“Our partnership with Wolfgang Puck has been very positive, having two of his restaurants and one of his lounges here. We are the only hotel company in the world that has three Wolfgang Puck operations within it,” Pirkle says.
In addition to Puck’s restaurants, the hotel includes: Bay View Lounge, a lobby lounge which is popular in its own right as a poolside dining venue; Vento; the all-day dining restaurant Bahrain Bay Kitchen (BBK); and a pool lounge that is gaining in popularity in the evenings.
While most concepts were determined when the hotel was signed, it was director of food & beverage George S. Safi’s responsibility to ensure they were successful.
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“We know that our clientele will be mainly from GCC countries. So having the BBK is in response to their needs and what they want in terms of live cooking during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lobby lounges are very popular as well. We are short of seats — on the weekend you have a waiting list of a lot of people.
“Originally, we didn’t have a shisha place, but now we have a setup by Vento. It all started when a guest requested it, and now we do about 100 shisha covers every weekend. It’s a really nice set up,” Safi reveals.
The outlets have attracted a lot of Bahrain residents during the week, but particularly on the weekends.
“In Bahrain we have a lot of expats, so especially during midweek we really count on the corporate guests and the expats who dine out. At the end of the day, it’s a small country, but it’s good, healthy competition. In Bahrain you have the ability to open standalone restaurants and serve alcohol, so the competition is different to Dubai and Doha and other cities.
"We are lucky — we are the Four Seasons, and Bahrain is a small country. So people will come to us, and the task that we have is to make them keep coming back. When they feel they have value for what they are paying, they will continue to come back,” Safi explains.
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