Hospitality Business ME | Issue 38 - 2015

ISSUE 38

SEPTEMBER 2015

The Impact of Colour Brighten your table

AVOIDING RISK

ROAD TRIP TO ITALY

TRENDING FOODS

EDITOR’S LETTER

MANAGEMENT Dominic De Sousa Chairman Nadeem Hood Group CEO Georgina O’Hara Publishing Director Paul Godfrey Group Director of Editorial

Editor Dave Reeder dave.reeder@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9163

Deputy Editor Beth Burrows beth.burrows@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9167

ADVERTISING Business Development Director Elaine McCarrick elaine.mccarrick@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9112

DESIGN Head of Design Glenn Roxas

Keep on trucking F

inally, the UAE is catching up with a key global F&B trend - the growth of the food truck market. Although there have been some examples already - the Ghaf Kitchen for private functions and the ten UK trucks imported for Street Feast as part of the Abu Dhabi Food Festival, for example - the mania that greets food trucks in places like California has so far passed us by.

That may be set to change with the announcement of up to 1,500 food trucks across the Middle East, with an initial fleet of 100 vehicles this year.

The initiative, by UAE-based F&B player 54⁰ East, is called ROUNDUP, which offers a full-spectrum food trucks services business and initial brands being rolled out include MOB, Fit, Calle Tacos, Bio Bean, Shawarma Station, Jordanian Brisket Truck, Toasted

Grilled Cheese and Gobai. The food trucks will be found at public locations like beaches, exhibitions and events, food festivals, markets and, at the same time, can be booked for private catering. 54⁰ East also assists in obtaining all the necessary government permissions.

Although food trucks are likely to be more of a challenge for the casual and fast food sector, it’s easy to see how some of the larger hotel properties could adopt the concept and offer alternatives to guests relaxing in the grounds or along the beach. Whether the latest West Coast trend of gourmet food trucks will follow to this market, it would be an interesting development for players like Taste Kitchen.

One thing, however, is certain in F&B: change is constant.

Dave Reeder dave.reeder@cpimediagroup.com

Senior Graphic Designer Froilan Cosgafa IV Production Manager James Tharian Data Manager Rajeesh Melath

Printed by Printwell Printing Press

Head Office PO Box 13700, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 (0) 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 (0) 4 447 2409

© Copyright 2015 CPI. All rights reserved. While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

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CONTENTS la dolce vita Dave Reeder joins a convoy of Dubai-based Italian chefs eating their way from Milan to Florence.

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MANAGEMENT 6 Checking out The top ten bugbears driving business travellers out of hotels.

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A risky business?

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Sharjah booming?

Running a hotel can be rife with risk. Here are the top four disasters to dodge.

Sharjah is stepping out of Dubai’s shadow and into the light with Sharjah Tourism Vision 2021.

20 AreDESIGN you sitting comfortably?

Subtle colours and streamlined curves are hot for outdoor furniture this season.

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A lot on his plates RAK Porcelain’s Renu Oommen predicts tableware trends.

30 AnTECHNOLOGY end to cables?

The Wi-Fi upgrade at the Bonnington Hotel & Residences JLT is bringing competitive connectivity to an older build.

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The ABC of BYOD Smartphone? Tablet? Laptop?

Chances are your guests have brought all three. But how should hoteliers respond?

HYGIENE 38 Maintaining standards Maintenance may sound mundane, but a hotel’s success depends on careful monitoring of simple systems.

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COVER CONCEPT We eat with our eyes, so choices on plating and presentation are as crucial as any made in the kitchen. Shape, texture and colour of plateware have a big impact on diners’ experience of a meal. Red is an appetite stimulant and smaller plates can make portions seem larger. A recent study also found that food presented in a creative pattern was perceived to taste better than an unimaginatively arranged dish.

CONTENTS

42 Cool in the pool

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Sun, swim and safety. Don’t trip up on these poolside precautions.

44 Spa trending

Top tips for transforming spas.

46 Trends in bathroom designs Design trends in the second room are of first importance.

32 THE PRO CHEF 50 Tomorrow’s menu Sorcery in the kitchen can only happen by sourcing the best produce. Dubai’s sharpest culinary minds discuss the difficulties of finding organic food in the desert.

for food 56 Designing Planning the layout of a restaurant kitchen can be a jigsaw puzzle.

Here are some solutions.

week 58 Vine 6-12th September marks Vine

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Week in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

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Dolce Vita 60 La Dave Reeder joins a convoy of Dubai-based Italian chefs eating their way from Milan to Florence.

to face with 66 Face Darren Velvick

The Croft, Darren Velvick’s new restaurant, is set to make waves in Dubai Marina.

I’m just a restaurant boy!

70 British chef Chris Lester was bullied for being dyslexic at school, but the Group Executive Chef of the Jumeriah Restaurant Group is top of the class in the kitchen.

taste of Spain 74 AHailing from Salamanca, chef Juan Carlos González Hernández brings his Hispanic heritage to these recipes.

for health 78 Fruit Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, we cram the cranberries into these recipes.

last word 80 The The human touch? Not so much. The first robot-run hotel is redefining service expectations.

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We would like to invite you to join “The Pink Brigade”: a unique event featuring the UAE’s Top Chefs wearing pink ribbon jackets during the month of October, in support of The Pink Caravan.

Over the past four years, the Pink Caravan Ride has succeeded in dispelling myths surrounding breast cancer and encouraging thousands of women and men to undergo early detection examinations, as well as in raising breast cancer awareness and removing fear and shame. The Pink Caravan has succeeded during the past four years in offering early breast cancer detection screenings to 29,000 women and men of all ages and nationalities across the country.

During the month of October, chefs are encouraged to wear pink chefs' jackets (supply exhausted for this year) and support F&B-based initiatives relating to The Pink Caravan.

More details from loubna.nahim@medsdubai.com

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ADVISING THE OWNERS

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A RISKY BUSINESS

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HOSPITALITY, SHARJAH STYLE

HOTEL MANAGEMENT

Checking out They travel so much and stay so often that business travellers can seem part of a hotel’s furniture. But their familiar presence shouldn’t be taken for granted; they need to be nurtured as much, if not more, than any other guest. Here are ten of the most common bugbears driving business travellers out of hotels.

T

he global business travel sector was worth approximately $1.2 trillion in 2014, a figure expected to rise by 8.6% this year. Professionals on the move make up a large chunk of the hospitality market. But despite the lucrative corporate contracts and reliable repeat business up for grabs, hotels are failing to satisfy some of their most valuable clientele. From poorly positioned plugs to noisy neighbours, here are ten of the most common complaints from business travellers.

Wi-Fi With Wi-Fi coming to rank alongside food and water in people’s list of everyday essentials, it’s important that hotels get it right. 36% of business travellers surveyed claimed poor connectivity would influence their decision to re-book. With many hotels still charging for the privilege of getting online, it is essential that properties provide a strong, speedy and safe connection.

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HOTEL MANAGEMENT

Electricity Smartphone, tablet, laptop: business travellers are using more devices today than ever before. And they need to be able to charge them simultaneously. Too often guests are forced to swap between gadgets or scrabble under the bed for an elusive power supply. Another issue is stylish but impractical lighting and temperature systems. Your guest shouldn’t have to call reception in the dark to ask how to turn the lights on.

Noise The primary function of a hotel for a business traveller is somewhere to sleep and work. Noise of any kind is going to affect that. Rowdy neighbours, chattering staff and the rumble of maintenance work can give guests a poor night’s sleep and bad attitude. Interestingly, although many guests are bothered by noise only about half report it.

Expensive breakfasts With a busy working day ahead and no prospect of a lunch break in sight, many business travellers look to load up on breakfast. But that doesn’t mean they expect to pay through the nose for it.

Over the odds pricing of breakfast items is a common complaint of travelling professionals.

Automated check in In a number of hotels guests can check in online and go straight to their room. Efficient? Yes. Welcoming? No. Jaded businesspeople working far from friends and family value human contact more than most; small talk and a smile are appreciated. Check in and check out represent the first and last opportunities for contact with a customer.

Don’t sacrifice these golden moments for the sake of efficiency.

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Local news It can be hard for chronic travellers to keep track of what city they are in, let alone the time zone and day of the week.

The regional paper not only brings them up to speed on local happenings but also offers a handy weather report.

Key cards Broken or faulty access cards are a common complaint on business travellers’ lists. Treks to reception for a replacement key play on guests’ patience, particularly when time is tight, there is a room to pack and plane to catch.

