Following the opening of The Address Dubai mall, Caterer Middle East speaks to the property‘s F&B director Domenico Iannone about the outlets, who they are targeted at and why there are no challenges on to horizon
What appealed to you about joining The Address Dubai Mall project?
This is my fourth year in the Middle East; I spent over three years in Oman, and prior to that I was in London for a long time, prior to that in Switzerland and Italy. So I’ve been around for a while!
The big appeal regarding this project was the fact that it wasn’t a company which was up-and-running yet, so you had to do everything from scratch: to work on policies and procedures, on standards, to build up the brand and be part of a company that’s growing.
When I joined we had one-and-a-half hotels and now, a year down the line, we have five. And to be a part of building that is a great honour.
We are the ones who have laid the foundations for this brand.
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How did this opening compare to others you’ve been involved with?
I have done one major pre-opening before in Oman, at Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa; that was 780 rooms and 18 food and beverage outlets.
But this one was far greater by comparison, because we had the opportunity to start from scratch. We had the opportunity to build our OS&E from scratch, decide what style of service, what style of outlets we wanted. We could do whatever — it was an F&B director’s dream! It’s alike being a painter — you have a blank canvas and it’s up to you and your imagination as to how things will turn out.
That doesn’t happen with established brands; the corporate office will even choose your crockery.
So it was great to be so ‘hands-on’ — being so involved means that you invest a lot of yourself in the project and it becomes very close to your heart.
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