F&B outlets play an increasingly important role in the competitive hotel industry - and so does the flatware and cutlery on the table. As a result, trade is booming for the region's suppliers.
Food and beverage presentation has long played an integral role in the appeal of any hotel. In addition to this, with an increased focus on F&B offerings across the region, hotels are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to stand out from the competition.
As a result, flatware and cutlery have reached new levels of importance in the region, as key factors in setting just the right tone for the table.
SARA Hotel Supplies was incorporated in Saudi Arabia in 1967, and now boasts hotel supplies offices in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Lebanon.
As the company's UAE sales manager Abdulhamid Diab explains, SARA Hotel Supplies is the exclusive distributor for Villeroy and Boch chinaware, cutlery and crystal ware for hotels and restaurants across the UAE.
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"We also have Arcoroc, which is a leading glassware manufacturer from France; we are the exclusive distributors for Oneida, Sant Andrea and Wedgewood cutlery; and we have recently added Tramontina, a Brazilian factory that produces specialty knives for chefs," Diab explains.
"And just last week we added Italian company RCR's crystal ware products to our profolio.
"We cover more than 90% of the four- and five-star hotels in the UAE," adds Diab. "We are also lucky enough to cover a range of corporate jet companies and a blossoming airline company out of Abu Dhabi, where we have been providing items for their business and first class zones since its inception several years ago.
Blue Square Group is a Thailand-based manufacturer of stainless steel tableware products in contemporary and traditional styles, and has grown from its humble beginnings as a small retail shop to a major supplier with its own design department and semi-automatic production facility.
The group's managing director A C George explains that the firm's popular product ranges include stainless steel cutlery, buffet settings, bowls, trays and wine buckets.
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Our Middle East market is worth close to US $500,000 per annum, mainly in the UAE, with customers like Marriott, Emaar Group and Atlantis The Palm," George adds.
It is clear, then, that business is booming for those in the flatware industry. But how should such firms market their products? What can make them stand out from the crowd?
SARA Hotel Supplies' Diab believes it's about focusing on specific brands and representing them wholeheartedly.
We generally only have one factory that we represent for each part of the tableware, so we have one chinaware manufacturer, one glassware manufacturer, one manufacturer for cutlery and now one for crystal ware.
"This approach ensures that we are focused on the brands we represent and that our factories are properly represented to our clients, to the best of our abilities."
Blue Square's George adds that face-to-face customer interaction has proved an invaluable marketing tool. "Blue Square began as a retailer and that intimate face-to-face experience formed the foundation of the company's approach towards service," he explains.
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"In Thailand, Blue Square still maintains direct contact with the customers, while in overseas markets it mostly works through reliable and reputed agents."
Another essential point to remember, for suppliers wishing to compete in the market, is to stay on top of changing industry trends, as SARA Hotel Supplies' Diab points out.
"We have noticed an inclination towards the more 'competitively priced' items for crockery," he says. "It's understandable, but in truth quality products and service are difficult to substitute."
Visually things are changing too, with an increasing preference for contemporary cutlery, according to Blue Square's George.
"A present trend is to move away from traditional settings towards a more trendy and sleek product," he notes.
Each property now needs unique settings to differentiate themselves from others. So instead of just carrying samples to the customers, our sales team now include designers in the meetings, so they can properly discuss and design according to each customer needs."
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But however focused a supplier is, there are always going to be challenges that crop up when supplying to a fast-paced client such as the hospitality industry.
According to SARA Hotel Supplies' Diab, the most fundamental challenge as a supplier in the UAE is gaining and maintaining the trust of hotel owners and operators.
"This is particularly true of the F&B managers, chefs and chief stewards," he adds. "It comes down to being able to create the a feeling of reliability and the trust that ensures repeat business, which is what a supplier needs and requires; its not just selling the item," Diab adds.
Creating and maintaining this trust must result in guaranteed quality performance by the supplier, so that when a promise is made by us, it's kept."
There are also challenges in keeping up with the demands of hotels desperate to outshine the competition, as Blue Square's George notes. "As the competition in the region's hotel industry increases, each property wants to offer unique settings," he says. "This results in some very demanding design requests.
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Of course the market is moving and changing so fast that there may well be new challenges around the corner. But what will those changes be?
SARA Hotel Supplies' Diab believes there will be "more emphasis on hotel developments throughout the MENA region", and thinks this will be a good thing - both for the flatware business and for the region in general.
Our infrastructure is in need of development, whether in the GCC, the Levant or North Africa.
Through tourism or even business trips, add these hotel developments to any country in the region and the pre-conceived beliefs of the Arab culture, religions and traditions are knocked down and rebuilt with a better understanding of who we are," he says. "So it is necessary for more hotels to be built," he concludes.
Blue Square's George adds: "I think the market will see high growth in the near future, say over the next three to five years, and thereafter we'll see it slow down".
Either way, flatware and cutlery suppliers will have their plates full, catering to one of the most demanding industries in the world.
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