I myself have played Santa many times; I don’t know why when someone says the words ‘who is going to be Santa this year?’ everyone looks at me and smiles.
It must be because I am good with kids.
The festive season is the time for office parties, school leavers parties, bizarrely-themed parties — you name it, it all happens from the first week of December until the start of January.
It is the time of the year when kitchen, F&B and banqueting departments kick into overdrive, feeding thousands of ‘merry’ guests whose only mission is to dent the booze allowance.
But it is also a chance for us to show off our culinary and interior decorating skills. I have built huge gingerbread houses and life-size chocolate Christmas trees — partly to show off but also because it’s fun to see people’s reactions when they see these creations.
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Once Christmas is over then the real work starts for the biggest party of the year: New Year’s Eve.
Organising the costumes, the decorations, the food and the drinks takes so much careful planning and strategising that it’s a bit like preparing for war — menu planning in October, tasting in November then ordering everything the first week of December to ensure you don’t miss out. It is hard work, but ultimately very rewarding.
So when do hoteliers get to celebrate? Well, last year I woke up my then 21-month old son, his mum and nana at 5am to open presents, as I had to be at work by 7am. Cruel, I know.
As for the hotel staff, our Christmas parties normally happen in January — but what happens at those is censored.
Ho ho ho and bah humbug,
Marcus Gregs
Marcus Gregs is the executive chef at the Mövenpick Bur Dubai. He has 16 years’ experience working in hotel kitchens in cities such as London, Sydney, Amsterdam and Dubai.
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