Alarm clocks To have one or not? Some hoteliers argue alarm clocks have no place in the modern hotel room, whereas others would not do without them. If your hotel does use them it’s essential to ensure they are reset before new guests check in. A business traveller woken at 3am by the previous occupant’s alarm is a sure fire way to repel repeat business.

Odour and ventilation Moving from a plane, to taxi, to board room, fresh air can be in short supply for business travellers. In the comfort of their hotel room many would like to crack open a window, not least when the air is laced with stale smoke and other nasty odours. Windows that don’t open are a big turn off.

Facilities If you claim to have a ‘fully equipped gym’ or ‘state-of-the-art computer center’ that’s what your business traveller expects. A singular step-o-meter from the ‘80s or black and white PC still running on a modem will be met with disdain.

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HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

ANNOUNCING THE THIRD ANNUAL PRO CHEF ME AWARDS!

NOMINATIONS OPEN 1.9.2015

www.theprochefme.com/awards Nominations will be accepted only from people active in F&B from chefs to sommeliers, marketing to suppliers. You may nominate in as many categories as you wish, but multiple nominations for the same award will be disqualified.

The Pro Chef ME Awards 2015 will be presented at an evening banquet to be held at the Habtoor Grand in Dubai on 11.11.2015.

To reserve your seat at the Awards evening, please contact: amy.linney@cpimediagroup.com kimberly.gamarro@cpimediagroup.com

HOTEL MANAGEMENT

A Risky

Business?

Hospitality - the risks are many and varied, and are not limited to fraud by staff or guests, injury, loss of property, industrial or workplace accidents, food poisoning and worse. Which are the most serious, and what steps must you take to protect your property and your business?

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HOTEL MANAGEMENT

I

n 2014, 30% of companies surveyed said they were spending less on costly business travel as a means to cut back expenses. The global recession affected the hospitality and travel industry just as much - if not more than any other sector, as both consumers and businesses were hesitant to spend money on travel and lodging.

Fortunately, the global economy is improving, which means consumers and businesses are growing more confident about their financial situations, and travelling further and more often in pursuit of new business. For those in the hospitality sector, this is good news, as it translates directly into more money spent on vacations or business trips. That said, increased activity may lead to an increased chance of risks. The hospitality sector faces a variety of potentially damaging threats that hotels need to contend with, particularly as they deal with an influx of new leisure and business travelers.

Top four risks 1. Data privacy: Cyber security is a growing concern for a number of sectors, ranging from power and utility companies to government organizations. While those specific industries are more concerned about cyber terrorism, any business participating in current commerce has some form of online presence, and the hospitality business more so than most. Its primary focus is on protecting data and preventing identify theft.

Hotels collect a lot of information about their guests in the course of their normal business, and to refine their own guest experience and rewards programs. This makes them popular targets among cyber criminals and hackers, as a single breach of a hotel’s IT infrastructure could result in hundreds or even thousands of pieces of guests’ personal information (names, addresses, credit card numbers, etc.) and payment details being compromised. Because of this, hotel operators need to make sure this data is thoroughly protected against fraudsters.

“Many segments of the hospitality industry have rewards programs that encourage customers to frequent a particular establishment or chain,” ThinkRisk explains.

“These programs necessarily store personal and financial information in order to facilitate reservations, billing, payment and benefit awards. Online reservations and payments as well as transactions processed on-site necessarily involve collecting credit card or other personal financial information from customers.”

A security breach has huge implications.

At the very least, businesses are required to contact other guests (past and present) and inform them that their data may have been compromised – this alone can be costly and may also lead to brand damage. If stolen data is used by fraudsters, the businesses may face liability claims for failure to protect data and maintain reasonable safeguards.

As more hospitality and travel companies use digital systems to automate tasks and manage their data, they need to be aware of the potential risks these solutions bring to the table.

2. Guest behavior: Guests represent the lifeblood of any hospitality company.

Without guests and travellers, those businesses wouldn’t make any money.

However, guests can also potentially be the biggest threats – both directly and indirectly – to profitability. Lawsuits from people who are injured, or the costs of damage done to guestrooms, can represent a big risk to the bottom line.

Several recent high profile cases have involved hotel guests in the UAE being injured and claiming compensation during their stay, though these cases are often vigorously defended by the hotel in question. Hotels should have internal controls in place to handle guest destruction and ensure travelers’ safety during their stay.

Small things, such as closer management of property and resources, can and should prevent incidents like this from happening in the first place.

3. Staff: Staff are another critical risk.

During a recession, employees rarely change their jobs because it is difficult to find work elsewhere. As the economy improves, staff have more options to move both in and outside the industry. This means hotels are at greater risk of having their key personnel poached by their competitors. Hiring and retraining are options, but they come with additional expenses, and securing genuine staff loyalty is the enlightened option.

Travel and hospitality companies need to address demographic, cultural, wage level and worker satisfaction issues to ensure their staff remain motivated and content.

Creative companies are coming up with new retention plans and innovative strategies to help keep employees engaged.

At the same time, hoteliers also need to ensure their employees aren’t actively working against them. Property theft is a big

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issue at many hospitality companies, given the number of amenities they deal with on a daily basis. While a stolen towel might not seem like much, theft adds up over the course of the year.

4. Branding: Hospitality companies rely on their brands to attract and retain customers.

Popular brands such as Hilton or Marriott are familiar to customers and have become trusted names in the market. They also tend to be very protective of their brands and aren’t afraid to throw their weight around when another company tries to infringe on their trademarks.

For example, the Hilton Prestige Portfolio led to a copyright infringement lawsuit from Prestige Resorts & Destinations, which alleged that Hilton infringed on its trademark and claimed unfair competition.

The number of risks that hospitality businesses are facing is on the rise. It’s paramount that companies implement a risk management program in order to discover and quantify those threats before they negatively affect business.

So, how do you build a risk management culture?

As with any internal behavioral change, building a risk management culture requires commitment, communication, behavioral reinforcement and measurement.

It starts at the top. Executives must have an obvious and overt commitment to risk management that is well-articulated to the rest of the enterprise. This commitment needs to be kept front and centre; managing risk should be a consideration in all major decisions. If the C-level’s commitment to a risk management initiative dissipates over time, it can send a signal to the troops that risk management and safety aren’t important, the exact opposite of your original intention.

Hospitality businesses need to begin by conducting an honest assessment of their current risk profile. Working closely with a trusted advisor such as a broker, consider engaging risk analysts and loss control specialists to provide an assessment and make recommendations.

These professionals will identify potential problem areas and suggested remedies. They will also help set benchmarks of how the company is performing that can be used for performance and improvement assessment over time..

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A good way forward is to think of these fitting into specific lines of insurance coverage. For instance, for general liability insurance, consultants will examine potential liability to public exposure. In the hospitality industry, you will look at guest injury risks such as slips, falls and injury in wet areas such as pools and spas, and the same risks to staff in spa and kitchen operations. Cleaning staff working at height or with hazardous materials need to be fully educated and properly monitored, and kitchen staff trained to work safely with hot liquids, naked flames and sharp instruments.

To be successful, an organization must do a good job of communicating the importance of risk management, should raise awareness and provide how-to information to employees. Employers must understand that education needs to occur in order to drive continual improvement and adoption of a risk management mindset. This communication should permeate through all levels of the organization in a consistently open and honest manner.

For employees, the question will often be “what’s in it for me?” Determining that is an important piece of the puzzle and employees need to be incentivized in a manner that is relevant to their roles and responsibililties.

This requires the right approach. Some teams will respond to financial incentives, such as tying compensation to safety-oriented metrics; others may respond to a different type of motivation. It’s incumbent upon you as the employer to determine which will work best with the workforce. It is also useful to assess worker commitment to risk management in regular performance reviews.

The final aspect of transforming the workplace into one with a risk management culture is to measure performance.

Employers can benchmark their risk management performance based upon metrics such as accidents, injuries, claims and whether insurance premiums rise or fall. Forward-thinking companies will also measure their performance through subjective means such as culture surveys that provide a glimpse into employee mindsets.

It’s all part of creating a foundation for protecting your business. Risk management is no longer simply about purchasing the right insurance. It’s much bigger than that.

Today’s risk management demands a cultural mindset that positions the entire team to safeguard the best interests of the business, and, by extension, their own interests as well.

“It starts at the top.

Executives must have an obvious and overt commitment to risk management that is well-articulated to the rest of the enterprise.

This commitment needs to be kept front and centre; managing risk should be a consideration in all major decisions.”

HOTEL MANAGEMENT

Sharjah booming?

The Emirate of Sharjah in the UAE is determined to secure a larger slice of the inbound tourism market, and has implemented a number of initiatives to attract and entertain visitors. Hospitality Business ME spoke to HE Mohamed Ali Al Noman, Chairman of SCTDA, to get the lowdown on everything that’s being done.

