caterer middle east - jan 2010

Serving the region’s catering professionals

An ITP Business Publication | Licensed by International Media Production Zone’

January 2010 • Vol 06 • Issue 01

Recruitment renaissance

Fresh or frozen?

New Year, new plans

Chefs lament skills shortage and call for change in hiring practises

How the downturn has given freezer food a boost

Brand operators reveal 2010 growth strategies

Revealing the results of Revealing the results of Caterer’sCaterer’s first annual survey of the region’s kitchen leaders first annual survey of the region’s kitchen leaders

Thehead chef survey

www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/f&b

ContentsVolume 6 Issue 01

January 2010 Caterer Middle East 01

05 NewsExperts demand HACCP across small operations; Michelin guide may come to Dubai; chefs call for creative new brands08 Revealing recruitment issuesAn ongoing shortage of skilled staff is lead-ing to hasty promotions and damaging the industry, according to the region’s chefs12 Mystery shopperEthos Consultancy reveals the true stan-dard of customer service at UAE outlets and offers advice on how to better your business18 Designer columnNigel Witham explains what role the client can play in the design process20 Kitchen correspondentsA month in the life of F&B trainees

22 RoundtableMiddle East suppliers discuss current trends, challenges and buyer relations31 Head Chef SurveyAnalysing the results of Caterer Middle East’s first annual head chef study39 Industry insightLeading outlet operators discuss the past year and their brand plans for 201044 Inside outletsStrategies behind the latest F&B launches50 Buffet bonanzaLive cooking drives supplier innovation52 Product showcaseThe latest and greatest F&B products56 Coffee breakMeet BiCE president Raffaele Ruggieri

31ContentsJanuary 2010

20Cover story

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Web contents

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Online

For the latest news and stories go to www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/f&b

Delicious deals and notable news from the F&B world

In pictures

Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City launched new bar SKYYline and Media One offered kooky candy cocktails, while Al Bustan Rotana’s lobby lounge Gazebo showcased organic items

Overload of Japanese outlets in Dubai?As trendy London restaurant concept Nozomi opens its Dubai outlet, founder Marios George says there is room in Dubai for another Japanese outlet — but others feel the emirate needs to move beyond the ‘play-it-safe’ attitude of importing western brands and try something new.What’s your opinion on the subject? Share your views at www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/f&b

Control your urgesAidan Keane advises F&B operators against self-designing outlets

Editor’s pick

Most popularAbu Dhabi boasts 15 Michelin stars in 15 days

GCC outlets flock to offer free meals

10 tasty treats this festive season

1.2.3.

Features

A vibrant vine culture Tough customersWhen it comes to food, where youngsters lead their parents will follow

The Address Dubai Mall: a dining destination?

The rice is right: chefs compete in rice cook-off

4.5.


Caterer Middle East January 2010

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“That is something the industry is trying to get to grips with; we have to change people and move them along with us,” she asserted.

Taylor also commented on the introduction of Menu-Safe into the market — a food safety management system based on the UK studies and recognised internationally by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) — and revealed that the International Food Safety Centre would launch a wider range of professional educational programmes in 2010.

The Symposium, held in honour of HACCP’s 50th birthday, hosted various food safety profes-sionals, including Dubai Municipality’s Food Control Department director, Khalid Mohd Sharif Al-Awadhi, who promised to “cooperate with the Centre to improve food safety for the UAE”.

“Dubai implemented HACCP in the 1970s; today we have 12,000 food premises and run 300 factories in Dubai, so we need this system to keep things running smoothly,” he stated.

Similarly, Abu Dhabi Food Control Author-ity assistant director general Dr Mariam Hareb Sultan Al-Yousuf pledged that all food handlers in Abu Dhabi “should be trained and certified over the next few years”.

‘Focus on small operatorsor food safety won’t work’Experts say recognised safety standards must be applied in small outlets

Governments across the Middle East must focus on implementing workable food safety regula-tions in smaller F&B operations if they are to achieve food safety, according to industry experts.

Speaking at last month’s Food Safety Sympo-sium at the Canadian University of Dubai, Profes-sor Eunice Taylor, director of university’s Interna-tional Food Safety Centre, commented: “Until we have HACCP across the food chain in every small business, we have not achieved food safety.

“Unless everyone practises HACCP, it is simply not complete.”

Taylor said the region faced a challenge in implementing safety regulations in smaller opera-tions — and suggested that contrary to popular belief, training was not the way to solve the issue.

“I used to think you could just train people (in HACCP) and it would come good, but in the end I realised the industry is just too big and too diverse for this to work,” she admitted.

“The main issue with HACCP education is that it’s high-risk when you learn on the job, because people make mistakes — we have to accelerate that learning, we have to offer more, and that’s what we are trying to do in this region.”

Taylor spent five years studying the issue of apply-ing HACCP in small and less-developed businesses with colleagues in the UK, and developed ‘The Salford Model’, which claims to solve the problem.

“This model builds a minimal amount of exper-tise into the system,” she explained.

“We built in technical expertise, merged general and specific hazards, minimised record-keeping and refocused enforcements. We found that if we kept things simple but emphasised their importance, people would write them down — and that then makes life simpler for them and the inspectors.”

According to Taylor, the main issue in making HACCP a success is its practical application.

P6 Will Dubai be seeing stars?Is a Middle East Michelin guide on the cards?

P6 Don’t rely on imported conceptsWhy the region must show originality to be-come a true gastro-hub

P6 Online opinionsOur poll verdict on whether the region’s F&B operators are getting overly greedy

P7 The Kingdom stays upbeat Jordan F&B profession-als say the downturn has had positive effects

P7 New hospitalityqualifi cations on offer City & Guilds launches a Dubai centre to cater for increased demand for F&B industry training

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International Food Safety Centre’s Professor Eunice Taylor.

Story of the month

NewsJanuary 2010

Caterer Middle East January 2010 www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/f&b06

Chefs call for creative F&B conceptsOperators cannot rely on established international brands if region is to become a true gastro-hub

Middle East operators are too ready to import established western F&B brands, ac-cording to industry professionals — a move which could hamper its aim to be recogn-ised as an international culinary hub.

Christian Jean, executive chef for the pre-opening of the Renaissance Doha City Center Hotel, Courtyard by Marriott Doha City Center and Marriott Executive Apart-ments Doha City Center in Qatar, said he would be “cautious about importing a branded F&B outlet”.

“Some branded restaurants could defi-nitely be an asset, with a well-known name and chefs which would guarantee instant success,” he noted.

“But it’s vital for operators to analyse the market needs, the location and the entire operation to ensure the imported concept matches the theme and vision of the prop-erty as well as the F&B department.”

Media One Hotel operations manager Sebastien Noat agreed that imported

Will Michelin bring stars to Dubai?Gordon Ramsay protegée Angela Hartnett said she be-lieved Michelin would bring its renowned restaurant guide to the Middle East.

“I’m sure they will bring it to this region — there are so many names and restau-rants here,” she asserted.

Speaking exclusively to Caterer Middle East, Marie-Bénédicte Chevet — head of media relations for Mi-chelin Group — confirmed the famed restaurant guide had plans to expand inter-nationally, but said it was too early to specify where.

“There is, for the time being, no scheduled project to launch a guide in Dubai, but it’s true that the guide is continuing its international development in coming months and Dubai is a very

interesting place in terms of gastronomy,” she noted.

Hartnett, who was recently awarded a Michelin star for her UK restaurant Murano, added: “The great thing about Michelin is that they’re circumspect; no one knows who they are. A great maître’d might spot them, but nine times out of ten, no one can tell.”

Hartnett also revealed that she hoped to “get three stars in five years” for Murano.

Currently the Michelin guides cover 23 countries across the US, Europe, Asia.

Media One Hotel’s Sebastien Noat.

Definitely — operator greed is now putting off potential tourists.

Yes — hotels have cut rates to reflect the global economy; F&B outlets should do the same.

In a way — the cost of importing so much produce means they have to charge more.

Not really — they’re higher than some other part of the world, but fair for this market.

No — these outlets are top quality and it’s only right that they charge accordingly.

44%

25%

13%

19%

0%

Are Dubai’s F&B outlets too expensive?

Source: HotelierMiddleEast.com online poll

“I just regret that people in this region don’t take a little more risk and focus on more up-to-date concepts,” he continued.

“In terms of the food offering, we’re still not on the same level as a lot of other capitals — the reason being that there is no risk-taking here.

“People only invest in things with a proven track record and I think that’s the main difference between here and New York, which in my opinion is still the lead-ing capital for food.

“If you look at the restaurant owners there, people who are restaurateurs do that for their living, they do it for passion. They are dedicated to their concept, they live by it and believe in it.

“And maybe they’ll make a fortune out of it, maybe they won’t — but the idea is they change, they experiment, they try things out, they rework the concept,” he emphasised.

“And in my view, that’s the thing that’s lacking in Dubai.”

Angela Hartnett.

brands could be highly successful: “Just look at Buddha Bar at Grosvenor House,” he pointed out. “And I think by bringing in Hakkasan, Emirates Palace is making a great strategic move.

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Jordan remains upbeat on downturnAqaba’s top F&B professionals have expressed an optimis-tic view of the impact of the economic downturn upon the Kingdom’s F&B market.

Speaking at a recent industry roundtable hosted by Möven-pick Resort Tala Bay Aqaba, the property’s F&B director Hakim Karoui said: “The impact of the downtown has reduced revenue, but it has also forced hoteliers to start controlling their costs in order to protect their profits.”

InterContinental Aqaba Resort F&B manager Hatem Badareen added that the economic situation “had little significant impact on the overall hotel business with

both the local tourism and the groups”.

“Despite the global financial crisis, the performance for us has remained relatively steady,” he added.

According to Radisson Blu Tala Bay Resort executive as-sistant manager Kosta Kourot-sidis, the key to riding out the storm was not to panic and slash budgets at the expense of consumer satisfaction.

“The global downturn of course effects occupancy levels, but we decided not to ‘save’ money in operations; we be-lieve in repeat guests through good reputation,” he said.

Catering assessor opens Dubai HQVocational qualification

In brief

for the many qualifications we offer,” she added.

“In the Middle East there’s now a strong regional empha-sis on workforce development, and we’re very pleased to be able to support this by helping businesses and learners to de-velop the skills that they need.

“Our qualifications are in-tended for people training for or employed in the hospitality and catering industry,” Kelle-her explained.

“If the learners are already training or employed in this field, then letting them gain an internationally-recognised qualification helps to increase motivation and aid retention.

“After all, who wants to leave an employer willing to invest in your future?” City & Guilds’ Amanda Kelleher.

designer City & Guilds launched its first regional branch in Dubai last month, in an effort to cater to profes-sionals across “an incredibly dynamic market”.

City & Guilds hub man-ager for Middle East and South Asia Amanda Kelleher revealed the company had noted “a steady increase in sales here”.

“There’s clearly an appetite

News analysisJanuary 2010


Middle East chefs are facing problems re-cruiting competent junior staff, resulting in a skills shortage in the lower echelons of the region’s kitchens.

Le Méridien Mina Seyahi and The Westin Dubai complex executive chef Anston Fivaz noted that the matter had seen a short-term solution thanks to the flood of economy-in-duced redundancies over the past year.

“Over the course of 2009 there were a lot of redundancies, resulting in a larger pool of junior staff with appropriate experience available in the Middle East; this made re-cruitment much easier,” he explained.

However Al Murooj Rotana executive chef Joachim Textor said that in general, the downturn had made it “more difficult to at-tract skilled people”.

“In Europe you still have good chefs, but be-cause of [the exchange rate of] the Euro, it’s difficult to draw them over here,” he asserted.

Al Bustan Rotana Dubai executive chef Christophe Prud’homme agreed skilled chefs were in demand and for those with appropriate experience the world was “an open market”.

