Raising the bar

Behind the bar at Bridges cocktail lounge and caf?, located in the Fairmont Dubai.

Caterer Middle East met with a select group of the region’s top beverage professionals at Fairmont Dubai’s Cin Cin bar for a frank discussion on the highs and lows of the region’s burgeoning bar scene — the staff, the service and the beverage community.

What are the main challenges facing the Middle East bar industry today?

Sasha Milovanovic: There are quite a few challenges actually. Firstly, there’s the problem that there is no proper bar association.

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In my opinion that is a major issue, because there’s no opportunity for those working in the industry to sit down and share opinions and discuss the latest trends and challenges and so on. And this basically means that everything is micro-managed.

We cannot get together and get more of the big picture — which is really how an industry grows.

Felix Hartmann: I do run the Dubai Bartender Club, but that’s really me doing it in my leisure time, so I cannot really dedicate the hours a project like this requires. It was started a year ago, but it’s not really serious, because there’s not the time.

Tihomir Gergov: I think live events can be one way round this, of getting the bar community together. We have done quite a few events in conjunction with MMI.

And in fact we have recently been talking about setting up some kind of association here, and have checked with the IBA (International Bartenders Association) regarding what the possibility of that is.

But Felix’s group has really laid the ground work and shown there is a call for such an association, so in my view, the first step is done. The second step is to set up a regional chapter and find people who can take care of things at least part time, because it is a very tough job.

Milovanovic: But is that legally possible?

Gergov: I am checking that; right now I am assessing whether we can look at it more from an industry forum point of view, rather than from the alcohol standpoint.