When was the SCTDA founded, and what is your remit?

Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) was established in 1996 with the objective of promoting commercial and tourism activities in the Emirate of Sharjah.

SCTDA endeavours to develop these sectors through various events, activities and issuances, and promotes the emirate at all local, regional and international levels.

Describe some of your current initiatives?

SCTDA has launched a number of initiatives in recent times. One of the most notable ones is the Marhabtain initiative, which is a comprehensive training programme launched under the Sharjah Tourism Vision 2021 to enhance efficiencies through

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collaborative action and promote Sharjah as a destination with world class tourism facilities and capabilities. In the first phase of the initiative, SCTDA partnered with Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority (SRTA) to start a training programme for taxi drivers in Sharjah to improve their service delivery and equip them with capabilities to provide a better experience for visitors to the emirate.

In the second phase of the initiative, SCTDA launched a training programme to develop human resource capabilities in the hotel sector. The new programme is targeted at front office staff, including receptionists and customer service representatives, who deal directly with tourists and guests. Apart from these, SCTDA has organised its 11th Tourist Guide Licensing and Training Course. A total

of 152 tour guides have graduated since the launch of the programme.

SCTDA has also been organising and taking part in promotional tours to various overseas markets. In May, the Authority participated in a tour of the Gulf capitals, organised by the National Council of Tourism and Antiquities under the slogan, “#VisitUAE”, with the aim of promoting Sharjah’s ambitious tourism plans under the Sharjah Tourism Vision 2021.

SCTDA also organised a series of road shows in cooperation with tourism and hospitality sector partners across major European cities from June 7 to 12, covering for the first time markets such as Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Poland.

SCTDA will also participate in the ‘Seven Emirates One Destination’ roadshow of the National Council of Tourism

HOTEL MANAGEMENT

“Dazzling shows and carnivals, enchanting parks and stunning desert landscapes, scenic man-made lagoons and cultural hotspots, Sharjah has all that it takes to captivate everyone in the family.”

HE Mohamed Ali Al Noman, Chairman of SCTDA

and Antiquities, being organised at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) from September 7 to 11, 2015.

In a major initiative, SCTDA launched during the Arabian Travel Market 2015 its mobile applications for iOS and Android devices, enabling tourists to plan their trips to Sharjah conveniently using their smart phones.

The app comes with a number of user-friendly options such as the ‘Make My Day’ feature that allows users to select desired places to visit based on various categories and schedule their visits using a map.

Another notable initiative is the distribution of Interactive Touch Screens (ITS) in all fiveand four-star hotels as well as luxury hotel apartments in the emirate, activating SCTDA’s ‘Innovative Tourism Approach’ pillar under

the Sharjah Tourism Vision 2021. The supply of ITS will eventually cover all hotels, tourist attractions, airports, shopping malls, museums and government departments in the emirate to provide innovative tourist services that meet the needs of all categories of visitors.

You have launched the ‘Family Friendly Sharjah’ initiative. What does this involve?

Sharjah has positioned itself as a world class tourist destination for the entire family.

The emirate is known for its family friendly atmosphere and tourism facilities and events.

Sharjah’s development plans are focused on enhancing facilities and services to families in all aspects of life such as housing, education, entertainment and health, making the emirate an oasis of security and community peace.

SCTDA therefore aims to make the emirate of Sharjah a recognised destination for family tourism as a key pillar of the Sharjah Tourism Vision 2021, through the positive promotion of Sharjah’s key strengths that offer a safe and welcoming environment for families to relax and enjoy. This pillar involves concerted efforts to improve competitiveness in highly targeted family markets and deliver a clear brand identity and direction for Sharjah’s tourism sector based on family values.

As part of SCTDA’s efforts to activate the family tourism pillar of the Vision, SCTDA will also host Sharjah International Conference for Family Tourism, the first event of its kind in the region, in the last quarter of this year. The conference will highlight new trends and prospects of

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HOTEL MANAGEMENT

the increasing demand in this important sector. It will be an occasion to focus on the best ways to develop family attractions such as facilities, events and services to meet the needs of all family members.

It will offer a platform to share insights, experiences and best practices on increasing the share of family tourism in the tourism market globally, hosting leading experts, professionals and specialists in the travel and tourism sector from around the world.

What can visitors to Sharjah expect to experience?

Dazzling shows and carnivals, enchanting parks and stunning desert landscapes, scenic manmade lagoons and cultural hotspots, Sharjah has all that it takes to captivate everyone in the family. Sharjah offers some of the most distinguished cultural hotspots and outstanding museums. Holidaymakers also have the unique choice of enjoying Sharjah’s pristine familyfriendly beaches on the Arabian coast. Water sports, snorkelling and diving activities are available on the Emirate’s east coast, where families have the option to either camp on the beach or stay in any of the motels and hotels that line the coast.

Any specific programs, events or activities planned for the coming months?

The coming months will see Sharjah hosting festivals and events such as the Sharjah Light Festival, the Sharjah Water Festival and the Sharjah International Book Fair which have become highly successful in drawing thousands of families from around the region and beyond.

Year on year, these events have been growing in size, innovation and creativity, attracting greater numbers of tourists.

You introduced a new Hotel Rating System recently. Can you tell us what this is and how it works?

The new hotel classification system will be a key step towards achieving the Sharjah Tourism Vision 2021. It is based on a new rating approach and mechanism that will set new benchmarks in the quality of services provided by the hospitality sector based on visitor experiences.

The updated classification includes several new elements to assess the facilities, ranking them by points and grades across a number of criteria. The results are evaluated from periodic inspections and experiences of guests gathered in reports provided by Olrey, the leading travel

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data provider in the Middle East, based on online visitor feedback on the hotel facilities on the world’s leading websites. Additional points are granted for positive initiatives and services provided by the hotel facilities as part of the mandatory standards adopted by SCTDA in its hotel performance evaluations.

The new classification also features 10 designators such as Beach Hotel, Resort Hotel, Business Hotel, Airport Hotel, Conventional Hotel and Heritage Hotel, which have been added to the star rating categories based on geographical location and services provided to visitors.

Dr. Sheikh Sultan has said that tourism is a major plank in Sharjah’s future. What other steps are you taking to support his vision?

Guided by the wisdom and vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, the Emirate of Sharjah has not only emerged as the Cultural Capital of the UAE but has also been crowned as the Cultural Capital the Arab World. The promotion of Sharjah as the Cultural Capital of the Arab World by UNESCO in 1998 has been further endorsed by its recognition as Islamic Cultural Capital in 2014 and Arab Tourism Capital in 2015.

SCTDA has launched the Sharjah Tourism Vision 2021 aiming to attract more than 10 million tourists to the emirate by year 2021.

The main goal of the vision is to build a platform to unite all the efforts, initiatives and tourism programmes under one umbrella, to provide industry players and stakeholders with the ability to reach the stated goal, and enable the tourism industry to play a prominent role as one of the most important economic sectors in Sharjah.

Sharjah Tourism Vision 2021 focuses on four main pillars. As the first pillar, Sharjah will be promoted as an Ideal Family Tourism Destination by offering distinct packages and offers specially designed for families. The second pillar will be Innovative Tourism Approach to improve the tourist experience through the provision of innovative solutions. World Class Tourism Facilities and Capabilities constitute the third pillar to enhance efficiencies in the tourism sector through partnership and collaborative action. International Cultural Hub will be the fourth pillar which will help achieve the Vision through effective promotion of cultural and heritage elements among families.

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A LOT TO CHAIR ABOUT

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THE WORLD ON A PLATE

HOTEL DESIGN

Are you sitting

comfortably?

Outdoor furniture in Florida tends to set the trends for casual seating, which is why the industry as a whole is shifting for both outdoor and pool furniture to a more modern look with clean, simple lines and plush seating in neutral upholstery colours such as grey, caramel, off white, sand and coffee-bean brown. Colour pops from toss cushions, garden foliage and area rugs that define spaces for conversation or chilling.

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HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

HOTEL DESIGN

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In short, the days of cheap chairs made of plastic and stained tables are well and truly gone. Now, manufacturers have realised that the future lies with a mix of style and durability.

Top trends • Stackable patio chairs offer versatile solutions as they can be repositioned to maximise space or stacked and stored away when not in use. Today’s outdoor stackable furniture is crafted from durable, high-quality materials like weatherresistant aluminum and synthetic rattan in a modern style.

• Outdoor rugs are a top trend as the desire to bring the look and comfort of the indoors out remains in high demand. An outdoor rug can pull the entire outdoor space together, as well as define seating areas.

