F&B directors cite recruitment as major challenge

Towers Rotana Dubai director of food & beverage Leo Holli said staff would still move jobs for a matter of dirhams.

There is a limited recruitment market for the food and beverage sector, according to Dubai’s F&B directors, who claim that not only is it hard to find staff but that there are very few career opportunities for senior professionals.

Speaking at a Hotelier roundtable held at Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach, Towers Rotana Dubai director of food & beverage Leo Holli said he believed “rank and file” staff would still move jobs for a small increase in salary.

“Abu Dhabi will be an issue because its hotels are looking for trained staff and trained staff is available in Dubai. For them it is cheaper to offer AED 100 or 200 more (US $xx-xx) [than to train],” said Holli.

Story continues below

The Address Dubai Mall director — F&B Domenico Iannone disagreed that money was a major motivator.

“I think now people have learned their lessons, you don’t have people moving for AED 50-100 ($xx) dirhams more a month. Now people are looking for stability, training and career progression,” said Iannone.

He predicted there would be another “migration of staff from one hotel to another” after Ramadan, but said that while there were jobs available for line staff, there was nothing for senior food and beverage managers.

“Anything above outlet manager forget it,” said Iannone.

Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates food & beverage manager Gerrit Thiebes said: “For upper management positions it’s quite hard to find a job at the moment still, for juniors and outlet managers it’s ok, but everything above it’s still hard”.

Iannone added that recruitment was challenging because of the changing economies.

“Take India for example,” he said. “Three or four years ago most of the people here were Indians or Filipinos, but they can get the same job now and get paid the same in India, so why should they be here when they could be at home.”

As a result, when recruiting for The Address Dubai Mall, Iannone said they went to South Africa, Kenya and Eastern Europe rather than India or the Philippines.

Thiebes said it was important to recruit from China because of the increase in Asian tourists coming to Dubai.

Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach director of food and beverage Laurent Boisdron agreed: “Recruitment was fascinating as we went to China and Ethiopia to recruit some of our associates”.

He said the hotel offered competitive salaries of AED 1500 ($??) for a waiter but that providing good staff accommodation was more important in drawing potential staff to your hotel.

“They love the compound that we have; it’s in Al Quoz and is brand new with activities all the time,” he said.

See the April issue of Hotelier for more from the F&B directors roundtable.