Brunches to stay on the menu, despite hard times

Some of Dubai's most prominent F&B directors are adamant that brunches will stay on the menu, even though hotel guest numbers and covers at restaurants are dwindling.

F&B executives from the city’s top hotels, who were speaking to Hotelier Middle East during an exclusive roundtable interview, conceded that brunches do not generate profit for their properties.

However, they said the popular all-inclusive buffets were a clever alternative to traditional marketing activities and would remain a regular fixture.

“Brunches carry a lot of value as a brand positioning tool; a lot more value than the actual revenue generated by it,” said Raffles Dubai director of F&B Christian Westbeld.

Fairmont Dubai F&B director Sunny Joseph agreed: “It gives us an opportunity to showcase what we do in terms of culinary offerings and service," he said.

“Demand has probably decreased slightly, but the interest is still there, although there is a lot of competition — instead of one champagne brunch in the city, now there are 15 champagne brunches,” said Joseph.

The glut of brunches available in the market initially led Fairmont’s neighbouring hotel, the Monarch Dubai, to shy away from the concept, according to the property's director of F&B, Tim Hansen.

“There was nothing we could offer right now to make people walk around the corner and come to the Monarch,” said Hansen.

“We are looking into an event where we can showcase all the restaurants we have, but it is too soon to talk about.”

Westbeld admitted that Raffles also had plans underway for new brunch concepts.

“We don’t have a champagne brunch; our focus has always been the local Arabic market and we do not want to offend anyone by having too many alcohol displays,” said Westbeld.

“Nevertheless, we recognise the marketing strength of brunches and we’re working on something that will come out after Ramadan in Fire and Ice.”

New brunch ideas continue to crop up across the market — InterContinental Festival City recently launched a “pink brunch” and will soon begin an Arabian brunch, in addition to its regular Belgian brunch.

And Fairmont Dubai will celebrate its five-year anniversary on April 17 with a “mega-brunch” to thank regular guests.