• Deep seating furniture such as upholstered chairs, sofas, chaise longues and ottomans, continues to grow in popularity and features large, wide seating areas and soft, oversized cushions to create a refuge outdoors. Modular deep seating sets are a popular choice because the sectional pieces can be moved around or grouped together to best fit the occasion or space.

• Outdoor furniture fabrics continue to improve in performance, design and texture. Everything from outdoor furniture cushions to patio umbrellas and awnings to accent pillows, outdoor curtains and rugs can be mixed and matched to add depth and personality to your space.

• Multifunctional pieces trends include outdoor storage ottomans, benches, and chaise loungers that provide seating as well as a discreet place to stash furniture cushions and other items.

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M

odern materials for furniture are designed to withstand climate conditions and include powdercoated cast aluminum, concrete and resinwrapped metal that look just like natural wicker or bamboo. Wood is still popular, of course.

Because, increasingly, hoteliers use outdoor spaces as an extension of indoor ones, we’re seeing an increased continuity between the two spaces, with a blend of similar colors and styles of furniture. To increase the harmonious look, keep the flooring consistent inside and on the terrace, maintaining the same colour or even the same material. That way it becomes one seamless and inviting space.

On trend what we’re seeing increasingly - and not unsurprisingly given our climate - is the use of cabanas or large cantilevered umbrellas, which provides instant shade and sophistication. Scale, proportion and balance are the key.

According to Nik Hewitt, Director of Projects at Truelux, “what you pay for is very applicable to the world of outdoor furniture here in the UAE. The soaring heat, dusty atmosphere and high humidity all mean that synthetic rattan woven furniture and traditional teak wooden outdoor furniture all take a real beating over the summer months.

With so many suppliers having such similar items and such a huge range of price from top to bottom it’s a bit of a minefield when deciding what to go for.”

What are his top tips? “Always look for a minimum of 24 months warranty on the product and ensure the supplier has a way of acting out any repairs or replacements during that warranty period. The cheaper brands will only offer 6-12 months and those products traditionally won’t last a summer before they begin to crack, de-colour and lose structure and form. Check for quick drying foam in cushions. Due to the high sand content in the air, good outdoor furniture can be hosed

down and the better ranges will use quick drying foam to ensure they can be used pretty much right away. Shores of Denmark engineered such a product due to their high demand on cruise ships as when a storm hits the product has to stay out on deck and needs to be usable as soon as it passes. Lastly, check for the brand of fabrics used for the cushions.

If you are in a store and the outdoor furniture is advertised with a good solid brand for the fabrics such as Sunbrella, Serge Ferrari etc, rest assured that the manufacturer thinks about quality and longevity.”

In short, the days of cheap chairs made of plastic and stained tables are well and truly gone. Now, manufacturers have realised that the future lies with a mix of style and durability. The visible aspect of outdoor furniture is now the key trend, although the ability to use the furniture in different ways can be a clear differentiator between suppliers.

Marked in the development of such furniture over the past few years has been a shift away from straight lines towards curves and a more sensual feel.

So is this a fashion driven market, with new styles and designs every season? Some industry players think so, but the reality of budget restraints given reduced occupancy levels suggests that rethinking outdoor and pool furniture is likely to be on a longer timecale. In the same way that new tableware ranges come out every year, it tends to be only when there is a restaurant refresh that a replacement house range is adopted.

We’re also seeing some manufacturers mix materials - wicker, stainless steel and aluminium, for example - as a way of differentiating their products. Also technological innovation, such as the technique developed by Grupo Resol to inject mould polypropylene into rattan style products. The result? Furniture that is strong, durable yet very attractive.

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HOTEL DESIGN

A lot on his plates Renu Oommen is the Chief Marketing Officer of RAK Porcelain, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing makers of commercial flatware. He spoke to Hospitality Business ME about trends in the industry and what you can expect to be serving on next.

R

AK Porcelain was set up ten years ago, drawing on the established expertise and resources of parent company RAK Ceramics. In the decade since, RAK Porcelain has grown to be a global player, with production capacity heading for 30 million pieces a year, and distributors in 135 countries worldwide.

Hospitality Business ME spoke to Renu Oommen about the company’s extraordinary success.

What do you see as the key trends in tableware in both the fine dining and more casual dining sectors?

Trends change and we constantly innovate and reinvent our strategies to create trends and keep abreast with market requirements. We at RAK Porcelain constantly provide more and more products that give customers new tools to create a differentiated dining experience that also reinforces the trends of casual as well as fine dining experience. Although standard ivory porcelain remains the firm favourite with chefs who prefer it for the fine dining experience, over time there has been a shift towards subtly coloured matt glazes, with more handcrafted, rustic feel, and these are hotter right now. To respond to this latest trend we launched our new series “Neo Fusion” which is a highly playful collection of vibrant matt colours, an exclusive creation of the RAK Porcelain design studio which is sure to lend a touch of class and sophistication to an outstanding dinner experience.

Are chefs turning more to simple tableware to show off the food? Who then sources the more elaborate, gold-plated dishes?

Simple tableware is a classic trend and we still feel that majority of chefs prefer plain. But these days in order to capture the attention of

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the guest and to present the dish in a more eye appealing way, chefs have shifted their interest to more ‘designer’ plates to show off their food.

Traditionally, gold plated tableware indicated richness and super luxury in a social symbolism.

The gold plated tableware is exclusively designed for the niche segment of the market and, with the Middle Eastern region being the hub of all luxury business, there is huge demand for high end luxury products. Such gold-embellished tableware is most commonly used for Royal Weddings to indicate lavishness and enhance the gratification of guests. At RAK Porcelain we invite you to enter a world of luxury with our golden collection tableware, which is designed with the latest technology and blending it with the traditional skills of master craftsmen to create a product of complete glamour and prestige.

Are demands different in different territories?

Definitely, since different territories serve different cuisines based on their culture, and eating habits require different product shapes as well as diverse presentation techniques. RAK Porcelain has made many ranges that were especially crafted for various cuisines. For example Mazza Collection aims at covering the Lebanese cuisine, Nano and Minimax cover Asian cuisine, Nordic is for the rich Scandinavian cuisines, Anna with its complete range suits the European segment, and many more.

How much is RAK Porcelain’s business developing?

RAK Porcelain is in its tenth year of production and has shown a remarkable record of growth over the period. Production capacity has been increased from 15 million pieces to 25 million pieces annually, and by the end of 2015 we will be reaching 28 million pieces.

HOTEL DESIGN

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

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HOTEL DESIGN

Although standard ivory porcelain remains the firm favourite with chefs who prefer it for the fine dining experience, over time there has been a shift towards subtly coloured matt glazes, with more handcrafted, rustic feel, and these are hotter right now.

You use European designers. Are there any plans to develop tableware lines specifically for the Middle East?

Our European designers are the industry’s finest. These designers draw inspiration from chefs’ needs and create products that are both practical and creative. Alain and Dominique Vavro, from Lyon in France, create designs for the leading gastronomical destinations of the world. Among the most fascinating models developed are All Spice, Nordic and Ska, and timeless yet ever contemporary collections Fine Dine and classic Gourmet. Mikaela Dorfel, another designer with a great reputation, develops each product line around a concept.

For RAK Porcelain, Mikaela created Lyra, the elegant line that plays on the contrast of object softness and precise contours. Gemma Bernal designed two beautiful collections, Marea and Giro, which feature different pieces for tapas dishes, main and side dishes to enhance the culinary presentation. Her work has been tremendously influenced by Mediterranean atmosphere. Franciouse Boeur is actively involved in creating designs for the top hotels in the Europe as well as the Middle Eastern region.

She is active in creating and fully developing custom designs on porcelain tableware for prestigious clients all around the world.

What are your most popular lines?

Delivering outstanding products using cutting edge technology that withstand the test of time has long been our purpose. Our popular lines All Spice, Fine Dine and Mazza are a testimony to the fact that a good design will always be popular and hot. The All Spice range is a perfect match for the most sophisticated culinary creations of chefs. This year we have added a separate category

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called inspirational dining and we have added miniature plates to All Spice making this range more exciting. The unique Mazza range, which elegantly adorns many fine dining restaurants, is further enhanced with the addition of cups and saucers to complete the pristine ambience of the dining experience.

What percentage of your business is replacement orders compared to complete new ranges?

Replacement business varies from outlet to outlet and in relation to the usage of the tableware in the restaurants. Although replacements have not been a major source of business, they do contribute between 5 and 7% to our business. However, chefs these days constantly innovate in terms of menu and redesign the ambience of the restaurant and this sometimes calls for completely new tableware.