“Whether you can get them depends on what you can offer in terms of salary and benefits and on the working environment you create for them,” he said.

Aside from applicants having a lack of ba-sic skills, Desert Palm Dubai executive chef Lionel Boyce said he had experienced two other recurring problems.

“I understand candidates will adjust their CVs to try and make them look more attrac-tive to the employer, but I frequently find their actual skill level doesn’t resemble the resumé at all,” he revealed.

Chefs: ‘we must address skilled labour shortage’

According to top chefs, the ongoing shortage of skilled junior chefs is one that could cause serious problems for the industry in the long-term if it is not tackled now

Boyce added that junior chefs “chasing pay packets” was another challenge.

“In the UAE, we seem to have built up an incestuous bank of chefs that jump from one hotel to the next looking for the extra AED 100 per month and a job promotion which they are not ready for — which is not good for the industry,” he said.

Despite the downturn, the re-gion has seen many operators press on with new property openings — which has kept the recruitment market competitive, according to Mövenpick Hotel Bahrain executive chef Kim Gates.

“Unfortunately this means you often find

younger chefs moving properties for a high-er position with more money, as opposed to gaining better experience,” he said.

“In my opinion there are many young kitchen employees with senior titles that lack the experience to match.”

Dubai Marriott Harbour Hotel and Suites executive chef Chris Baker agreed: “Dubai was very quick to promote junior chefs in the past; people got promoted too hastily, so when I’m hiring I make sure to look at their training from the beginning.”

This is a somewhat unstable image of the region’s lower-level kitchen staff and their capabilities — so is this issue unavoidably on course to negatively impact the industry?

According to some, in-house training could go a way towards correcting the imbalance.

Mövenpick’s Gates suggested: “Kitchen managers have to do their best with what they have and focus more on developing skills, so in a positive way they are forced to improve their training techniques to get bet-ter results, faster.”

Marriott’s Baker agreed that more chefs were embracing training in the current climate.

“We have always believed in that, so it’s not all bad,” he said. “If you get it right, it does of course mean that other employers will want to poach your staff — but if you want a certain standard from your

employees, you just have to get on with it.”However Desert Palm’s Boyce claimed that

the skills situation was “slowing down the region’s progress”.

“This is a band-aid solution, not the answer for the industry”

Al Bustan Rotana Dubai’s Christophe Prud’homme.


“This could have a hugely detrimental ef-fect if we continue down this same road in future,” he said.

“It’s great to have all these fantastic hotels and restaurants, but as more come online the quality of professionals working in them will be diluted unless we spend more time at an industry level on training and building a more sustain-able infrastructure.

“With no local talent pool to draw from, the equation be-comes very costly,” he warned.

“I understand the training schools in Dubai have been de-veloped by the larger conglom-erates to remedy the skill shortage they are feeling. This is a band-aid solution for them, not the answer for the industry itself.

“We need instead a solid strategy for the life and growth of the industry on a macro level, thinking beyond 2010.

“This requires active government partici-

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pation, through changing the immigration policies that allow people to reside over here long-term and not just come over for work.”

Le Méridien’s Fivaz added that “unless the Middle East as a region collectively in-creases salaries and pay packages to meet or preferably better the likes of Asia, Europe

and America, it will always be a follower of trends instead of a leader”.

Commenting on salaries and benefits packages, Möv-enpick’s Gates said he per-sonally felt they were “lower than what they should be, especially at the lower level,

for stewards and commis chefs”. “Some would argue that a lot of people who

come to the Middle East cannot earn such money in their own countries and that is why they are here.

“But I think everyone would agree that working in the kitchen is not easy — and

Le Méridien and The Westin’s Anston Fivaz.

“It’s like people nowadays have sold out to the highest bidder”

long hours and six-day weeks can take their toll,” he pointed out.

Renaissance Dubai Hotel director of F&B Andy Kurfürst added: “We generally work all



the times when everyone else is off having fun! It’s also a very physically challenging job.

“But in this region, I think we are doing OK [regarding salaries], as usually accom-modation, food, uniforms, transport and airfares are included in the package and it is still tax-free,” he added.

Marriott’s Baker said he felt benefits such as housing had improved in recent years, “but not so much the salaries”.

“Traditionally, as a learning chef, you’d go to work at a place with a recognised name and a great reputation, and you went there for the opportunity and because it would be good for your career and development,” he said.

“But now people jump ship just for the money, and it upsets the market.

“It takes a lot of time to learn this job. I have travelled the world for years to try to learn and improve, but it’s like people now have sold out to the highest bidder.”

So how can the Middle East right this situ-ation before it has a truly detrimental effect?

Renaissance’s Kurfürst said he believed it was on the right track: “Dubai should keep doing what it has been doing for the past 20 years — grow and boost publicity of the place as a great destination.”

Similarly, Al Bustan Rotana’s Prud’homme said that, despite the economic crisis, people still viewed the region — specifically Dubai — as “a dreamland to work in”.

“Having tax-free compensation, an oppor-tunity to learn, the diversity of business and leisure activities and living in a cosmopoli-tan city make an impact on kitchen employ-ees,” he reasoned.

“It also needs to create a decent pool of ju-nior chefs who wants to live here and learn.

“This has to be facilitated with government incentives — and there has to be a change to the current immigration policies, to allow people to come here,” Boyce asserted.

“The criteria should revolve around wheth-er they are employable, not whether they have a job to come to.”

According to Marriott’s Baker, the region would also benefit from great-er transparency between chefs regarding salaries and the skill standards of their staff.

“I know some places pay more, some less, but trying to get some realistic idea of the overall standard would be good,” he noted.

“When people poach staff from other prop-erties, all too often they take unqualified people into higher positions that they aren’t ready for. They triple their salary and the junior chef moves, then a week later they’re back asking for their old job.

“If we could all work together more closely, and just be realistic about where our staff are and how they are progressing, it would actu-ally help the industry in the long term.”

“I believe re-emphasising these attributes to the whole world would encourage more skilled chefs to come and work here.”

But Mövenpick’s Gates felt higher salaries and better packages, as well as a five-day working week, were necessary to attract more young culinary talent.

Marriott’s Baker added that the region needed to find a true identity.

“When you come to Dubai, there’s no real identity — not like there is in the great culinary places like France or Italy or India. We need to give [junior chefs] a reason to want to come here.

“Also there’s been a lot of negative western press recently about Dubai, which doesn’t help when you’re trying to at-tract people from Europe,” he added.

Desert Palm’s Boyce agreed that the region was still young and lacking it’s own true cu-linary flavour.

“Dubai doesn’t need big-name chefs from overseas coming in — although good public-ity is always helpful to the industry; it needs its own culinary scene to expand, and to be-come a destination for good chefs wanting to showcase their talents,” he argued.

“We need a decent pool of junior chefs who want to learn”

10

Desert Palm Dubai’s Lionel Boyce.

of head chefs listed labour shortages as one of the top issues affecting their

outlets’ performance last year.Source: Head Chef Survey 2009

35%

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Mystery shopperFine dining


Service spyThis month, Ethos Consultancy’s team of mystery shoppers glammed up to visit three of Dubai’stop fine-dining establishments: so were their experiences Michelin-star standard, or lacking sparkle?

Each mystery shopper is instructed to look out for the following:

Appearance• Did the outlet appear clean and tidy?• Were menus clear and easy to follow?

Sales and service• The greeting received from staff• The appearance of staff • Time taken to be served• Did the waiter ask questions to establish his customer’s preferences and needs?• Was the waiter knowledgeable about the items on offer? • If an item was not available, did the waiter provide other helpful suggestions?• Did the waiter attempt to up- or cross-sell by suggesting complementary items?

Overall Experience• Would your experience encourage you to visit this outlet again?• Did you leave the outlet with a positive impression of the venue?• Would you recommend this outlet to friends, family or colleagues?• What could have been done to better your entire experience?

THE WHAT:Caterer Middle East has partnered up with customer service experts Ethos Consul-tancy to highlight F&B service standards at outlets across the UAE. Each month, we’ll reveal mystery shoppers’ assessments of four different F&B outlets, to explore what these venues are doing right and what could be improved.

THE WHY:This isn’t about catching F&B outlets with their trousers down: by measuring performance and providing expert advice on areas for improvement, we want to help better these operations — and the industry in general.

THE HOW:Ethos Consultancy’s trained mystery shoppers are given a specifi c selection of outlets. Each shopper visits their assigned restaurant and dines as usual. Within 24 hours of every experience, each shopper fi lls out an online report, providing Ethos consultants with the information they require to offer constructive advice.

This month:The expert analysis:What better way to welcome another year of Dubai extravagance than by visiting three of the best fine dining restaurants the emirate has to offer.

We were delighted to find that reports were positive, with all three restaurants scoring around 90% and above.

Rhodes Mezzanine and Reflets par Pierre Gagnaire stole the show, with only 2% between them. Our shoppers were blown away by their experiences and found it very difficult to fault either of these locations.

Rhodes managed to score a perfect 100% which is a first for Service Spy!

Reflets came very close with a total of 98%, only losing points for placing one mystery shopper on hold for too long while making the reservation, with another shop-per felt that they didn’t quite receive value for money.

Overall, reports from both Rhodes Mez-zanine and Reflets were a pleasure to read. All shoppers were warmly welcomed, and felt their waiter was extremely knowled-gably and helpful with food and beverage choices — all of which contributed to the thrill and experience of eating exquisitely delicious dishes.

Fine dining outlets with Michelin-starred patron chefs

• Rhodes Mezzanine

• Re ets par Pierre Gagnaire

• Ossiano

Guest Service - Host and Hostess Staff Service Quality

Did the staff make an effort to engage in conversation?

Was the host or host-ess professional in their appearance?

Was your server able to answer questions confi -dently and accurately?

Visit 1 Visit 2 Visit 1 Visit 2 Visit 1 Visit 2

Rhodes Mezzanine, Grosvenor House

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Refl ets par Pierre Gagnaire, InterContinental DFC


Ossiano, Atlantis The Palm


Mystery shopperFine dining

13January 2010 Caterer Middle East

ABOUT ETHOS CONSULTANCYOriginating in the UK in 1995, Ethos Consultancy

relocated to Dubai in 2003, where a team of fi ve

has grown to 50 — with an Abu Dhabi offi ce

opening in 2008. Our consultants have come

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Ethos prides itself on being at the forefront of on-

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Through years of experience, Ethos has devel-

oped a variety of services to help clients un-

derstand how their business is performing. Our

solutions include mystery shopping, satisfaction

surveys and a range of benchmarking services.

Once clients have a clear understanding of how

they are performing, we help them improve via

training, consulting and implementation of The

International Customer Service Standard.

0

20

40

60

80

100

Rhodes Mezzanine

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

94%

100%

100%

89%

83% 91

% 100%

Reflets par Pierre Gagnaire

Ossiano

Guest Service - Host / Hostess Staff Service Quality Food & Beverage Cleanliness

Ossiano at Atlantis should not be forgot-ten either, scoring a brilliant 89%. Food and beverages were amazing and the venue was impeccable, however one of our shoppers had trouble booking their table as no one would pick up the telephone.

This shopper decided to take a risk and just turn up; as a result, she had to wait in the bar while the table was prepared, which was fine, but as she was hungry the shopper decided to order a taster while she waited.

After a lovely drink and taste of what was to come, the shopper sat down at her table and explained she would only be ordering a main meal as she had just eaten her entrée in the bar. This caused a few problems, and both entrée and main arrived at the table.

The chef was extremely generous with the amuse-bouches and warm fresh bread, but our

shopper was unable to finish all the food. She couldn’t help but think all this could have been avoided if someone had simply answered the telephone so she could have got a table when she arrived!

What could have been done better?• A fine dining ‘experience’ is rare for most,

which is why it’s important to listen to your customers’ needs and do everything possible to exceed them. Nothing should be too much trouble (of course this should really be the case in all restaurants). This month’s Service Spy clearly indicates a customer is less than pleased when they feel they are not being listened to.

