The right ingredients

[L-R] Ghaith Zeidan, Sid King, Etienne Haro, John Quick, Shaun Roesstorff, Giorgio Vallesi and Nick Hancock strike a pose in Eclipse Bar at the Inter

In the current climate, outlets have to fight for business; how are your operations driving footfall?

Quick: There are all sorts of ways to encourage footfall. People see Zuma and think it’s expensive, so deals such as taster menus or lunch time and early evening specials are a great way to get them in and show them what we’re really about.

Shaun Roesstorff: When the market became tougher, there were a lot of venues giving discounts or giving something for free — instead of doing all that, you can step up a notch with your quality, and make sure you’re really living up to, or going one better than, your price bracket.

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Haro: Value is the key, certainly. It’s misleading to think that because you reduce the price of an item by two dirhams, you’re putting yourself at a competitive advantage.

Zeidan: Today, people are most likely to go somewhere they trust to give good value — and I don’t think they mind paying that bit extra if they are confident of getting that.

Quick: There do seem to be less people going out, as well. When I came to Dubai a year ago, Zuma was packed every night; now it’s still doing well in the restaurant, but the bar can be a bit quiet, because we’re used to crowds. So footfall is definitely down — but it’s spending habits too.

Hancock: I bet your food sales are not too different to last year, but alcohol is very different, right? It’s the same in our outlets. Food sales are actually up on last year, alcohol sales are down.

Vallesi: Absolutely; 2009 was the best year for MMI retail, but the on-trade went down because people are being more cautious, entertaining more at home when they would have gone out before.

Everyone’s downgrading, so people who were drinking champagne last year are now having sparkling wine; those who drank wine are having spirits; those who drank spirits are going to beer, and so on.

So the volume is still there, but the revenue has dropped because the purchase of premium goods has fallen.

Quick: We’re definitely seeing that, particularly with regards to high-end cognacs and premium whiskies. People are more cautious with their money.

Hancock: And also we’ve seen a big drop in the amount of credit card usage, with people just leaving their card behind the bar for the evening, which was typical a few years back in this market.

What trends are you noticing in the beverage field at the moment?

Haro: I’d say it’s a major return to classics. I look at what’s around and there are a lot of the traditional names — Mojitos, Cosmopolitans, all of that. A few years ago we had some really bold things; nowadays there’s a move back to the recognisable.

Zeidan: I think the trend today is to offer classics with a slight twist; but we come back to the same point — the consumer.
People are not feeling ‘brave’ enough at the moment to go out and spend money on something they might not like. But give them a slight twist on an old favourite, and they will go for that.

Roesstorff: People trust what they know. They know Mojitos, they know Caipirinhas, they know what to expect.
And that’s what they’re looking for: something they are comfortable with and know they will enjoy.

Quick: It’s a bit disheartening for bartenders though, because most of us hate doing Mojitos! When you’ve spent time developing an inventive cocktail list, you want to encourage people to try it. At Zuma, we will try to engage a customer by chatting about what they like, and giving them something a bit different and new to try; then, if they don’t like it, fair enough, they can have a round of Mojitos instead.

Zeidan: But this is the difference with an independent outlet. You have the freedom to empower your bartenders to offer different drinks to your customers, and if they don’t like it — fine, they can throw it away. No hotel in town will do that.

At many places, if you don’t order from the menu, you don’t get. They won’t ask if you like it sour or sweet, or what kind of thing you’re looking for: they’re there to sell by rote. This is also why people order things they know, because they don’t want to be disappointed by it.

Haro: Well I like to think hotels are a bit more creative than you’re portraying them! There are some amazing hotel bars.

Zeidan: OK, some are good, but I’m talking about 80-90% of hotel bars out there. I’ve been here since before there was a cocktail industry, back when a Bloody Mary was unheard of, so it’s great to see it even up to where it is today. But there’s still more to be done.

And regarding trends, this really isn’t a trends market; we copy. We copy Europe, the US, Asia, whatever works there we think will work here, so we copy. We’re not a trend-setting market.