What are the potential threats to your business?

Having business model which is spread across the world, RAK constantly faces threats with low cost products which are manufactured and sold locally in many of the countries. But these usually poor quality products with no control on reliability or continuity are usually more localised. Actual threats are coming now from some manufacturers who are now competing with Chinese manufactured products but branded by them. Moreover the rapidly falling Euro also has contributed to the increased competition from these companies. But I strongly believe this is a temporary phenomenon with customers getting more informed with such tactics and the Euro strengthening again.

At RAK we constantly innovate and are fully capable to meet any threats head on and grow on that to be a market leader in porcelain tableware.

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ONLY CONNECT

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A WORLD OF DEVICES

HOTEL TECHNOLOGY

An end to

cables?

The Bonnington Hotel & Residences JLT upgraded its wireless network to deliver a seamless Wi-Fi connectivity experience to all business and leisure guests across its hotel rooms and public areas.

A

lthough the Bonnington provided Wi-Fi to its guests prior to the Aruba implementation, it did not meet the standards that guests, and particularly business travellers, had come to expect from a 5-star hotel.

The ability to support up to 500 simultaneous wireless connections with seamless connectivity across all rooms, suites and public areas has seen 95% improvement in coverage and 85% improvement in performance, plus a significant reduction in the number of guest complaints.

Opened in 2008 and located in the heart of the bustling and ever growing Jumeirah Lakes Towers community, the 5-star Bonnington Hotel prides itself on providing guests with unparalleled service and genuine hospitality.

The beautifully designed 40 storey hotel features 188 rooms and 20 suites, 272 deluxe serviced hotel apartments, five restaurants and bars and four fully equipped conference suites.

The hotel also boasts a unique Leisure Deck on the 11th floor complete with infinity pool, state of the art gym, pool side bar and restaurant, Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna as well as a ladies hairdressing salon.

At the heart of the hotel’s wireless connectivity shortcomings was the Wi-Fi infrastructure that pre-dated the opening of the hotel. With a 24mbps leased line, the Bonnington offered guests a 1mbps free connection or a 4mbps paid-for connection. However with the old Wi-Fi infrastructure, guests struggled to get those bandwidths due to the performance drop introduced by the wireless portion of the network. Expanding the problem was the fact that coverage was poor and there were quite a few dead spots, especially in the guest rooms as

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HOTEL TECHNOLOGY

the APs were located in the corridors rather than individually in each guest room.

Faced with increasing customer dissatisfaction with the spotty Wi-Fi and sluggish speeds, it was evident to Dilhan Devaditiya, IT Manager at the Bonnington, that if the hotel wanted to stay competitive, it was imperative that he addressed the Wi-Fi infrastructure. With over 13 years of experience in the hospitality sector at leading hotels all across the APAC region, Devaditiya had worked with just about all the leading Wi-Fi vendors. Between his experiences and Aruba’s proven track record in the hospitality sector, he was convinced that Aruba would be able to offer the Bonnington the best solution.

However, not wanting to take a unilateral or hasty decision, he sought buy in from a decision making group that included the CEO, Director of Operations, Group Director of Finance & Procurement, GM and Director of Purchasing.

In a process that took close to four months, four leading vendors (including Aruba) were invited to conduct POC testing and submit proposals.

While the Aruba solution did outperform the competition, the decision to go with Aruba boiled down to two key criteria. For one, unlike the other vendors, Aruba and its partner Precedence Technologies worked very closely with the Bonnington team during the consulting phase. “Precedence were very professional and thorough during the testing phase but what surprised me the most was the direct involvement of Aruba employees. They met with us on several occasions, reviewed all configuration options and suggested solutions that allowed us to meet all our technical requirements without exceeding our budget,” said Devaditiya. Secondly, the compact and aesthetic design blended in nicely in the rooms – a consideration that was important for a 5-star hotel.

Once the Bonnington team had agreed on moving forward with Aruba, Precedence deployed the Aruba Wi-Fi infrastructure in March 2015 across 11 floors of rooms, suites and public areas. The deployment included two Aruba 7210 Mobility Controllers of which one was used purely for redundancy; 208 Aruba AP-103H Access Points, one for each room/ suite; and 15 Aruba AP-205 APs for the public areas including the lobby, meeting rooms, bars and restaurants. “We were extremely surprised by the ease of deployment. Not only was the new infrastructure up and running in little under three weeks, but the deployment took place during one of the busiest times of the year without any hassle or inconvenience to our guests,” said Devaditiya.

As a leading 5-star hotel, the Bonnington used Aruba’s Wi-Fi solutions to achieve 95% improvement in coverage and 85% improvement in performance allowing guests to enjoy seamless high speed connectivity across its premises.

Dilhan Devaditiya, IT Manager at the Bonnington

Although the Aruba solution has only been in place for a few months, Mr. Devaditiya couldn’t be happier with the results. The obvious beneficiaries have been guests – coverage has improved by 95% and bandwidth by 85%.

As a result users can now seamlessly connect anywhere in the hotel using one of three SSIDs. The Bonnington IT team is also reaping the benefits – for one, the Aruba interface is extremely user friendly and the entire staff was able to get comfortable with the system with minimal training. Secondly, the ability to centrally manage the entire network has significantly reduced the strain on IT resources.

“I believe we have provided a solution that meets their expectations in terms of performance, ease of deployment, management and aesthetics,” claimed Graeme Kane, Hospitality Business Development Manager at Aruba Networks.

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HOTEL TECHNOLOGY

The ABC of BYOD

It’s a cliche often repeated but it is really an ever more connected world and hotel guests increasingly travel with several personal devices, which they expect to be able to connect to hotel networks. However, creating the right BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) environment comes with with its own problems from security issues to higher bandwidth demands. How should hoteliers respond to this new trend?

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HOTEL TECHNOLOGY

T

he common response from hoteliers about allowing BYOD in their properties is a worry about bandwidth capability. However, a more positive approach is to see BYOD as a two-way street giving hotel staff the ability to connect with guests in an unparalleled manner. They may want to watch movies on their tablets; you can push relevant content to them such as customised promotions, hotel services and so on. By allowing guests to use their own devices you can not only reduce costs by not having to equip every room with a tablet, for instance, but you also drive ancillary revenues - a nice double win.

How then does the trend for BYOD affect hospitality staff and how can you address it in the best way? Like guests, younger staff members are used to being continually connected with access to resources in real time. If employees want to bring their own

Hotel services via BYOD Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has a Guest BYOD Telephony solution specifically designed for the hospitality industry, enabling guests to use their own mobile devices to access hotel services. AlcatelLucent is already a global leader in hospitality solutions with its advanced Smart Guest Application Suite that lets guests control their in-room environment, adjust lighting and temperature, access hotel services, set a wake-up call, set their do not disturb room status, and more.

The solution, downloaded as an app on the guest’s smartphone or tablet, complements existing telephones in hotel rooms. It can also be used in place of fixed line telephones becoming a value-added mobility service as part of a full telephony solution within the hotel. The Guest BYOD Telephony solution can be integrated with third-party ‘e-concierge’ applications or offered by the hotel as a standalone softphone to provide guests with functions such as access to the hotel directory, speed dial, caller ID, free internal calls when on hotel WiFi, and a click-to-call ‘e-concierge’ option. Multiple devices can be assigned to each guest room and are automatically registered and managed as part of the hotel telephony and billing suite.

Once the solution is integrated, it does not require any additional IT management by hotel staff.

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HOTEL TECHNOLOGY

“There are also some general risks of allowing BYOD into your hotel, including device liability, data security and an increased IT workload on the network.”

devices to work, then how can you make that mutually beneficial? Think first of the benefits, the leading one of which is instant communication with employees able to be reached at all times, anywhere on the property. In return, employees can access corporate applications on their devices, allowing them fast access to information or delivering the ability to respond more effectively to guest questions or report instantly on problems they encounter, from guest complaints to the need for a maintenance crew.

On the flip side, however, there are also some general risks of allowing BYOD into your hotel, including device liability, data security and an increased IT workload on the network. Also important to consider is the poential for staff to be distracted by their devices when at work, so guidelines for device usage need to be drawn up for each department - different usage patterns, for example between kitchen and reception.

Whatever else happens in technology terms, BYOD is not going away. The massive growth of video and mobile data devices have changed all the rules and

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Accor chooses Ruckus Wireless Accor Hotels, with 3,700 hotels located in 92 countries, has started implementing Ruckus Smart WiFi products and technology across its hotels in the GCC and Egypt.