• One of our shoppers noted they had a food allergy when they made their online reserva-tion. This allergy was not mentioned by the

waiter once the customer was seated and ready to order — they had to bring it up again of their own accord.

If you go to the trouble of adding this ques-tion into your online booking form, it makes sense to use this useful information to ‘wow’ your customer with your attention to detail once they arrive.

Food and Beverages Overall Experience Additional Comments

Did your food arrive at the table in a reasonable amount of time?

Did the quality of the food and its ingredients meet your expectations?

Did you fi nd the food good value for money?

Overall, based upon your experience, would you rec-ommend this restaurant?

Did the manager stop by at any time to ask how your experience was?

Visit 1 Visit 2 Visit 1 Visit 2 Visit 1 Visit 2 Visit 1 Visit 2 Visit 1 Visit 2

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Guest Service Service Quality Food & Beverage Cleanliness


Editor’s commentVolume 6 Issue 01

January 2010 Caterer Middle East 15010 Caterer Middle East 15To subscribe please visit www.itp.com/subscriptions

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I was speaking to a chef from a reputable five-star hotel the other day (who shall remain nameless), and he told me one of the main problems he finds himself facing on a daily basis is his relation-ship with the property’s upper echelons of management.

His gripe was not that they had slashed budgets, cut staff numbers, or set unreasonable targets for his restaurants — it was simply that when they made changes affecting his team, they did not discuss them with him, or even speak to him in person; he was instead notified via email.

This situation — or ‘Communigate’, as the chef in question jok-ingly referred to it — may be an extreme example, and it certainly isn’t true of many chef-manager relationships, but it does raise an important point: good communication is vital at all levels of industry.

Whether you work in the kitchen, front-of-house, the bar or the finance department, everyone benefits from being kept in the loop.

Personal interaction bonds teams and builds solid work-place relationships, resulting in happier employees and consequently happier customers.

When people don’t communicate, whether it’s between col-leagues, superiors to juniors, or vice versa, that is when problems, rumours, misunderstandings and malcontent arise.

The lack of communication in the case mentioned earlier could be due to a number of reasons: but whatever the cause, the effect will be detrimental to operations if this bad feeling is allowed to simmer and grow.

So remember that even though we are in an age of e-com-munication, with emails and texts making up a huge part of today’s correspondence, when you have something important to convey, there is no substitute for doing so personally.

This is how you build relationships and respect within a team — and you will find that taking the time to talk will pay dividends in the long term.

Lucy Taylor, Editor

It’s good to talk


Comment

As we all know, these are challenging times for the Middle East.

I’m no economist, so I can’t tell you if it’s worse here than anywhere else — although the worldwide press seems to show a degree of schadenfreude when reporting on the situ-ation in this region, particularly in Dubai.

So how is the UAE hospitality sector performing? Hotel occupancy in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi is down — as are room rates. We hear tell of restaurants trading at 25-35% lower than last year, a drop accentuated by a weaker dollar affecting the cost of bought-in goods and depleting margins.

All restaurants have felt this decline in revenue. The reduced tourist numbers are a major factor, but even residents seem to have tightened their belts.

And how is the restaurant sector in the UAE responding to the reduction in revenue? By dis-counting, of course! A quick look through Time Out magazine will show you heaps of F&B promotions jostling for attention.

So what else can restaurant operators do in recessionary times?

I am lucky to be one of the survivors of three recessions in the UK — the first of which, in 1979, coined the phrase ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’ when prime minister James Callaghan allegedly ignored the state of the nation during the ‘Winter of Discontent’.

The recessions in 1981 and 1990 had a severe effect on retailing. I recall that the res-taurant sector initially responded by doing what Dubai is doing now — discounting.

Don’t panic! There are tactics that will help you survive the economic slump; sometimes it just takes a true recession veteran to point them out

BregStefan

Stefan Breg is chief executive and ‘chief worrier’ at TRIBE

Restaurant Creators. For more information, please visit:

www.tribecreators.com

But this ‘quick fix’ didn’t work, so restaura-teurs turned to an area which would have a more lasting effect: the supply chain.

Restaurant groups began to re-engineer their supply chains, releasing the value locked up in antiquated purchasing processes.

Supply chain consolidation was borne out of the recession; for the first time, restaurant groups and contract caterers leveraged their volumes and frequently joined purchasing consortia who bought on their behalf.

This consolidation helped improve margins and delivered sustained benefits.

Other methods used during the lean UK years included menu engineering, where a restaurant’s dishes were reviewed for cost efficiency; and careful sourcing from further afield — although we are now seeing the envi-ronmental backlash of this global purchasing.

Another survival tool was labour schedul-ing: for the first time, operators were using software to align their payroll to demand.

These years also saw many mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the hospitality sector.

M&A has become the single most signifi-cant feature of the past 10-15 years of the western restaurant sector. There have been a huge number of acquisitions in the UK, including brands such as Pizza Express, Browns and even top-end names like The Ivy — and yet M&A remains a rarity in the Middle East.

The impact of these recessions also led to an increase in creative accounting tech-niques, such as securitising assets based on projected earnings.

So could these survival tactics have ap-plication in the UAE?

Supply chain engineering is clearly an opportunity, when, you consider the

relative fragmentation of the region’s restaurant groups.

Labour scheduling is arguably less applicable in a market where

payroll costs are lower than inter-national benchmarks. However I remain amazed at how an owner can manage more than 20% of

his cost base without using any analytical tools.

M&A is a huge opportunity here, although I suspect that culturally, there

are barriers to overcome before operators start to think of buying or merging with each other: too many, too proud.

So if you don’t do the above, what then? Is it a case of ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’

Maybe not; but the F&B industry certainly needs to wake up to the opportunities avail-able — and start managing creatively.

Creative management will stop restaurateurs hitting the panic button.

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CommentDesigner column


As a client, your job isn’t to be innovative — your job is to foster innovation. And there’s a big difference.

Fostering innovation is a discipline. It involves making difficult choices and causes important things to get done.

Here are some bullet points to help you do this professionally:

• Before engaging with your design team, foster discipline among yourself and your in house team. Be honest about what suc-cess will look like and what your resources actually are. Write the success criteria at the top of your design brief. Next, write down your ground rules and say which are firm and which can be broken on the path to a creative design. If you can’t do this how can you expect your designer to figure it out?

• Simplify the problems relentlessly, and be prepared to accept elegant solutions that satisfy the problems as simply as possible.

• After you’ve written down the ground rules, revise them to eliminate constraints that are only on the list because they’ve always been there.

• Hire the right design team — after all, you wouldn’t ask an electrician to paint your villa. Part of your job is to find someone who is already in the sweet spot you’re looking for, or someone who is eager and able to get there.

How to be a great client. You’ve found a location,decided on a format and hired a top design team to fit it out — so what’s your role from here-on in?

• Demand brain-storming early in the process. Force innovations at the beginning of the project and then stick with your deci-sions. Changing bad decisions at the end, when the builders are on site, always makes them even worse.

• Don’t expect to get everything right and don’t blame your designer if it’s not all perfect right off. Give your in-house team the training, time and money to get used to operating your new restaurant before mak-ing any adjustments with care; about six months is usually right.

• Be honest about your resources. While bemoaning false constraints may help you once or twice, the designers you’re working with deserve your respect, which includes

telling the truth.

• Pay as much as you need to solve the problems, which might be more than you want to. If you pay less than that, you’ll end up wasting your money. After all, why would a great design team work for cheap?

• Delegate all issues of personal taste to the design team. I don’t care if you hate the curves on the new logo or the colour of the carpet — just because you pay my bill doesn’t mean your personal aesthetic sense is relevant. If you don’t like my style, don’t hire me!

• While admittedly designers won’t always have brave new ideas, more often than not it’s a case of someone — possibly you — killing them. Make sure you, or your managers, are not tempted to dilute new ideas simply because they’ll be hard to operate. Your customers don’t care how easy your life is!

• Raise the bar. Over and over again, raise the bar. Impossible a week ago is not good enough; you want to use ideas that are impossible today, because the future begins tomorrow. It’s a race and your competitors

aren’t staying still — especially in this new competitive economy.

• When you find a faux design team, one that just rolls out pat solu-

tions to a budget, run. Don’t stick with people who don’t deserve the hard work

you’re doing to clear a path.• Celebrate the designers. Sure, you

deserve credit, but you’ll attract more good designers and make an even better restau-rant next time when they understand how much they benefit from working with you.

Nigel Witham is a chartered designed who has run his own design practice for 20 years. For more information, email: [email protected]

WithamNigel

Be prepared to embrace new design ideas.

December 2009PeopleTraining


Nasseem Mirtahmasebi has lived in Dubai for six years and previously studied at Jumeirah College. She hopes to work in Dubai in future.

One major element of this month was that on the kitchen side, we introduced à la carte, which was so much fun and very speedy! I re-ally enjoyed doing this menu because it gave us a good idea of what people prefer to eat and how to handle cooking dishes all at once.

On the restaurant side, I learnt how to up-sell a dish. I also waited on two tables all by myself, which was a little challenging but I think I coped really well.

Yet again, team work was really good — we had a problem with Micros [order-tracking software] but overcame it and still managed to get everything out on time.

We also employed a different way of serving; we had two runners who would just collect the food and bring it out, then two people to actually serve the food on each section, and then the host and a barman or women

It worked so much better than other way, because we weren’t all crowded and everything ran a lot smoother.

Taking down the orders for à la carte was surprisingly simple. I thought it was going to be very complex, however I managed to do it without any trouble — although it did take a bit more time than the set menu.

Over the past few weeks we have also had a noodle demonstration, an ice-carving demonstration and chocolate demonstration.

These are OK — they can get a bit boring, but it’s nice to see how a chef prepares everything so fast and without being in their own kitchen, (as they demonstrate in the auditorium mostly.)

One incredible experience this month was that I served at a royal wedding. It was very tiring, but amazing to see so many women and how much food was prepared.

It went on from 6pm to past 4.30am — they started with tea and dates and then at the end were served breakfast.

The trays were really heavy though and I’m still suffering from

Over the course of a semester at the Emirates Academy of

Hospitality Management, two students take us through the

highs and lows of their induction to the tough world of F&B

Trainee diary

arm-ache; I think I need a few sessions in the gym to work on build-ing up my muscles!

I think my highlight over the past month has been coping with à la carte and also feeling as if we are one team. And when we get comment cards and feedback from guests saying how happy they were with the service, it just makes things so much nicer and you feel really proud of yourself.

My plan for the coming month is to successfully complete my short placement and gain as much experience from it as possible — this is where I will really find out whether the F&B side of hospital-ity is for me or not.

Apart from that, I’m just going to keep aiming high and learning more skills and techniques.

Cleaning up and preparing the tables ready to wow our diners.

December 2009


PeopleTraining


looking forward to it! I have two weeks in restaurant service and two weeks in the kitchen. I am also excited about seeing the sched-ule, so I know precisely what I’ll be doing there.

To finish, I must say that it is very important for anyone want-ing to enter the hospitality industry to have an insight and some hands-on experience in the food and beverage sector, so this part of the course is, in a way, one of the most important for us. I hope it all goes well!

Nipul Laxman came to Emirates Academy from the UK, where he studied hospitality at college and gained first-hand F&B experience working in banqueting for a major hotel brand. His ambition is to one day open a hotel with his family.

For the past four weeks, we have been offering the à la carte menu to restaurant guests, and that has just come to an end. We added one new dish to all the courses last week and they worked out perfectly, thanks to the help of our chef lecturers.

We also had to do a presentation, in groups, on luxury food items such as lobster, foie gras, truffles and caviar.

The kitchen sessions this past month have been very good — I am pleased to say we have definitely improved with regards to team work, coordination and efficiency.

