Okku's Pavlos Frensis, Leena Tickley, Gary Smith, Markus Thesleff, Antony Papalas, Bianca Finn, Volkan Acil, Stephen Tsambo and Dimitris Panopoulos accepted the award on behalf of the team.
Okku Dubai bagged one of the most desirable awards at the 2017 Caterer Middle East Awards - the Restaurant Team of the Year –Independent Outlet title.
Okku’s team was presented the award for Restaurant Team of the Year - Independent Outlet by Rashid Bahar business development manager of TSSC.
With a staff of 44 employees, 17 in back of house and 27 in the front of house section, Okku has evolved with the ever-changing scenery of Dubai.
Okku successfully drove down food costs with a menu consisting of over 250 curated items, throughout the entire year and most dramatically in 2016 Q4 and 2017 Q1. The judges were impressed by the fact that the team managed to drop costs by 8.76% in order to stay competitive.
Speaking to Caterer Middle East at the awards, Whissle Hospitality Group founder & managing director Markus Thesleff said: "We have two new exciting things coming up and we can't wait to reveal it to you by the end of the year."
"This says everything about this family, we're one big family from the guys in our kitchen to our sommelier winning tonight and this is a team win. We're nothing without our team," Thesleff said.
Whissle Hospitality Group were victorious in three categories with wins for Okku’s Brendon Charles — Sommelier of the Year, Claw BBQ Crabshack & Grill for Casual Dining Team of the Year and Okku for Independent Restaurant Team of the Year. Okku’s Dimitris Panopulos also received a highly commended nod in the Waiter of the Year category.
And the final trophy of the #catererawards goes to...
Posted by Caterer Middle East on Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Highly Commended in this category were Reform Social & Grill.
The other nominees were Downtown Toko, Mint Leaf of London, Pierchic and Pai Thai.
The Caterer Middle East Awards 2017 is sponsored by DMK Group, GEMCO, TSSC, Ronai, Unilever, Meat & Livestock Australia, Bragard, MMI, Aramtec, SIAL, Party Social, Newby Teas, Acqua Panna and San Pellegrino.
Advertisement
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