The new network infrastructure will support free and premium WiFi availability across leading Accor brands including Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, ibis and ibis Styles.

It builds on a year old deployment of Ruckus Smart WiFi networks initiated a year ago with, to date, well over 800 Ruckus ZoneFlex access points being implemented within these hotels.

According to Jeroen Wisse, IT Director, MEA, at Accor Hotels, “We are consistently

the hospitality sector should have reacted to Accor’s announcement that it would provide free WiFi access across all its hotels. The implementation by a leading supplier should avoid many of the problems currently seen with solutions provided by hotels. These include confused network set ups with inconsistency and poor roaming inside a property, inconsistent sign ins across a property, too few access points, bandwidth issues, blank spots and so on.

A few years back, our then technology director was staying in a leading hotel in Cochin and was unable to get a WiFi signal in his room. IT support turned up and explained that there was a router just outside the window but to get a signal he would have to pull back the curtain!

Poor planning is often the root cause of problems such as these as well as a hotel’s refurb schedule. Trying to retrofit networks into large properties is challenging at best.

So how should hotels be thinking about this problem? Most importantly, better manage the infrastructure and have in place a very clear policy with regard to the use of mobile data.

impressed with the high quality of Ruckus Wireless products and their user-friendly interface.” Ruckus Wireless has been designing wireless LAN solutions for Accor Hotels to deliver best-in-class wireless services for its guests. Ruckus has kick-started the industry’s first in-room wireless system to interconnect multiple guest applications over a single in-room access point that also provides multi-function wired service. This innovation provides secure connectivity for a wireless room ambiance and enhanced overall guest experience.

“In the past, the system we used did not provide us with a reliable infrastructure or high performance,” explained Jeroen Wisse, IT Director, MEA, at Accor Hotels. “This has completely changed after our deployment of Ruckus Smart WiFi.”

The US experience Hotel Internet Services conducted a survey of over 450 guests and hoteliers across the US about BYOD. The aim of the survey was to better understand the desires of hotel guests and their preferences in regards to the content they want to watch when staying in a hotel.

The survey was conducted on-line and it found well over 50% of guests carried three or more devices with them when traveling. The figures: smartphone 76.5%; tablet 54.3%; and laptop 63.7%.

The main finding was that guests preferred having the ability to watch their own content on the hotel TV versus watching a video-on-demand (VOD) library. When asked if they preferred watching VOD or the ability to stream Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc, the answer was resoundingly in favour of streaming their own content. In fact hoteliers ranked this even higher than the guests (82.2% compared to 76.8%).

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MAINTAINING THE PRESSURE

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COOL IN THE POOL

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Hygiene & Housekeeping

Maintaining standards

It is an essential part of the operation of any successful hotel, and it is a part no guest should ever see. Hospitality Business ME spoke to Naveen Baretto at the JA Ocean View to find out precisely what goes on behind the scenes

What is your role and responsibility within the overall running of the hotel?

Short answer? I am responsible for everything! Generally speaking my duties include overall responsibility for maintenance of the building and up-keep of the facilities.

That means I am responsible for fire, health and safety of the building, I look after energy management, innovations and our participation in the Green Globe initiative, and I oversee our Risk Management program and implement any necessary corrective actions Can you describe a typical day in maintenance, or is there no such thing as typical?

Other than planned preventive maintenance and routine maintenance works, every day is very different for

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us. Every day we are engaged in various activities such as in-house projects, planning for various festive seasons/events, decorating outlets, bars and public areas of the building. It is a year-round process.

In addition to that, we have a full time program of on the job trainings and these are also happening every day.

What are the biggest challenges you encounter?

Since we are working in a hospitality industry, every day we are encountering one or other challenges. We are operating this building 24x7 and there is lot of energy consumption, so conserving energy is my biggest challenge, especially controlling the expenses of our District Cooling service during the summer season. This is a supply of cooled water that is delivered through pipes from a

Hygiene & Housekeeping

There are a few things which are not in my control, for example a fire alarm in a guest room due to humidity when the guest keeps the balcony door open, or chilled water for showering during summer where the outside temperature almost 45 degrees.

central cooling plant and we use this to cool the building. Water comes to us at around 3.5 to 4 degrees C, and goes back at around 9 degrees.

I have a very good team of technicians and currently we are closely monitoring the outside temperature, relative humidity, performance of heavy HVAC equipment and our energy bills in order to optimize the performance of the entire network.

How much of your work involves routine, planned maintenance, and how much is responding to unplanned or emergency issues?

To do this job in a large property like ours you need to have a very good team of multi skilled technicians who have vast experience in the hotel industry. Planned preventive maintenance and routine maintenance is part and parcel of our every day job. However you

cannot prevent emergencies when you are operating a hotel with 342 rooms and 7 outlets and public areas. Daily paper work review and approval is very important as part of legal requirements which consumes a significant amount of my time. Most of the time I like to spend with my team at their work areas, conducting 1-2-1s, looking for ideas, understanding their challenges in regards to skills, conducting job related trainings/cross trainings and creating or updating the Standard Operating Procedures.

What is the worst problem you have had to deal with?

When you are operating a hotel you should anticipate and prepare for worst case challenges. I do not think we have encountered any such major problems in last few years since we have very good

maintenance practices in place. However, there are a few things which are not in my control, for example a fire alarm in a guest room due to humidity when the guest keeps the balcony door open, or chilled water for showering during summer where the outside temperature almost 45 degrees.

However, we have taken such issues in a positive way and trained our team and colleagues how to deal with them.

How long have you been with JA Hotels, and how has your role changed over that time?

I have been with JA Resorts and Hotels for the last twenty years and risen though the ranks from the very bottom level.

When I started my career in JA in 1995, I was coordinating maintenance related issues with the contractors and suppliers.

However I got the cross exposure when

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Hygiene & Housekeeping

I am one of the rarest of Chief Engineers, having been responsible for both opening a hotel in 1998, and then closing it after 10 years of operation for re-development.

Naveen Baretto Cluster Chief Engineer at JA Ocean View

we built the Centre of Excellence, golf course, Palm Tree Court and extension of the associate dormitory in JA Jebel Ali Golf Resort between 1996 to 1997. I am one of the rarest of Chief Engineers, having been responsible for both opening a hotel in 1998, and then closing it after 10 years of operation for re-development. Two of the greatest moments of my life are when I opened JA Oasis Beach Tower in 2006, and the JA Ocean View Hotel in late 2012. My role has changed over time and now I am more involved in Facilities Management, cross exposure trainings for my team, and energy management.

To what extent do you get involved in looking at and implementing new technologies and methods?

It is my responsibility to look at and implement new technologies and methods within the hotel. That involves regularly visiting exhibitions and conferences happening within the Emirates and constantly keeping in touch with the suppliers. I present new energy saving programmes, initiatives and new technologies to my management team periodically, and thoroughly analyse and study the ROIs to make a business case.

How much is green environmental responsibility a concern?

JA Ocean View Hotel was recently certified by the Green Globe body, but our mission is never complete. First of all we have to train our entry level associates to understand what is a green environment and what is their responsibility. Without the support of

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staff, management and patrons we cannot achieve our objectives. Carbon offsetting, segregating hazardous engineering waste and garbage without polluting the environment, finding suitable suppliers to collect alkaline batteries, printed circuit boards, china plates and thermo coal is also a concern. In this region there is a scarcity of hybrid vehicles. If your building is old and not adapted to green requirement or standards during the construction, then you have a challenge to arrange the huge funds necessary to comply with regulations. One more concern is the authenticity and origins of products in local market. Nowadays you can find a lot of LED bulbs and components available for cheaper prices, however they are not trustworthy. Some suppliers are only interested in pushing the products.

What is the most unusual situation or guest request you have had to deal with?

It is very difficult to remember those unusual guest requests since it is something we are encountering every single day. But one issue I can tell you about is the challenge of making two people who share a room or office happy, and giving each of them their desired room temperature with only one A/C temperature controller. Yes, I should say this is the most unusual situation.

What aspect of your role gives you the greatest satisfaction?

Forward thinking, involving colleagues in the decision making process, empowering them and creating a happy and motivated team of engineers gives me greatest satisfaction.

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Hygiene & Housekeeping

Cool in the pool

A lot of issues relating to pool safety, either indoor and outdoor, are basically common sense. However, it never hurts to have a checklist that your team can refer to on a regular basis. Here is that list.

F

irst things first: when maintaining your pool, remember to be safe, especially when handling chemicals. That may seem like common sense but common sense above all is the key factor in pool safety.