With all the product knowledge and cooking methods covered, I feel I’ve gained a valuable insight into working hands-on with produce and equipment.

Regarding the restaurant practical, it has been the same as previ-ous weeks: serving customers is our main priority.

Happily though, certain mistakes we made in the first few weeks weren’t repeated, which was a really positive sign of our progress.

We have a kitchen and restaurant practical exam coming up, which involves cooking a three-course meal for four people.

Each student is assigned a set menu, which consists of a starter, main course and dessert, and we will be graded on the knife skills, taste, presentation, cooking methods and time management skills.

The restaurant grading criteria includes everything front-of-house, from setting tables to serving customers where each of us will be given a table of four.

We also had an ice-carving demonstration this month; these guys from Madinat Jumeirah showed their skills and were very impressive! And we had a chocolate demonstration last week which I found really interesting, where a chef from Jumeirah Emirates Towers came and gave us a presentation. I volunteered when he asked if anyone wanted to make moulds for ganache filling.

I must say that I had never seen such demonstrations in real life, so it was great to get some first-hand knowledge of how these things are done.

With regards to my plans for the next few weeks, we have the practical exam coming up, so I will be working towards that and making sure I’m well organised and have a time-plan before hand so I can keep to schedule.

And in the second week of January, we have our final theory exams for this semester before we start on our short placements, which run over the course of a month.

I am doing my placement at Burj Al Arab and am definitely

Lecturer’s notesThe Academy’s executive chef and senior lecturer

Michael Kitts shares this month’s key lessons:

It’s been a busy few weeks for the students; we had execu-

tive pastry chef Tony Hoyle from Jumeirah Emirates

Towers in, giving a demonstration on chocolate,

while some of the girls were given the opportunity

to work on a royal wedding.

The à la carte menu has now finished and the

students are looking forward to their practical as-

sessments, followed by exams and short placements.

We have 12 hotels involved, where students will go

and spend 20 days working. It’s their first experience

of ‘The Real World’, so it should be interesting.

Us lecturers will also start looking at the best culinary

students; I’ll let you know how Nasseem and Nipul do!

Making sure everything is perfect, ready for our dinner guests.


RoundtableSuppliers


How challenging has business been for you in this region over the past year of economic gloom?Rashid Bahar: The global economic downturn has definitely had an effect on TSSC. This is apparent, as most large project enquiries today are from Abu Dhabi-based clients and not those in Dubai. In Dubai, we are now carrying out smaller projects, dealing with restaurants as opposed to hotels.

However, this economic downturn pushed us to evaluate our operations, create efficiencies where needed and implement changes that have both short- and long-term impact. When the economy bounces back, we will come out stronger and ready to take on new challenges.

Tony Billingham: The economic slowdown has of course affected the amount of new hotel openings and undoubtedly companies are now far more financially aware. There will always be healthy competition in the market, so our challenge is to ensure clients appreciate that a cheaper price does not always mean a better deal; quality should always remain of the utmost importance.

Coffee consumers today are more selective regarding where they spend their money and they expect the best value and quality; it’s our job to maintain these coffee standards despite the downturn.

Jiji Mathews: Our biggest challenge this year has been the fluctuating international prices of food products, due to the cut in production and low yield of crops in various parts of the world.

Syed Masood: We actually believe that we came in with our

concept at the right time and the economic downturn has, in a lot of ways, worked bet-ter for us than most other businesses.

For anyone, the main concern is really looking at reducing investments, cutting costs, utilising retail space more effectively and maintaining smaller inventories. Our firm really

offers exactly that, so we were in good shape to handle the situation.

Have you had to cut prices during the past year?Mathews: There was a reduction of price during Q1 of 2009 — but now, with global shortages, the import prices are increasing and reaching the old levels.

Bahar: We have not had to cut back prices, because we never placed high margins on our equipment in the first place. This is because we know that we have many competitors in the market — although customers are always willing to pay a little more for very good quality equipment, as it saves money in the long run.

Having said that, it’s not uncommon for customers to use the economic crisis to their advantage, raising the issue as a reason why we should give them a substantial discount. With these types of customers, and when pressed, we have no problem in revealing our own costs to them to prove they are getting exactly what they pay for.

Masood: Our goal was never to cut prices at ABC. While edu-cating people to adopt our concept we were already providing

Top F&B suppliers to the region talk frankly about the impact of the economic downturn, problems with payment, plans for the future and that burning issue: buyer-supplier relationships

Delivering the goods


“Customers are taking even longer to pay than before”


“The biggest challenge has been uctuating food prices”

UK | Dubai | Doha | Bahrain

P.O. Box: 18926, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 2675406 Fax: +971 4 2675409 Email: [email protected]

Website: www.bakemart.net

A Gi forYour Tastebuds

Freshly baked delicious delights from Bakemart. Presenting a mouthwatering array of cakes

perfect for every occasion.

RoundtableSuppliers


ABC: educating consumers about its ‘Fresh from Frozen’ concept.

solutions to most baking operations regarding how to reduce costs and avoid wastage. By taking this approach, we were trying to tackle issues which we felt could maintain a healthy situation for everyone: the customer, the retailer and the manufacturer.

Billingham: We are lucky and have not been forced to cut existing list prices, as we have a wide selection of products in varying price categories. We offer consultation to all our clients to ensure they have tailor-made packages that suit both their requirements and their budgets.

What is the biggest problem you are currently facing, with regards to the Middle East market?Bahar: Payments! Customers are taking even longer to pay than before. Not to mention, we have had customers who have closed up shop without paying us the remaining balance of their bills.

Don’t get me wrong, we do get most of our payments in the end — but by that time, we have already accrued high inter-est rates from the banks that have provided support for those projects.

Apart from slow payments, we are also facing problems

Taking partName: Rashid Bahar, business development manager,

Technical Supplies and Services Company LLC

Company pro le: Technical Supplies and Services

Company (TSSC), established in the UAE in 1961, is a

manufacturer and supplier of refrigerated trucks, walk-in cold-rooms and

warehouse-size cold-stores. In 1993 the fi rm opened a division in Dubai

to supply, install, commission and maintain foodservice and commer-

cial laundry equipment for the UAE. Its portfolio promises to meet “any

requirements regarding foodservice equipment for the hospitality and

restaurant industry”.

Name: Jiji Mathews, marketing support manager,

Federal Foods

Company pro le: Operating for more than 18 years,

FMCG marketing and distribution company Federal Foods

supplies the food service, retail and wholesale sectors.

The company operates fi ve branches in UAE, one in Qatar and one in

Oman, with a workforce of more than 1200 and a logistics fl eet of 240

temperature-controlled vans and trucks. Federal Foods guarantees

customers “a dedicated operation complemented by trained staff, an

ever-growing customer base and a wide range of products”.

Name: Syed Masood, sales manager, Advanced Baking

Concept LLC

Company pro le: Advanced Baking Concept is a frozen

food manufacturer specialising in providing a ‘Fresh-From-

Frozen’ bakery solution to the food service and retail industry through

its ProBake brand. This line kicked off in 2004, when the fi rm opened a

bakery and pastry production plant — a concept it says was “virtually

non-existent on such a high production scale and variety in the UAE or

even in the region”.

The ProBake line includes breads, pastries, croissants, cakes, cookies,

doughnuts and other goods in raw dough, pre-proofed, par baked and

thaw-and-serve formats.

Name: Tony Billingham, chief executive, Boncafé Middle

East LLC

Company pro le: Boncafé Middle East is a specialist

roaster and supplier of premium gourmet coffees, beverage

syrups, sauces and domestic and commercial coffee machines. Repre-

senting manufacturers such as La Marzocco and Swiss Egro, the com-

pany promises “a complete one-stop solution for coffee shops, hotels,

and restaurants”. Boncafé offers a comprehensive range of coffee shop

equipment and products combined with its system of 24-hour technical

assistance, highly trained staff and on-going after-sales support.

Syed Masood, sales manager at Advanced Baking Concept LCC.

Roundtable Suppliers

with banks as they are now very selective on which projects they will finance. But this is understandable, after what has hap-pened over the past year with the economy.

Masood: I would say our biggest issue is educating the customer. The concept of ‘Fresh-From-Frozen’ is widely accepted and has been in place for quite a while now in Europe, USA, Australia and the Far East.

Traditionally the industry in the Middle East has had the luxury of doing things from scratch, with an army of cheap trained workers available from the Subcontinent, large resources of investment, finances and real estate available, and the pos-sibility of importing raw material and ingredients from Europe and the United States.

All this has now changed drastically, making it possible for the industry in the region, which has so far had tunnel vision, to look at it from a 360-degree view.

Chefs vote on which of the following is MOST important

Guest satisfaction

Employee satisfaction

Owner satisfaction Supplier satisfaction

82.3%

13.9%

3.8%

0%

Billingham: With a downturn in the retail purchasing sector, it has been more challenging to introduce new products into the market. But we have a great team of motivated employees with positive attitudes and as a company we are very aware that in these times we need to push in other directions to compensate, so we are constantly looking at other directions in which we can grow.

Source: Head Chef Survey 2009

Martino D’SouzaExecutive Chef, Millennium Airport Hotel, DubaiGeneral Secretary, Emirates Culinary Guild

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The two pie charts show feedback collected from Middle East chefs in Caterer’s recent Head Chef Survey; are these results a true representation of relations between F&B buyers and suppliers? Bahar: Yes, because many hotels and restaurants are new to the market and it will take time for them to realise they need a good foodservice equip-ment provider to support them after the job is completed.

But it’s only a matter of time before the installed equipment does not function as expected, or doesn’t meet regulations, or breaks down. Only after this will they realise the importance of a quality foodservice equipment provider that will give them exactly the product and the support that they need.

Then there’s also high turnover of staff in hotels at the moment, which defi-nitely works against building good buyer-supplier relationships.The Pura coffee machine from TSSC.

Chefs vote on which of the following is LEAST important

Supplier satisfaction

Owner satisfaction

Employee satisfaction Guest satisfaction

79.5%

2.7%4.1%

13.7%

Source: Head Chef Survey 2009

RoundtableSuppliers


working closely with suppliers to receive products that will differentiate them from the rest.

This will be important in future, because it will be those who differentiate themselves that make it in today’s harsh economic climate.

Mathews: During the boom, there were suppliers mushroom-ing in the region and buyers had a mass of options to choose from. Today though, with the slowdown, the competition is shrinking, so I think the industry will see a healthier buyer-supplier relationships.Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Billingham: The most successful busi-ness relationships are combinations and percentages of all four elements, as you need balance to maintain business growth and success.

But then if I had to choose one from all four then of course it would have been guest satisfaction — if the guest is not satisfied and there is no repeat business, then the other three categories simply cannot operate!

How would you like to see buyer-supplier relationships in the Middle East progress in future?Bahar: I think it is already happening; you hear more often now about buyers

Federal Foods marketing sup-port managerJiji Mathews.

A selection of items from Federal Foods’ wide range of products.

New for 2010 from…• Technical Supplies and Services Company LLC

“We have a nice line-up of products coming from Swiss brand Franke,

including a fully automatic coffee machine known as ‘Pura’ for those

requiring a machine that can turn out approximately 150 cups per day.

It will also include a chocolate-powder doser. Apart from this, we plan

to launch a new traditional-style Italian pizza oven that can cook a

pizza in less than two minutes, and will also be promoting an exclusive

charcoal-based barbecue oven aimed at professional chefs.”

• Advanced Baking Concept LLC

“There is a constant endeavor on our part to introduce new and excit-

ing product ranges throughout the year. We advise our clients via our

website, www.abcbaking.com, of our new portfolio as well. For 2010

we have introduced a new range of cakes and fi ne confectionery, as

well as a range of ‘grab-and-go’ snacks and sandwiches, and a full

range of Viennoiserie with premium Corman butter.”

