It’s the beginning of the end of F&B and hospitality conference season here in the Middle East and the turnout, input and engagement from all attendees has raised the bar dramatically, compared with previous years.
One of the main topics I have spoken about this year at these events, and a founding principle in establishing The Cutting Edge Agency, is creating concepts with soul. So, I thought I would delve a little more into how best to achieve that for new and existing operations.
Let’s start by defining soul. Soul is the emotional and intellectual intensity associated with creativity. Soul is by its own definition a feeling and as such this is how we should look at it when we look to our food and beverage operations. How do they make people feel?
We recently opened a new project in Dubai International Financial District (DIFC) and one of the things commented on was that the place felt ‘lived in’. It had an energy that we had created not just by the design, fixtures and fittings, but by the energy created within the space through the engagement and focus of the colleagues.
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However, the one true element that gives an outlet soul is its emotional connection with its customers. We regularly talk about the secret to generating repeat business in our operations and it has been clearly defined as being when the customer treats the outlet as their own place.
This ability to create ‘shared ownership’ with your clientele is based on creating an emotional connection with that guest.
The pride generated through that connection goes on to be the most powerful tool that any outlet can achieve, through its customers: that of shared ownership with the outlet.
People want to feel needed and respected and, when entering your outlet, they also want to be made to feel important. These key attributes go along way to generating the heart and soul of an operation thus leading toward that pinnacle of delivering true hospitality.
As I have mentioned many many times in my regular columns for Caterer Middle East, those responsible for ensuring your outlet has soul are those on the frontline of daily operations — your team. And if your team can feel pride and experience some form of emotional connection with the outlet, this carries forth and multiplies innumerably with your customer base.
I grant you this is the most challenging part of creating outlets with soul, but it is one that with a focus on true and honest employee engagement — where successes are heralded and failures are learning experiences — the very heart of the operation will continue to beat consistently.
It is humbling sometimes to step out of daily operations for a minute and look at the people coming into your establishment. So, for those of you who would like to inject more soul into your operation, I challenge you to look at your guest again… for the first time, as they walk in with an invisible sign around their neck saying ’make me feel important’ and take it from there.
Duncan Fraser-Smith is the founder of The Cutting Edge Agency, which specialises in developing and creation of benchmark F&B concepts through conceptualisation and training, as well as sourcing and partnering with international brands and high profile chefs to successfully establish their presence in the Middle East. Visit www.thecuttingedgeagency.com for more information.
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