Next, remember that there should always be someone around when individuals are swimming. Particularly at risk are children who can easily trip and fall in, hence the importance of fencing in outside pools and ensuring that children are never alone near water, even for a few seconds. That’s also why you need to enforce a ‘no running’ rule and ban riding toys like tricycles anywhere near the pool area. Equally, never use extension cords around a pool or spa.

More technically, you need to ensure a regular maintenance schedule of pool pumps, filters and other mechanical parts.

All of these devices are electric and can cause injury or death if not used carefully.

However, a schedule is only effective is it is consistently monitored.

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Critically, pool chemicals and chlorine should be stored in a locked area and kept out of the reach of children and animals. At the same time, non-treated and improperly cared for pools can be the perfect breeding ground for insects that carry diseases. So a regular schedule of pool cleaning and maintenance is essential so that the water does not become a breeding ground for bacteria and algae.

A reasonably common cause of pool tragedies is people being trapped by suction drains, so never use a pool or hot tub with a missing or broken drain cover. You should also install a safety vacuum release system - this will automatically shut off the pump if a drain gets blocked. As a sensible back-up, clearly mark the cut-off switch for the pool pump and ensure everyone knows that the switch needs hitting if anything is trapped.

Because many entrapment incidents involve hair getting trapped in a drain, keep long hair away from the suction fitting drain cover. Pin up long hair or wear a swim cap.

Hygiene & Housekeeping

CHEMICAL SENSE * Keep chemicals out of the reach of children and animals. * Store in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. * Store in original containers and never use the contents of unlabelled containers. * Containers should always be kept closed when not in use. * Ensure the chemical storage area is well ventilated. * Do not store liquids above powders or solids. Do not stack containers. * Do not reuse containers. * Always read and follow the chemical’s instructions to ensure safe use of chemicals. * Wear appropriate protective equipment and clothing. * Do not put spilled chemicals back into their containers. * Do not smoke when handling chemicals.

Immediately clean up any chemical spills according to the manufacturer’s directions. If a violent reaction has occurred, contact the emergency services immediately.

Chemicals are a vitally important area to keep under strict control. Specifically, pool chemicals can cause chemical burns if mishandled, as well as being a potential health hazard if inhaled. So proper safety precautions must be followed at all times. Remember that these chemicals are meant to be dissolved in large quantities of water so, if they are mixed with small amounts or mixed improperly, then the resulting reaction may cause injuries, dangerous vapours or even a fire. In addition, certain chemicals used in pools will break down over time, even if they are kept dry again with bad consequences.

Care must be taken when storing chemicals to avoid spilling on the pool deck or the ground. There are environmental consequences of using these products and you don’t want them contaminating your property. Always read and follow manufacturers’ instructions carefully and be familiar with emergency procedures. That way, in the event of a chemical spill or accident, you can act quickly.

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Hygiene & Housekeeping

Spa trending

In the fiercely competitive world of spas, being able to offer the latest treatment or stylish add-on can make all the difference to your business. Here are the hottest things taking off at present.

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HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

• Offer wellness treatments. With rising medical costs and a general desire to avoid health problems, try offering yoga, naturopathy, massage, acupuncture and Kinesiology to help customers stay fit rather than having to address health issues later.

• Go the speciality route. Don’t try and be everything to everybody instead, why not focus on massage or foot care, for example?

• Get personal. Ditch the one size all fits all business model. Instead customise your own scents and oils, blend your own lipsticks and shadows, etc.

• Man up! Long the domain of women, spas are seeing more and more male customers as men increasingly see the value in taking better care of themselves. Just make the treatments sound a bit more butch - ‘sports massage’, for example - and remember men are primarily looking for stress and pain relief.

• Go faster. Around three quarters of spas in the US now offer treatments that are 30 minutes or less. Everyone has a busy schedule so consider extending opening hours morning and evening, as well as multiple simultaneous therapies to cut down on time. So much for a chilled day at the spa…

• Being social. So called ‘social fitness’ is big right now so target the younger female demographic by offering yoga classes followed by mini-facials and a light group lunch.

• Extend the spa. These days people want more than just treatments, they want to extend health benefits into their everyday lives, so create follow-up, customised programmes for them to follow outside the spa.

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Hygiene & Housekeeping

Trends in

bathroom designs Leading local manufacturer RAK Ceramics has supplied hotels around the world with the products to build beautiful bathrooms. Their new range caters to the latest in colour, texture and technology trends.

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ustomers increasingly desire bathing areas that are relaxing and serene spaces. Nature-inspired designs that use natural stone, marble, or wood are great ways to transform the bathroom space into a lavish and inspiring retreat. Larger tile sizes and glossy finishes increase the feel of space and luxury.

Basic shower and basin faucets are being replaced by smart, user-friendly fixtures that give users more control over the flow, mix and temperature of water. Larger shower sizes with panes of glass are seen as spaces for rejuvenation and wellness, adding to the luxuriousness of the traditional bathroom space.

Some of RAK Ceramics’ major bathware projects include the IBA Hotel, Doha, Qatar; Movenpick Hotel and Resort in Tala Bay, Jordan and Hilton Surfers Paradise Hotel, Gold Coast, Australia.

The new range of RAK Ceramics are bang on trend. In tiles, ranges such as New Onyx, New Diano, and Bianco Vena offer customers a customisable selection of large and glossy marble tiles. Light, white and gray tones, create a sophisticated and simple look.

Harmony bathroom collection offers customers a luxurious, Italian-designed range of sanitaryware, complemented with sleek simplistic furniture. Harmony water closets include full back-to-wall, close coupled and wall hung designs. Matching basins are offered in half moon designs and counter top formats. The collection also features three over-counter washbasins, in oval, rectangle and circular designs, and a new range of Harmony faucets. Reflecting the current trend of nature-inspired designs, the matching white furniture has high gloss painted drawer fronts with wood finish side panels. Built-in ambient strip lighting engages users and creates subtle night-time illumination.

Resort bathroom suite merges aesthetics and practicality in an elegant manner, while its compact form uses space efficiently, making the bathroom area feel luxuriously spacious. Resort water closets are available in close coupled, back to wall, and wall hung formats. Special features contribute to a sustainable space, including a rimless bowl that enables effective cleansing and water saving properties, as well as a strong water flow that provides premium flushing results.

The new products are some of the most stylish on the market. But, much like the fashion industry, new interior design trends are continuously emerging and shifting. RAK Ceramics remain committed to staying ahead of customers’ changing preferences and evolving needs. Natural beauty, however, is quite timeless, as interior designers regularly draw inspiration from nature. Earthy materials such as natural marble or stone and wood-like tiles infuse spaces

Hygiene & Housekeeping

with a calming and spacious vibe.

Technology is finding its place in bathroom design; it is at the heart of everything that RAK Ceramics does. In addition to aesthetics, the manufacturer offers a variety of qualities to the modern bathroom including; skid resistant tiles which offer safer flooring thus preventing injuries; and the antimicrobial range provides easy-to-clean hygienic tiles especially suitable for schools, hotels and healthcare facilities.

RAK Ceramics luminous, a glow in the dark tile series achieved great success and is becoming a key trend in 2015/2016. Luminous is being used as an accent light, a feature light, a sensor light that illuminates the vanity or a shaving cabinet once someone walks into the washroom; lighting has a profound impact on spaces.

Wood Art Collection has become very popular for use in modern bathrooms. This eco-friendly line is reflective of the company’s on-going commitment to the environment.

The tile has low water absorption and is highly stain resistant making it easier to maintain than natural wood. The entire collection meets the requirement of the international quality standards and is resistant to chemicals, frost, fire, moisture, dirt and termites that may badly affect natural woods.

RAK Ceramics has also developed automatic seat covers, concealed cisterns and energyefficient and cost-saving solutions such as low-flow and dual-flow which are currently in high demand. With this technology, water consumption is reduced by 33% using the latest flush systems and with its compact, elegant designs ensure space-saving in bathrooms by 2040% depending on bathware models.

There are developments in material and shape too. RAK Ceramics recently launched Maximus Mega Slab. Produced using SACMI Continua+ technology, it is the largest slab manufactured in the region with dimensions measuring at 135x305cm with thickness’ ranging from 6mm to 14.5mm.

The Mega Slab is considered to be twice as strong as traditional porcelain and is set to replace traditional granite in new product categories such as: wall tiles, façades, bathroom vanity units, and kitchen worktops. Because of its large size, reduced grout lines and ease of installation, the new Maximus range is more aesthetically pleasing and allows for greater design flexibility.

RAK Ceramics works with globally acclaimed design houses from Italy and Spain, giving bathware collections a distinctive European influence which is highly sought after.

