The CapeX Factor

(Clockwise from back left)Jihad Hazzan, Klaus Assmann, Stefan Breg, H.Peter Drescher, Fahed Srour and Andrew Shipley

Students at The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management went head to head last month in an F&B concept creation competition as part of their Design and Architecture module. Hotelier Middle East editor Louise Oakley joined the panel of judges to put the students through their paces ­– and realised there is a lot the industry can learn from this new generation of hoteliers

It’s not only the singing, dancing and acting stars of the future that have to perform in front of their industry idols in order to see who has the ‘X Factor’. Sixty students from The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in Dubai went head to head last month as they competed in 14 teams to win ‘The CapeX Factor’, a competition which was designed to examine their prowess at understanding the process of creating a restaurant concept.

The competition was part of the hospitality students’ Design and Architecture module, led for the first time this year by visiting professors Stefan Breg and Andrew Shipley from Tribe restaurant creators. Tribe chief worrier Breg, previously a director of Hilton Hotel Group, has developed a wide range of concepts from coffee shops to fine dining. He has also held senior positions with Pepsi, InterContinental, Ernst & Young and Burger King. Meanwhile, Tribe chief medicine man Shipley has more than 20 years’ experience designing bars and restaurants, with his achievements including Havana, Salsa and Nico Central.

Each team of students received the same brief from the Tribe leaders – to create a capital application and live presentation for a restaurant concept that would replace Seasons, a failing hotel-based outlet located in the fictional city of Doobi Darbi. The relevant market information was provided to the students, who then had just two working days to create their concept and prepare their ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch for funding from a board of investors – the judging panel.

In the world-famous singing competitions shown on our TV screens every year, the shortlisted ‘students’ or wannabe popstars have a natural gift. Those caterwaulers we are subjected to in the early auditions are never going to become the next big thing. This is where The CapeX Factor differs, however, and it is why Breg and Shipley wanted to add the challenge to the module.

Too often at hospitality management schools, students are given the impression that concept creation is “some kind of mysterious art or craft that only some people have, something you’re born with,” says Breg.

“No you’re not,” he asserts. “You can learn the process. I can remember in my early days as an F&B director in one of the hotel chains going to project meetings and being completely mystified by some of the terminology and the process. So I was completely unprepared and I believe there are a number of professionals in the same situation.

“So what I hope we’ve done is create a group of 60 people that understand at least the fundamentals of it and the key learning points — it is a science. Some elements are gut feel, but when you make it only gut feel you are in trouble,” says Breg.

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KEY LEARNINGS

The students were required to submit an eight-page capital paper to their professors ahead of the 15 minute presentations, which were followed by Q&As from all the judges. In this time the students had to cover the market competition, gaps in the market, guest profile, the name and the theme of their restaurant, the cuisine and menu, the design and feel, how they would market it, risks and contingencies and financials, from refurbishment costs to when they would make a return on investment.

“What they invariably got right was the understanding of the target market, the importance of relating a concept to the people in a market and the potential market that was there,” says Breg. “They got the operational viability fairly right as well.”

What was lacking generally, was an understanding of the risks and contingencies.

“They listed risks, from terrorism to plague, but they didn’t really say what the likelihood of those risks occurring was or what the necessary actions you could take to resolve those particular issues were,” comments Breg.

Another weakness noted by the judges was the attention to marketing. Some marketing budgets were small, other huge, but none really specified what would be done except for saying they would use adverts, facebook and radio for example. One of the judges, Fahed Srour, chief operations manager (retail) at the Al Khaja Group — which operates brands such as Hatem and Glorai Jean’s Coffees — estimated that 15-20% of the cost of creating and opening the restaurant should be dedicated to marketing, but the teams allocations varied from a few thousand dirhams to four million.

The other key talking point among the judges was the use of technology in several concepts. A third of the teams focused on technology quite heavily and some were quite successful (see Vostro and Tah Chi below).

Disappointingly though, says Breg, while many opted for the use of iPads and touch screens “because young people like that”, they were not able to prove or establish an acceptance of technology front of house. One example given was Inamo in London, which has interactive table tops designed for ordering food and playing games with other diners, but this has received mixed reviews.

“For them to say it works in one place out of 20,000 restaurants in London and that people love technology isn’t enough – we need them to tell us how to make technology appealing in a more universal way, how you get from gimmick and gizmo to experience, because that’s quite a leap,” says Breg.