MMI, the region's largest liquor distributor, successfully rose to the challenge of the 2008 Dubai Rugby 7s event — despite a rise in attendance figures of up to 50% on last year.
“The main challenge for us was handling the increase in scale of the whole event,” explained MMI events manager Nadia Rasheed.
In addition to supplying the beverage brands for the games — Heineken beer and Jacob’s Creek wine — the firm managed F&B across all public areas, including outlets and the International Rugby Village.
MMI, one of the main sponsors of the Dubai Rugby 7s for over 20 years, employed 300 staff to man all the bars, and recruited a number of staff from within MMI itself, with the logistics, finance and retail teams all involved in the event.
As well as the size of the event, the new location also presented challenges.
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“Operating on an entirely new site meant we could not accurately predict the flow of people around the site, and therefore which areas would be most popular,” said Rasheed.
However the event flowed smoothly, thanks to various measures implemented in order to make service more efficient, she continued.
“We’ve worked extensively on developing systems to minimise queuing for people who attend this event. Our main focus is on making sure people enjoy [it] without having to wait in line.”
Rasheed labelled the event “a huge success for MMI”, saying the firm was proud to have been involved.
“We have already started working on the Rugby Sevens World Cup site plan, and will make sure that the key learnings from this event are all incorporated into making the next one even better,” she said.
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