleagues’ cafeteria.
Explaining why this was necessary, Magagna says: “The objective behind taking over the cafeteria was mainly to improve the quality of food, try to control the expenses and create an engagement with our colleagues as we firmly believe it is an important part of our colleagues’ satisfaction to ensure they have the right food.”
IMPLEMENTATION
The hotel’s F&B team began preparing for this move in advance, so as to ensure everything went according to plan. According to Magagna, the business plan was sent to the management in December 2012.
He explains: “Careful execution was furthered through the recruitment of a team of 11 chefs including a junior sous chef.”
In addition to recruiting a team solely for the staff cafeteria, menus were prepared, and based on the kind of meal preparations on a daily basis, a duty roster was also created.
Magagna also cleverly made use of available space. “We also looked for a space for food storage for the dry store products and since there was no kitchen exclusively for Makanna, the banquet kitchen was utilised during night shifts.”
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