• Boncafé Middle East LLC

“The new year will see us launch our fi rst Capoco capsule machine,

along with a selection of coffee capsule blends. We will also be looking

to expand our in-room coffee solutions by promoting our new range of

Ascaso espresso machines, plus we are launching the new Mahlkonig

Pro M grinder along with other products at Gulfood in February.”



January 2010 Caterer Middle East

Masood: I think suppliers need to get their act together and raise standards of service to the next level. Today there is a level of caution exercised by most buying establishments, due to various factors which can hinder suppliers in this market: fresh foods and perishables need proper handling; air freight costs are increasing; sea freights take time; stocking and stor-age requires space and money.

It is not easy to juggle so many balls in the air at one time, and as a result the level of service offered by some suppli-ers fails to meet industry standards. But as more and more companies turn towards local manufacturing, this situation may change and hopefully the chefs and end-users will have more confidence in their suppliers. Then these statistics might change.

Billingham: Buyer-supplier relationships are the core of any business, as one cannot achieve success without the other. Our clients and their personal needs are of the utmost impor-tance to us, so I would personally like to see that in future, suppliers are seen as not only component providers but also partners in creation.

I believe this balanced collaboration between the two is the key to future success for both parties.

Boncafé Middle East chief executive Tony Billingham.

Caterer 256 x 88 mm - Le fruit.eps 19/11/09 16:19:07

Monin Middle East & IndiaDubai - United Arab [email protected]

T: +971 50 728 9167www.monin.com


Head Chef SurveySponsored by Nestlé Professional


Welcome to the results of Caterer Middle East’s inaugural Head Chef Survey, sponsored by Nestlé Professional — the first comprehensive study of its kind aimed solely at top culinary professionals working in kitchens across the Middle East.

The survey, conducted over the course of six weeks through Caterer’s online home (www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/f&b), was

designed to give chefs in the Middle East a voice while aiding outlets and companies in assessing market trends, industry progress and potential future challenges.

Read on to find out how the region’s top chefs view the Middle East market…

head chef survey

The



Head chefs on... Operations

Where in the region were participants based?

UAE 67%

Egypt 4%

Kuwait 6%

Oman 4%

Qatar 5%Jordan 3.5%

Bahrain 3.5%

Saudi Arabia 7%

Yes 64%

No 36%

Has the Middle East has attained the status of an international ‘culinary hub’ yet?

Head chef comment: “The biggest challenge over the coming 12 months will be increased competition due to new openings. However this will bring increased opportunities for staff, as employers will offer better packages and salaries.”

Looking at outlet operations over 2009, chefs revealed that casual-dining outlets had seen the most consistent average spend across the board, while food cost percentages were

maintained around the 30% mark. All-day dining restaurants were the most prolifically repre-sented, in line with the large number of hotel-based chefs in the region, but among the cuisine themes, Italian stood out as the most popular concept style across the participants.A significant number of chefs — 40.4% — cited their pri-

mary clientele as regulars, compared to 25% who said tourists, which suggests operations have been focusing on the local market with the aim of garnering repeat business since the drop in tourism figures over the tricky past year.

Outlets also seem to be embracing e-marketing, with only 19% saying they did not receive reservations online.




Spend-per-head (US $) across restaurant categories in 2009

30%was the

average 2009 FCP

20%was the

range between the highest and lowest FCPs reported

32%was the

median FCP recorded

From the food cost percentage (FCP) information submitted by participating head chefs:

Participants were asked to select the three factors they felt were most important for the success of an F&B operation:

Good customer service

Value for money

Quality of ingredients

Ongoing menu development

Location

Price

Innovative promotions

Link to known brand (e.g. hotel, celebrity chef, mall, chain)

Interior design

$0-10 $10-20 $20-40 $40-60 $60-80 $80-100 $100-150 $150-200 $200-300 More than $1000

Fine-dining

Casual dining

Family-style

Fast-casual

Respondents were asked to specify their main outlet’s theme: most common was all-day dining with 48.1%, followed by Italian cuisine with 15.2% then modern European, with 12.7%.



Weighing up the major issues affect-ing the industry, chefs flagged up la-bour shortages and reduced consumer spending as primary influencers.

Asked to submit their own com-ments regarding what the biggest challenge for chefs would be in 2010, a 23% majority of participants raised concerns regarding increased competition, due to the number of new hotels and independent brands opening within the region.

On a more positive note, when asked to highlight upcoming oppor-tunities, numerous chefs mentioned plans to recruit, expand, refurbish or boost the image of their outlets in 2010, suggesting F&B teams will be taking a highly proactive approach to driving business in the new year.

Participants were asked to select the three biggest issues affecting their outlets’ performance:

Labour shortages

Reduced consumer spending

Increased competition

Low wages

Cost of importing required products

Suppliers overcharging

Owner issues

Political instability

Alcohol licensing laws

Entertainment licensing laws

Lack of support from government

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Head chefs on... Industry issues

0 10 20 30 40




The F&B industry in this country is in great shape. A majority of 57% agreed with this statement.

F&B outlets in this country are improving their service. A majority of 64% agreed with this statement.

True or false?

Participants were asked how the current economic situation had impacted operations for them.

COMMENT: Pay rates for staff at our operation are generous.

Strongly agree

Agree Disagree Strongly disagree

0

5

10

15

20

25

Asked how many redundancies they had made over the past 12 months, 55% of respondents said none, re ecting the increasing need to retain skilled employees. However a handful of wary chefs did comment: “None — so far”.

79%of chefs who responded felt there were not enough nationals working in the industry.

28%said they had

found it easy to recruit Middle Eastern staff.

Redundancies — 14%Fewer customers — 41%Lower average cheque — 39%More special offers — 6%

Asked to comment on their key strategies for boosting business in 2010:

of chefs said they would be focusing on maintaining quality standards and value-

for-money over the coming year, in order to build up a solid repeat customer base.

Yes 56%No 44%

Do you belong to any professional trade associations

or organisations?

Asked for their own views on the most important part of a head chef ’s role, a whopping 57% majority of respondents mentioned the quality and consistency of food being served.

The next most common issue raised was staff motivation and training, mentioned by 23% of participants.

It was gratifying to see that while our respondents did not skirt around the issues, multiple responses said there was nothing our participants really disliked about the job.

However many raised the point that maintaining a work-life balance was extremely difficult, particularly when a standard day consists not only of kitchen services, but also a large amount of administrative work.

One head chef noted: “Sometimes it’s hard to see past the paperwork and remember what your role of head chef is re-ally about: delivering great food to the customer.”

Head chefs on... The job

Head chef comment: “The aspect I enjoy most about this job is developing young chefs and teaching my team to cook with love and passion, then seeing their hard work pay off with happy guests.”





Asked to specify what percentage of their day was taken up outside the kitchen with admin, meeting guests, internal meetings or dealing with suppliers, participants said admin was most time consuming factor, with 56% claiming it took up 30% or more of their day.

cited the problem of maintaining a work-life balance with such unsociable hours, when asked what they least liked about their job.

said it was admin and paperwork they least enjoyed about the role of head chef.

96%of the survey’s

respondents were male.

40 was the average age of participating chefs.

Only 5%of head chefs

surveyed had less than 10 years’ experience in the industry.

36%boasted over

25 years of industry experience.

4 years was the average

amount of time our respondents had been with their current employers, although a loyal 14% had been with the same employer for over 10 years.

27 9

IN FIGURES: Our head chef participants

COMMENT: Which of these fourelements are most/least important:

Guest satisfaction

Employee satisfaction

Owner Satisfaction

Supplier satisfaction

For a comprehensive anonymous breakdown of responses from the Head Chef Survey across all sections, please email the editor with the subject line ‘Head Chef Survey results’ at: [email protected]

Most importantLeast important


Industry insight Brand plans for 2010

Movingon up

The Middle East’s F&B operators have learned from the past year; now, a little older and a lot wiser, they are entering 2010 with a cautiously optimistic outlook

For the past 12 months, industries have dwelt a great deal on doom and gloom, and on the generally negative state of the market place.

Now, after a tough 2009, many F&B operators will want to approach the new year with a fresh outlook and a positive plan of action.

But to do so, it is important to acknowledge what state the F&B marketplace is in today.

At RMAL Hospitality, the Abu Dhabi-based firm responsible for Wagamama, Frankie’s Italian Bar and Grill, Trader Vic’s and Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Lounge in the region, vice president strategy Tiina-Maija Bergman notes that nowadays it is “increasingly about discounts and special offers — people are more careful with their spend and are demanding the very best deals.

“For stand-alone restaurants such as ours, this translates into

tough trading conditions,” she admits. We cannot afford the same level of freebies or discounts as a hotel-affiliated restau-rant can.”

According to multiple chain-outlet operator BinHendi Hos-pitality’s vice president, Naveed Dowlatshahi, the financial slowdown was “a wake-up call for everyone”.

“For those whom are established operators, such as BinHendi, we went back to basics and concen-trated on giving excellent service and fantastic quality food.

“Looking at manpower was crucial,” he adds. “We worked hard on training and development, to become leaner and consolidate that excess fat.

“But if you look at the smaller players who were in it to just earn a quick buck while times were

good, they naturally suffered and the majority either went bust or focused their business elsewhere,” he notes.

“Where there is tourism there is a demand for restaurants”




Meanwhile Gourmet Gulf, the UAE operator of brands such as Yo! Sushi, Morelli’s Gelato, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and California Pizza Kitchen, has seen both positives and negative results from the downturn.

“The overall business landscape has changed significantly,” notes president Antonio Bautista.

“Today, we are in a better position to negotiate rents and suppliers are more receptive to price reviews.

“But on the other side of the spec-trum, consumer footfall has decreased in some areas.”

It’s not only stand-alone chain outlet operators that have felt the pinch over the past year; hotel groups who have ventured into the chain F&B outlet arena have also seen the impact of increasingly wary Middle East customers across their brands.

Rezidor Hotel Group is one such firm which has developed own-brand outlets.

“The idea was to create a portfolio of restaurant concepts that are original, exciting, modern and drive revenue,” explains group area vice president Marko Hytönen.

“In Europe, there is growing pressure [for hotels] to run restaurants as a profitable unit, as inde-pendent bars and restaurants — outlets that have relevance and make sense,” he adds.

“Experience shows that the genuine application of a concept, combined with consistency and high

quality, will naturally result in a sharp increase in the number of covers.”

Today Rezidor boasts three own-brand concepts: contemporary Italian concept Filini Bar and Restaurant; modern French brasserie Verres en Vers; and “young and vibrant” eatery RBG (Red Bar and Grill), the young-est Rezidor concept, which made its Middle East debut at Park Inn Muscat last year.

Hytönen believes the Middle East has been impacted “to a lesser extent than other markets”, but notes that “although volume has remained high, we have seen a drop in the cover charges, particularly regarding high-value items”.

Undoubtedly there have been widely-felt effects from the financial slowdown, across all sectors, but how exactly has it affected F&B business in the region and what footing are they on going into a new year?

RMAL’s Bergman says that although the firm always monitored food costs, it is now assessing this area even more carefully.

“We have also had to make a few tough decisions whereby job com-bination has made some positions redundant,” she says.

“And our marketing spend has been affected; today we are being very careful about what we spend where, and when.”

Gourmet Gulf ’s Bautista sys the firm has been lucky: “We have not been forced to close any locations, nor decrease our workforce; we have protected our margins by trimming cost on non-critical cost centres,” he explains.

BinHendi Hospitality, on the other hand, has closed outlets this year, but Dowlatshahi says these were “not necessarily

closed because of the downturn, but moreover be-cause wrong decisions were made when originally securing those sites”.

“And we made people redundant, but again not necessarily because of the downturn; some employees were let go because of the closures and others were let go to build efficiencies within the business,” Dowlatshahi clarifies.

“Have cash funds at hand from development to pre-

opening and operations as unfortunately ‘bad debt’

goes as a synonym with a lot of projects nowadays.

Negotiate hard on rents and supplies; study the supply

that is in the market; and remember, now is not the

time to duplicate what is already on offer. New and

different can still create demand!”

Tiina-Maija Bergman, vice president strategy,

RMAL Hospitality

“The key to success of any brand is to have personality,

to attract the consumer, and to have lasting character.

The rest, we keep to ourselves!”

Antonio Bautista, president, Gourmet Gulf

“Make it relevant and think about location,

location, location!”

Rezidor Hotel group area vice president

Marko Hytonen

“There is defi nitely opportunity, and competition is

healthy since it keeps you on your toes. Find a niche

in the market and execute the concept well: the F&B

business is not easy, but when you get it right, the

rewards are endless.”

Naveed Dowlatshahi, vice president,

BinHendi Hospitality

What advice would you give some-one launching a new F&B concept in the Middle East this year?

Rezidor Hotel Group’s Marko Hytönen.

“The business landscape hasnow changed signi cantly”




Rezidor’s Hytönen notes that their outlets have also been af-fected, albeit for slightly different reasons.

“Falling occupancies have had a negative impact on our F&B outlets but we have tried to counter this impact by renegotiat-ing with our suppliers, creating more value-added menus and maintaining a greater control of our labour costs,” he says.

So how confident are F&B outlet operators feeling about business going into 2010?

RMAL’s Bergman notes that the recent news of Dubai World’s debt restructuring has reminded operators they would do well to proceed with caution.

“In Dubai, the situation is back to ‘wait and see’ status, which is clearly reflected in the restaurant covers,” she points out.

Rezidor’s Hytönen urges similar care. “Signs are now point-ing to the fact that the downturn has slowed, but due to the lack of visibility, the shape and size of 2010 is still hard to predict,” he admits.

“With such low visibility it is difficult to know whether the worst is over yet, but we are hoping for further improvements as we enter the new year.”

However there are many variables affecting the market, as Gourmet Gulf ’s Bautista observes — and some of them are looking decidedly positive.

“I would say the economy has stopped deteriorating, the job market has picked up and that there are some attractive investment opportunities out there,” he says.

“These three factors have improved consumer confidence and renewed investment appetite.

“Of course, things are proceeding in a much more measured fashion that what we experienced up to summer 2007; never-theless, signs are encouraging.”

BinHendi Hospitality’s Dowlatshahi agrees that tourism is

The region’s fi rst RBG launched at Park Inn Muscat earlier this year.

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on the up again, and notes: “Where there is tourism there will be a demand for restaurants. People have to eat — and once consumer confidence improves, so will spending-power.”

Whether the worst is over or not, there appears to be a cautious optimism coming from Middle East F&B operators going into the new year.

The key now is to capitalise on positive feeling amongst consumers with a solid strategy for 2010.

RMAL’s Bergman reveals the brand is currently looking for opportunities to develop further in the region.

“Although it is too early to discuss details, we are looking

at expansion plan for Frankie’s and the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and Grill brands in particular, as they are cur-rently in minimal locations and we believe they will work well in other places,” she says.

Gourmet Gulf ’s strategy for 2010 is two-fold, reveals Bautis-ta: “Firstly, we plan to remain a premium choice in the casual segment by maintaining our philosophy of ‘value for money’.

“The second aim is to continue capturing the growth oppor-tunities that the current business landscape has created.

“Today there are more sites available, the cost of construc-tion has improved and the pool of talent found in the market is bigger,” he expands.

“Our plan for 2010 is to open 15 stores, and we are absolute-ly on target to achieve that.”

At BinHendi Hospitality, 2010 is all about “building further cost efficiencies”, according to Dowlatshahi.

“We are very much focused on developing the business,” he adds. “We have a diverse portfolio of 15 different F&B concepts and therefore have a competitive edge over other regional operators, in being able to place different concepts in different environments subject to demand.

“We will be focusing on expanding into Abu Dhabi and fran-chising our in-house brands such as Japengo, Café Havana and Sammach across the region.

“We’ve been inundated with interest from across the region and 2010 will be a year of growth in franchising as well as developing into key strategic areas within the UAE.”

Meanwhile Rezidor enjoyed “a record year of growth in the Middle East” in 2009, having opened eight new hotels and adding 2271 new rooms.

“By 2010 they will all be fully operational and we will begin to realise the potential from these openings,” asserts Hytönen.

“Additionally, following on from the launch of our Park Inn brand in the Middle East, 2010 will see the regional debut of our new fashion lifestyle brand Hotel Missoni, with the open-ing of Hotel Missoni Kuwait,” he continues.

“Having established such strong F&B concepts we plan to continue to look for opportunities to develop them in both our new and existing hotels.

“But it has to be right for the market and location in which we are operating, so the development will remain very much on a case-by-case basis,” Hytönen emphasises.

Although the region’s F&B operators remain clearly on their guard, there is nevertheless a welcome sense of optimism pervading the market place.

If these firms can ride this wave and extend that sense of positivity to the consumer, 2010 could turn out to be a much more profitable year than its predecessor for the Middle East’s food and beverage outlets.

Filini restaurant at Radisson Blu Hotel, Abu Dhabi Yas Island.

store openings is Gourmet Gulf ’s target for 2010 — one the firm is well on track to achieving, according

to company president Antonio Bautista.

15

Outlet showcaseAmici at The Yas Hotel


“We deliberately stayed away from the chequered tablecloth look; we wanted

it to be luxurious, while also making people feel comfortable walking in af-ter a day out and about on Yas Island.

“The sharers table is integral to the Italian way of life and that family

element; the bottle chandelier adds an edge of modern design, while the antipasti display is the perfect way to showcase the finest Italian cuisine.”

Designdetails


Outlet showcaseAmici at The Yas Hotel


Seeking out the hottest new F&B outlets,Caterer Middle East reveals the innovativeconcepts and operation strategies securingthe success of the region’s new launches

Inside outletsContemporary but classic, airy yet intimate, Italian restaurant Amici at The Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi forms an effortlessly elegant part of the new property’s food and beverage portfolio.

But of course, as should be the case for all F&B concepts coming online in the current climate, an enormous amount of planning and preparation has gone on behind the scenes to ensure the concept will work successfully in the already-crowded marketplace.

“The idea was to showcase classic Italian cuisine in an unpreten-tious and informal restaurant, with a focus on simple food at its best,” explains Aldar Hotels and Hospitality director of business development and commercial Raman Khanna.

“Italian food is very popular, especially in Abu Dhabi, so the theme was an obvious choice for us,” he continues. “An antipasti buffet was a must, along with a show kitchen — but it also had to have a luxurious setting.”

All Yas Hotel outlets were designed to complement each other, so Amici was created with the other options in mind, says Khanna.

But he admits creating an outlet that was simultaneously intimate and conveyed a truly Italian ambiance was a challenge.

“We wanted to offer guests a wide range of experiences and tastes without the feel of a food court,” he says. “The most difficult part of pulling this off was fitting in the show kitchens. Fitting the equip-ment in such small spaces and ensuring chefs were well equipped on display was a challenge, but the finished product is worth it!”

According to Khanna, since the outlet’s recent opening all the planning has paid off. “Amici has already proven to be very popular. The downturn hasn’t impacted people’s desire for wholesome and hearty food which is prepared simply,” he asserts.

“This outlet has the appeal of offering a five-star experience in an unpretentious environment — and that will last.”

“When developing a new F&B concept, you have to keep it simple; just don’t over complicate it.”

Ingredient focusFrozen food


Chefs are required to keep food budgets in line and meet shifting demands from customers — as a result frozen food products have helped kitchens save time, while offering a cheap, quick source of ingredients. Ben Watts speaks to chefs and ingredient suppliers to find out why demand for frozen food is heating up

The chill factor

Despite the assumption that ‘fresh is best’, chefs across the region have been turning to frozen food more often in recent months, according to suppliers.

Freshly Frozen Foods general manager Densil Quadros reports that demand for frozen products is on the up across the region.

“It has increased due to a rise in the price for fresh products,” explains Quadros. “Frozen food products can be kept safely for long periods of time without deterioration in taste and quality, and we are able to make our foods available to customers regardless of the season or geographical location.

“People call frozen foods ‘the recession food’ because it’s economical,” he adds.

“As consumers tighten their belts during this tough time, people are tending to stock up on cheaper and longer-lasting frozen foods rather than buying fresh foods, which could end up being wasted.”

And Quadros says the findings of econo-mists suggest the frozen food market will continue to stay afloat, even when the fragile global economy begins to recover. Despite Quadros’s positive assessment,

Federal Foods marketing support manager Jiji Mathews says that frozen food market has recently suffered from instability.

Mathews explains: “This is due to a natural decline in crop and yield in various parts of the world, as well as production cuts due to a decline in price, which led to a very unstable trend in food imports.






Park Inn Muscat executive chef Sandeep Kamal. Economic factors are driving demand for frozen foods. Storage is a key logistical challenge for suppliers.

“Price fluctuations on frozen products, however, are much lower compared to fresh ones,” he notes. “The technology used these days also ensures better control of hygiene in frozen food.

“Price is a major factor in a chef ’s decision to choose frozen food, as is convenience. It is available 12 months of the year and seasonality does not affect the availability,” he adds.

Mathews points out that frozen food items can offer an advan-tage to busy chefs, as products are often better calibrated in terms of their size, with natural yield or catch not affecting the size, weight or count.

Chefs in the Middle East are also embracing the modern tech-nology and logistics used to store and transport a wide range of frozen food items to the region.

Aloft Abu Dhabi executive chef Todd Hunter notes: “With ‘In-dividually Quick Frozen’ technology available, turning something fresh into something frozen has come a long way since my mother was putting products in the freezer.

“With the challenge of transporting some fresh produce still yielding frustrating results, it is usually safer and less expensive to find good, well-maintained frozen products that are readily available on the market.

“We are witnessing a trend of diners moving away from eating very expensive fine-dining meals to more reasonable options. No one is forced to exclusively purchase products frozen and you can still produce a memorable dish by keeping this in mind,” he says.

Fresh or frozen?As Sheraton Deira executive chef Susy Massetti points out, “most of the fresh products present on the Middle East market are sourced from abroad and are often harvested before they are ready”.

“In many instances fruits and vegetables are tasteless,” claims Massetti. “They look good, but that’s where it ends. Depending on the type of preparation used, frozen items can be a better choice as the flavour is more intact and the nutritional value is higher.”

Aloft’s Hunter adds: “Sometimes frozen products can be better in the Middle East region. For instance, you can buy live Alaskan king crab, but by the time it gets to your kitchen it has been out of its normal surroundings for quite some time and this affects everything about the product.”

Often economic factors come into the equation when chefs are faced with purchasing dilemmas.

Sheraton’s Massetti notes: “Like everyone else we face very tough competition and budget restrictions — frozen items are definitely a convenient and less expensive solution.

“Practicality, quality and flavour all come into play as well. If

there is a negative side effect it is that a lot of the frozen items have a very recognisable shape — although on many occasions guests do not realise that we have been using frozen items.”

Selection and varietySheraton’s Massetti says that the selection of frozen products available to Middle East chefs is still not sufficiently extensive.

“It’s too limited to be a viable solution for a higher level of us-age,” she observes. “For example there are artichokes available, but only the bottom line; not the smaller, tastier varieties with a more usable bud.

“The variety of green leafy vegetable is practically limited to spinach,” she adds.




“Price uctuations on frozen products is much lower compared to the fresh one”Federal Foods marketing support manager

Jiji Mathews



Freshly Frozen Foods’ Quadros disagrees, stating that frozen foods are easily available, even products that are out of season.

“With the variety of products com-ing into the market and its function-al benefits, by perfecting the process that guarantees the food customers eat we can assure that a wide-range frozen foods provide healthy and hygienic ingredients,” he comments.

Thomas Gerasch, executive chef at

Cove Rotana Resort, Ras Al Khaimah, believes the range of frozen products available to chefs in the region is “very comprehensive”.

“It covers all lines — seafood, meat products, snack foods, fruits and vegetables, even traditional Arabic food,” he notes.

However Gerasch declares that quality should always come first. “We will never use frozen products if we can not guarantee the quality,” he affirms. “The use of good quality frozen products is internationally accepted, but the decision to purchase frozen foods needs to be made through the judgment of a professional chef — for example I would never use frozen mashed potatoes.”

While buying frozen products and ingredients is accepted as ‘the norm’ by most chefs, purchasing them can present ethical issues regarding the environment and supporting local producers, points out Park Inn Muscat executive chef Sandeep Kamal.

“Generally speaking, the fresher the food, the healthier and tastier it is,” says Kamal. “I wouldn’t recommend using frozen foods when it comes to meat, fish or poultry and for that reason we don’t use them at Park Inn Muscat. Instead, we prefer to use local products as much as possible.

“We support Origin Oman, which is a local organisation that promotes the use of Omani products in the Sultanate,” he adds.

Kamal understands that taking such a stand can often leave chefs short of common ingredients demanded by customers.

“Fortunately we have not been forced to use additional frozen ingredients or products,” he states.

“But when it comes to things like French fries and similar items, you have to buy them frozen as it is not practical to make them in your hotel or restaurant kitchens.”

Despite chef concerns regarding frozen produce, suppliers remain bullish about the benefits of frozen produce and ingredients.

Freshly Frozen Foods’ Quadros suggests that busy lifestyles have helped boost the concept of frozen food.

“It can be the easiest way without comprising on taste, nutrition and convenience,” he suggests. “Also it is economical and has the same nutritional value as fresh products.”

As Federal Foods’ Mathews con-cludes: “There was a large demand for frozen food in the region even before the present economic situation — chefs today have learnt the advan-tages of using frozen food products.”

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otel or restaurant kitchens.oncerns regarding frozeners remain bullishits of frozen produce.n Foods’ Quadros

usy lifestyles ost the concept of

easiest way withoutaste, nutrition ande suggests. “Alsoand has the samee as fresh products.”ods’ Mathews con-was a large demand in the region evennt economicfs todayadvan-rozen Sheraton Deira executive

chef Susy Massetti.

Aloft Abu Dhabi’s Todd Hunter.


“Turning something fresh into something frozen has come a long way since my mother was putting products in the freezer”Aloft Abu Dhabi executive chef Todd Hunter


Supplier newsJanuary 2010


TWG Tea has launched an aesthetes’ collec-tion of six seasonal tea blends.

The Singaporean tea manufacturer and supplier said the 2009-2010 Winter Haute Couture tea collection was a “tour around the world in six blends”.

TWG Tea chairman Manoj Murjani com-mented: “There is a story to tell each season and we want to bring couture into tea.

“Our intent is to capture the spirit of what’s happening around us and introduce the pleasures of tea in a new, delightful and infinitely stylish way.”

The collection features the blends Royal Moroccan Tea and New York breakfast tea.

Former art gallery is supplier’s new homeCelebrity chef pays a visit to Dubai to open hospitality supplier’s head office and meeting space

Hospitality supplier Ronai welcomed Brit-ish celebrity chef Brian Turner to Dubai last month, to open The B_asement: a meeting facility and the company’s new head office.

The B_asement, a former art gallery in the heart of Dubai industrial estate Al Quoz, can be hired out by chefs for different purposes, including private meetings, VIP events and product presentations.

The versatile facility also acts as A.Ronai’s new head office, combining its uniform tai-loring factory, company offices and a large open gallery space.

Ronai managing director Gavin Dodd said: “It is important to have a showroom, but peo-ple from the industry can use it as well. It’s there for chefs, housekeeping staff or people from across the industry to use as a meeting facility or for product demonstrations.

“We hope it gives them somewhere to look at our product and a place outside the hotel or restaurant for them to conduct meetings and other business.”

Turner, an ambassador for A.Ronai brand Steelite International, made the trip to open the facility on behalf of the firm.

The celebrity chef commented: “There is no doubt that if there is a somewhere you

Supplier news

can go as a chef and have a chat with some-one, it is a good thing.

“It is good to see all the products in one space as well — today it’s The B_asement but, tomorrow it will be the top floor,” he joked.

Celebrity chef Brian Turner and Ronai managing director Gavin Dodd at the opening of The B_asement.

Gourmet programme extendedThe second edition of Gourmet Abu Dhabi will return next month with a 15-day pro-gramme at 14 different venues.

The culinary extravaganza organised by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) takes place from February 5-19, adding an extra five days onto last year’s schedule.

The line up will feature a plethora of Michelin-starred chefs, as well as some of Abu Dhabi’s most popular restaurants.

ADTA deputy director general Ahmed Hussein said: “The cast this year reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the international gastronomic arena, with chefs coming from 13 countries across Australasia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Subconti-nent and the Americas.”

The programme for this year’s show will also include a series of culinary workshops.

“We are convinced that our goal of becom-ing the Gulf ’s gastronomic destination of choice is within our grasp,” said Hussein.

Abu Dhabi is gearing up for its culinary extravaganza.

Around the world in six new blends

F&B essentials Buffetware

www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/f&b50 Caterer Middle East January 2010

Interactive service is forcing suppliers to focus on new designs and innovations

Live cooking leads region’s buffet trend

The increasing popularity of live cooking displays in the Middle East is driving product innovation, according to one buffetware supplier.

Louisa Tse, director of sales and marketing at buffetware and food service supplier Hyperlux, said that along with great dishes guests were now looking for entertainment from their servers.

“Live cooking and serving are the new trends affecting the buffetware market; it is becoming popular for chefs to interact with guests during food-service,” she said.

As a result, Tse noted that the Hong Kong-based buf-fetware supplier was therefore

focusing on developing prod-ucts and equipment that could serve this purpose.

“Our new developments include the Flexi Warmer,

The regions diners are looking for more from buffet service.

Kings Stores — Hospitality has a wide range of hospitality product manufacturers on its portfolio, including buffetware masters Zieher, the brand behind the popular Skyline buffet range that forms part of Zieher’s Art de Buffet collection.

Part of the Bahman Group of Companies, Kings Stores offers F&B outlets a selection of buffetware ranges by other well-known European brands, all with a focus on quality and innovation.

Along with an extensive range of buffet concepts and solutions, the Dubai-based company supplies hospitality services with housekeeping products and table-top items.

ONE TO WATCH: Kings Stores — Hospitality

Kings Stores — HospitalityTel: +971 4 271 2376Email: [email protected]: www.kingsstorehospitality.com Zieher’s Skyline buffet range, available through Kings Stores — Hospitality.

mobile carving station and new style buffet servers,” she said.

“The food service industry is always the first area to be affected in every economic

recession,” continued Tse. “In turn this creates an opportu-nity for suppliers to fine-tune their products and design new innovative equipment to suit the dynamic needs of market.”

F&B outlets meanwhile have been staying true to regional representation in regards to their buffetware choices, ac-cording to Tse.

“While the Middle East has its own unique eating cultures and traditions, tabletop and buffetware items also have their own style,” she said.

“Integrating the traditional elements to the global style is where the Middle East stands in terms of buffetware trends and designs.”


F&B essentials Buffetware


Unico Sal

Bugambilia

Canyon Serving System

Smart

PotterhausAvailable from Everstyle Trading, Unico Sal has launched its latest range of chafing dishes. Made from high-quality stainless steel and available in copper and brass ham-mered finishes, these items also come with an anti-shock metal clutch mechanism.

Everstyle Trading Tel: +971 6 531 4106Email: [email protected]: www.everstyletradinguae.com

Cold Buffet service by Bugambilia is a collection of solid cast aluminium products with a protective resin coating making it dishwasher-safe and scratch-, chip- and peel-resistant. Available from UK-based Dudson, there is a choice of 14 items including a large deep round bowl, fish platters and a gourmet platter.

Dudson Tel: +44 1782 819 337Web: www.dudson.com

Brand Design Source’s Canyon Serving System consists of two models — one rect-angular and one round. Both are available in one of four colour combinations: black with black steps, black with copper steps, black with silver steps and silver with silver steps.

A RonaiTel: +971 4 331 3390Email: [email protected]: www.ronai.co.uk

Tiger’s Smart collection of buffetware products is available in the Middle East through Al Diyafa. Items in the range include chaffing dishes with glass lids and this self-service dish, which comes with a multi-layer compensation base suitable for most heating methods.

Al DiyafaTel: +971 2 681 3733Email: [email protected]: www.aldiyafa.com

Singapore-based Potterhaus manufactures a range of hospitality offerings including this Three Tier S Curve stand. It is made with a stainless steel frame, utilises small and medium sized glass plates and is available in the UAE through Aranco Hotel Supplies.

Aranco Hotel SuppliesTel: +971 2 554 3321Fax: +971 2 554 3329Web: www.potterhaus.com

SupplierProduct showcase


Caterer Middle East showcases the best and brightest F&B products to hit the market

New productsCamshelving

Carlisle Roll-Away Container

AerFresco CP7

Camshelving High Density Storage System can help F&B outlets increase storage space by up to 40%. It features a floor-track system, which provides safe and ergonomic access to stored products, while a raised track will ensure dirt does not get trapped. The shelving requires no bolts and drilling into the floor is not necessary.

Cambro Middle East Tel: +971 50 45 98 246Email: [email protected] Web: www.cambro.com This roll away container from US food ser-

vice product manufacturer Carlisle is avail-able in the UAE through Everstyle Trading. The sturdy waste bin features a heavy-duty axle and oversized traction wheels to make hauling away heavy loads easier.

Everstyle Trading Tel: + 9716 5314106Email: [email protected]

This outdoor cooling and heating system utilises the latest air conditioning and heating technology, and is packaged into a heavyweight parasol. It has more than 7kw of cooling power and can reduce the ambient air temperature by up to 15°C. Space BreezeTel: + 44 1202 701 783 Email: [email protected]: www.spacebreeze.com

Figgjo FlatFiggjo AS has launched 10 new white products for hospitality professionals. The existing Figgjo Flat range has two new ad-ditions — the smaller 14x4cm and 25x25cm plates, which can be used for appetizers, main courses, desserts or as side plates.

Figgjo ASTel: + 47 51 68 35 38Fax: + 47 51 68 35 01Web: www.figgjo.no

Brazil TextureThis flame-resistant high-impact upholstery fabric is woven from a blend of 66% cotton and 44% polyester, has a linen-like quality and is available in one of 45 colour options.

Valley Forge FabricsTel: +1 954 971 1776 Fax: +1 954 968 1775

Distributors & supplies directory

DistributorsDistributors

SuppliersSuppliers

Baqer MohebiTel: +971 4 396 9777Email: [email protected](Marketing & distribution of food & non food FMCG, food ingredients & Cuban Cigars)

Greenhouse SupermarketTel: +971 6 5332218Email: [email protected](Importers / Distributors of Food Items)

BEVERAGES

BoncafeTel: +971 4 2828742Email: [email protected]

Coffee PlanetTel: +971 4 341 5537Email: [email protected]

FrankeTel: +41 6 2787 3607www.franke-cs.com

LavazzaTel: +971 50 5959385Fax: +971 4 3211274Email: [email protected]

Merchant Star InternationalTel: +971 4 266 7447Email: [email protected]

MoninTel: +971 50 940 0918Email: [email protected]

Nestlé ProfessionalTel: +971 4 408 8100Email: [email protected]

Raw Coffee CompanyTel: +971 50 5536808Email: [email protected] www.rawcoffeecompany.com

SchaererTel: +41 318 585111Email: [email protected]

Emf Emirates Tel: +971 4 2861166 Fax: +971 4 2863080 Email: [email protected]

La MarquiseTel: +971 4 343 3478Email: [email protected]

Horeca Trade LlcTel: +971 4 3403330Email: [email protected]

MH EnterprisesTel: +971 4 3470 444 Fax: +971 4 3470 972Email: [email protected]

MMITel: +971 4 209 5000www.mmidubai.com(Beverages)

TSSCTel: +971 4 343 1100Email: [email protected](Catering/kitchen equipment, chocolate/coffee equipment, FMCG, refrigeration)

Fresh Express LLCTel: +971 4 3395354Email: [email protected]

COOKING

ConvothermTel: +49 884 7670Email: [email protected]

MKNTel: +49 5 3 318 9207Email: [email protected]

Mohamed Hareb Al OtaibaTel: +971 4 3414900Email: [email protected]

FOODSTUFF Bakemark InternationalTel: +49 421 3502 200Email: info@ bakemarkint.comwww.bakemarkinternational.com

Bakemart LlcTel: +971 4 2675406Email: [email protected]

Ghraoui ChocolateTel: +971 4 339 8264Email: [email protected]

Giles & PosnerTel: +44 1923 234040Fax: +44 1923 245151 Email: [email protected]

LambwestonTel: +971 50 6447837Email: [email protected]

Nestlé ProfessionalTel: +971 4 408 8100Email: [email protected]

Swiss ChocolateTel: +971 7 244 4984Email: [email protected]

Tulsidas LalchandTel: +971 4 3533736 Email: [email protected]

The Original Candy Company LtdTel: +44 1285 711227 Email: [email protected]

SEAFOOD

Gourmet’s ChoiceTel: +44 1261 842 448Fax: +44 1261 842 884Email: [email protected]

www.gourmetschoice.net

Royal Culimer FzeTel: +971 4 8817847Fax: +971 4 8817848Email: [email protected]

Six Brothers Foodstuff Co LtdTel: +971 6 5339644Fax: +971 6 5335495Email: [email protected]

HYGIENE

Johnson Diversey Gulf FzeTel: +971 4 881 9470www.johnsondiversey.com

Newell RubbermaidTel: +971 4 292 3444Email: [email protected]

RESTAURANT/HOTEL SUPPLIES

Airstar Space LightingTel: +971 4 8854906Email: [email protected]

Baking Technologies Tel: +971 4 885 7557Email: [email protected]

Churchill China Tel: +44 1782 524371Email: [email protected]

www.churchillchina.com

Duni ABTel: +46 40 10 62 00Fax: +46 40 39 66 30Email: [email protected]

JSD ProductsTel: +44 1727 841111Email: [email protected] www.jsdproducts.co.uk

Villeroy and BochTel: +352 46821208Email: [email protected]

CATERING EQUIPMENT

Hamilton Beach CommercialTel: +1 973 263 3132www.commercial.hamiltonbeach.com

VitamixTel: +1 440 782 2450Email: [email protected]

KNIVES

DickTel: +49 7 153 8170Email: [email protected]

Victorinox AGTel: +41 41 818 12 64Email: [email protected] www.victorinox.com

AppointmentsJanuary 2010


Mohamed Mirza has been promoted to res-taurants man-ager at the JW Marriott Dubai. Mirza started as

a hotel trainee at Beirut Mar-riott Resort and has more than 12 years of food and beverage experience. He first joined the JW Marriott Dubai in 1997 as a student hotel trainee during summer breaks from his studies at the Lebanese Academy for Technical Studies, Beirut. He has grown through the ranks of the Dubai property and his most recent role was as assistant restaurant manager responsible for room service, VIP amenities and two cafés.

Hyatt Regency Dubai and Galleria has ap-pointed Liam Crotty to the role of chef de cuisine for the

hotel’s restaurant The Kitchen. Crotty will oversee the culinary offering at the all-day dining outlet. His Hyatt career began in June 2007 when he joined Grand Hyatt Dubai banquet operations. The Irish national started working in kitchens at the age of 13 and went on to work in some of Ireland’s top kitchens including Packie’s seafood restaurant in County Kerry. In his new role he will also oversee the hotel’s room service department.

Gianluca Cugnetto has joined Sheraton Jumeirah Beach as director of food and beverage.

Cugnetto, from southern Italy, is an experienced hotelier having worked in a variety of hotels and resorts across the globe, as well as a series of restaurants. He has won various prizes and accolades in the F&B sector in both the UK and the UAE, and will bring a touch of creativity as he oversees the operation of the Dubai hotel’s diverse collec-tion of F&B outlets.

Recent appointments...

What inspired you to join the team at the Oman property? As a chef working for hotels worldwide, you get the privilege to travel, live in differ-ent countries and experience different cul-tures. I have lived and worked in countries such as the United States, Jordan, Italy and France, and when I was given the chance to work in such a beautiful and hospitable country as Oman, I happily accepted.

What do you hope to bring to your new role as Tuscany’s chef de cuisine?From February this year I will be introduc-ing a special menu to Tuscany, featuring traditional dishes from my home region of Piemont in Italy. This menu will change on

a regular basis, but the normal à la carte menu of Tuscany will still be available.

How highly do you rate the qual-ity and knowledge of chefs in the Oman and across the Middle East? As a native Italian, it is always nice to come to a new country to teach the team I am working with about the ins and outs of traditional Italian cooking. My team of chefs at Tuscany has a great knowledge of Italian cuisine, but it is nice to show them how to cook with ingredients from my region and introduce them to new dishes.

What inspired you to take up a career in cooking?

When I was a little boy I always watched my grandmother cooking for the family and creating the most beautiful tasty dishes. This inspired me to become a chef and create such dishes for my guests.

Who is the most famous person you would like to cook for? While every customer is special and unique, if I had to choose I would love to cook for the team of Juventus, the world famous football club from Turin. Turin is my home town and I am a huge supporter of the team.

Fabrizio Valdetara, an expert on Italian cuisine and a football fanatic, talks to Caterer Middle Eastabout his new chef de cuisine role at the Grand Hyatt Muscat’s Italian restaurant, Tuscany. The experienced chef has worked in kitchens across Europe and the United States, and is hoping to bring a bit of Roman flare to the Omani outlet

Four Points by Sheraton Sheikh Zayed Road and Downtown Dubai proper-ties have

announced the appointment of food and beverage manager Gregor Kiefer. The hospital-ity management graduate, who studied at London’s Thames Valley University and Cornell University’s School of Administration in Ithaca, USA, will be putting to use his experience of similar roles he has held at the international chains Mayfair, Le Méridian, and Raffles.

Fabrizio Valdetara is a big Juventus fan.


Dates for the diaryCalendar

January 8-10The Food FairSingaporeThematic food and beverage show

www.amac.sg

January 12-14Food and Hospitality ExpoManama, BahrainInternational food, beverages and

packaging technology exhibition

www.foodexpbh.com

January 14-16Indian International Food and Wine ShowNew Delhi, IndiaLong-running gourmet showcase

for the international F&B market

www.ifows.com

January 20-23Anfa Hotel EquipmentAntalya, TurkeyHospitality and events equipment

www.anfashotelequipment.com

January 24-26Scotland’s Speciality Food ShowGlasgow, UKTrade show for premium food

buyers in retail, foodservice

and hospitality industries

www.scotlandsspecialityfoodshow.com

January 24-27Foodexpo 2010Herning, DenmarkDanish F&B fair dedicated to

foodservice, hotel and retail

www.foodexpo.dk

January 26-28Madrid Fusión Madrid, SpainGourmet showcase featuring

demonstrations by top chefs and

the latest culinary trends

www.madridfusion.net

January 28-30TASTE 2010Mumbai, IndiaFood, drink and hospitality expo,

bringing together importers,

distributors and retailers

www.taste-expo.com

January 31- February 3AgecotelNice, FranceExhibition for the hotel and

restaurant industry, featuring

sections on materials and

equipment as well as food service

www.nicexpo.org

January 31-February 3ISM Cologne, GermanyThe world’s biggest

confectionery trade fair

www.ism-cologne.com

COMING IN FEBRUARY…

February 21-24GulfoodDubai, UAEThe Middle East’s premier

F&B exhibition returns

www.gulfood.com

DATES FOR THE DIARY... January 2010

Six decades of local experienceThe most exclusive clientsThe most experienced international teamTailor-made custom-fit solutions Completed ProjectsMHAO & you - the undisputed winners!Strategic Partnerships . . . Local Advantage

MOHAMED HAREB AL OTAIBA#1 in commercial kitchen equipment & hospitality solutions

P.O.Box 5009 | Dubai | U.A.E. | Tel: +971 04 3414900 / 3474944 | Fax: +971 341 3223 / 3473499

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Last biteInterview


Coffee

Caterer Middle East chats with BiCE Ristorante president Raffaele Ruggieri, in town to launch the family-run firm’s new seafood concept, BiCE Mare, at Downtown Dubai’s Souk Al Bahar

a public company, we do not have that pres-sure to grow. So we’ll take good opportunities when we find them, but we’re in no rush.

Moving on to the new outlet, why is now the right time to be expanding into the Middle East?A couple of years ago my father and I started considering the idea of BiCE Mare, and we were waiting for the right location to launch the concept. Then they offered us this prime location and of course when such a great opportunity comes up, you’re not going to turn it down! This is the centre of Dubai today, and I don’t think there’s any better area — the kind of place you don’t find any more in the older cities in the world, because they’re all gone.

Tell us a bit about the new offering.I haven’t eaten meat in a long time, around 15 years, and I love seafood. In the US market over the past decade, steakhouses became popular so the market is full of them — so we thought we’d look at a seafood concept. It’s very healthy, and health awareness is growing worldwide. We believe we’ll see a lot of demand for this kind of offering.

What will set BiCE Mare out in the crowded Dubai arena?I think it’s the overall experience: we have

a reputation, which obviously helps; we have the location; we have the quality of food — honestly, it’s mind-blowing; and finally we also have the great staff and service, so we have all the right ingredients.

I’m not arrogant enough to say we’ll be bet-ter than all the other outlets here, but I know we have the right elements to offer a really memorable experience, and I think that’s what is needed today to become successful.

Do you have any further plans for the MENA region?Our plans for 2010 include opening BiCE Ristorantes in Bahrain and Miami, one BiCE Mare in Doha and another in Chicago, and we have an outlet under ne-gotiation in Cape Town. We actually have a steakhouse, BiCE Beef Bar, in Monte Carlo and we would like to bring that to Dubai, so we are considering that. It’s very different to a traditional steakhouse, and we think it would work well in this market.

What’s the secret to running a great Italian restaurant?Italian food — and I believe one has to go to Italy to truly understand what that is. There are many great Italian restaurants, but it’s not real authentic Italian. When you experience real Italian food in Italy, with fresh produce in season, then you know what great Italian food really is.

BiCE has developed from a fam-ily restaurant to an international chain; what’s the secret to expand-ing without compromising on the original appeal?We are still a family-run business and I am the third generation of a family that is really doing this from the heart, so that’s a major factor — that we the founders are doing this because it’s in our DNA, not because we just stumbled upon it.

The second thing is that we’ve been for-tunate enough to find team members that share that same vision and passion, and we transmit that on to our guests.

You had to close some outlets in the US this year; overall, how has BiCE weathered the economic storm?We’ve had fluctuations everywhere — the economy was hit worldwide, although some places have felt it more. I live in the US, and I’d say it was one of the worst-hit.

But the major benefit of being family-run is that we can quickly adjust to any situa-tion and don’t have to worry about massive overheads, like many big brands. When the time came to roll up our sleeves, we all did — and as a result we were able to down-scale and still make it profitable.

We have seen the number of outlets we’ve been opening slow down since 2007; last year, I opened only two [in the US]. But we are not

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