The RAK Ceramics brand is synonymous with innovation and hi-tech lifestyle solutions.

Preferences in bathroom design change seasonally, therefore new ranges of products

are launched twice a year based on current international and local trends.

Today’s bath designs are bigger and better than ever, with the word ‘wellness’ now frequently associated with luxury bathroom experiences. Creativity has become a key component to turning bathrooms into luxurious havens of tranquillity.

Themes are usually recommended by in house designers depending on the data they get from Research and Development, in addition to feedback from customers. The team incorporates local art in designs, especially when catering to hotels in the GCC, to improve guest perception and create a more authentic experience.

Changing trends can call for a makeover, but maintance has its part to play too. Typically, the life cycle of tiles and sanitaryware products is 2-4 years. Usually, within this period, customer tastes change or technology brings on new trends, designs or features.

For example, statement tiles in hotel bathrooms have been popular in the past couple of years and it doesn’t look like this trend will be fading anytime soon. As part of RAK Ceramics UK’s ongoing relationship with Radisson Hotels Group, RAK Ceramics manufactured and supplied tiles, slabs, bathroom vanity units and staircases for the luxury four star Mercer Street Hotel refurbishment in London, UK. The contemporary, semi-polished metallic Paradox series was chosen by the designer to enhance the ambience and luxury look of the hotel. Bespoke fabrications of Lounge black polished slabs were used in the bathroom and vanity areas specifically chosen because of their imperviousness to water absorption at less than 0.5%.

RAK Ceramics also supplied tiles to the Movenpick Hotel, Stuttgart, Germany where a grand total of 42,000 square metres of tiles were laid in the guestroom bathrooms and the hotel’s public sanitary facilities.

Hotels need to continuously renovate to continue attracting customers, therefore renovations; maintenance and upgrades are ideally required every 3 years. Guests usually respond positively to bathroom environments that feel fresh and new. Several hotels are now focusing on the technology element in the bathroom, including water saving technologies, green sanitaryware and environmentally friendly tiles.

Hotels which have invested in water saving technologies include The Palace Hotel, Ras Al Khaimah, Rixos Bab Al Bahar, Ras Al Khaimah and the Waldorf Astoria, Ras Al Khaimah; all of which installed water saving faucets from Kludi-RAK. Technological advances and environmental considerations have a big impact on RAK Ceramics’ designs. Technology is at the heart of

everything the company do. Their commitment to environmental protection and sustainability has led them to partner with the most advanced companies in the region to develop environmentally friendly products. RAK Ceramics’ 10 tiles plants and 2 sanitaryware plants in the UAE are equipped with state-ofthe-art technology, making them the 3rd largest in the world.

RAK Ceramics also works closely with the Environment Protection and Development Authority of Ras Al Khaimah (EPDA-RAK) in protecting and preserving the environment, and is involved in joint training programmes on environmental and health and safety issues. In addition, the company is associated with Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), which is devoted to protecting the environment through education, action programmes and community involvement.

Reinforcing a continued commitment to developing eco-friendly sanitaryware products, with a particular focus on water saving, RAK Ceramics launched the first of its kind eco-fresh waterless urinal. An advanced urinal sanitation system, eco-fresh uses unique ‘odour trap’ technology and requires absolutely no water to flush.

Additionally, through its joint venture with Kludi-RAK, RAK Ceramics manufactures eco-friendly faucets and bathroom fittings with water-saving features offering up to 60% saving on water consumption.

Each of RAK Ceramics’ bathware collection is designed to save water in accordance with the norms of importing countries. Bathware products have features like dual flush, rimless flush, symphonic flush etc.

Bathroom use is changing. In the battle between showers and baths, the latter is losing. With so much choice available now for bathrooms, customers can choose from amazing walk in showers, wet rooms or rain showers and with the advanced water saving technology available, swapping to a shower can help to save water which in turn helps to protect the environment. However there is still a trend which sees both baths and showers being fitted in most hotels. It is important for hotels to cater to all of their guests needs, and whether or not guests will use a shower or a bath is all down to personal preference.

What is clear, across all hotel markets, is that bathroom makeovers are, in part, fuelled by guests now expecting and wanting bathrooms to be comfortable, peaceful sanctuaries, whether they are at home or at a hotel. Guests want to have a personalised experience, they’re looking for something different and beautiful, and they want a Zen, spa-like, relaxing space in which to retreat from the world.

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K.A.C. Prasad Director of Culinary VP Emirates Culinary Guild for East Coast Miramar Al Aqah Beach Resort - Fujairah

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Tomorrow’s menu Hospitality Business ME gathered some of the most influential and innovative chefs, proprietors and food strategists to the H Hotel to mull over the weighty matter of food trends. What is the next hot cuisine, where will we eat it, how far is demand for organic foods spreading, where do you source exotic ingredients? The panel had much to chew on and ponder.

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trends coming from? Where do they begin, are they driven by brands, is it about chefs developing their own concepts. What’s happening in the world?

Daniel Morgan: Thank you! What we want to discuss today is food trends – what’s happening today, what’s happening tomorrow, where these trends are taking us into the future, and also where are these

Sacha Triemer, Atlantis: Personally I think that the food trends in Dubai are a little bit different to food trends that you find in other parts of the world, but there are some trends that are universal. Organic food was on the rise last year, and it is growing in importance again this year and there is obviously tremendous support there from the community in Dubai, supporting the markets and the farmers. Another trend is the rise in names and celebrity chefs. Like Colin Clague here with Jean Georges, Gordon Ramsay is opening a new place with us and Jason Atherton is also coming. That is a trend with hotels, to bring names from outside into Dubai. Also casual food is another

he ability to identify, evaluate and respond to emerging food and dining trends is crucial in any hospitality business, be that a simple entrepreneurled operation or the latest expression of a global empire. Identifying what consumers want, and then meeting or exceeding their expectations is the foundation of any successful catering operation and the cornerstone of a successful business.

Hospitality Business ME magazine invited Daniel Morgan, F&B Development & Operations – General Manager of hospitality solutions creators Roya International to start the proceedings.

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Rosalind Parske, Bobby Griffing and Claudio Marras

Daniel Morgan

big trend, Mexican, South American food, down on the beach and lots of box parks and outdoor food. It’s a different dining concept, not hotel-like, and I think even hotels are working to get away from hotel-type restaurants, to create something different.

Diyan De Silva, Radisson Blu Deira Creek: I think people are looking to more healthy food now, the trend is they are looking for organic food, the freshness of ingredients, and the trend for names is very important for restaurant chefs.

Organic food. Is there enough available, the quantity and reliability of supply sufficient for a large hotel?

Triemer: Well for us it is a problem getting the quantities that we need, but we are keen to integrate organic produce into our menus

Particpants • Sacha Triemer, Vice President, Culinary, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai • Diyan De Silva, Executive Sous-Chef, Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek • Pieter Liebenberg, Food & Drinks Manager, Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek • Girish Babu, Executive Chef, Media One Hotel, Dubai Media City • Hayley Mac, Founding Partner, Be Supernatural, Dubai • Rosalind Parske, Executive Chef, Pierchic, Jumeriah Restaurants Group • Bobby Griffing, Head Chef, Catch, Fairmont Hotel, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai • Claudio Marras, Executive Chef, The H Hotel, One Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai • Colin Clague, Executive Chef, Jean-Georges Dubai, Four Seasons Resort, Dubai • Daniel Morgan, F&B Development & Operations – General Manager, Roya International, Dubai

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Sacha Triemer, Diyan De Silva and Pieter Liebenberg

“Organic food was on the rise last year, and it is growing in importance again this year and there is obviously tremendous support there from the community in Dubai, supporting the markets and the farmers.”

Sacha Triemer

and our smaller outlets where we can be more flexible. I’m also not really sure organic means the same thing to all suppliers, but definitely local is nice to get. It is the same with fish now we are going into the season again. In November we can really start to get local fish and our guests like to try things which are really part of the region, local food, local produce.

We do get lots of samples, which are really good, but the problem for suppliers is being able to meet the sorts of quantities that we require, so we can incorporate new ingredients into one or two of our restaurants. Locatelli has a seasonal menu, and maybe we can do something with our Lebanese restaurant – there is some very nice produce out there, and it is good to be able to use it in some way.

Claudio Marras, H Hotel: I think the demand and expectation for organic is strong, there are a lot of people out there waiting for it. But still there is not the availability or the volume that we need.

Sometimes the supplier can provide

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something and sometimes they cannot, so we cannot count on that when we are planning.

You have to do it in small amounts, or one specific dish or something like that.

Bobby Griffing, Catch, Fairmont Hotel: I’m fairly new here, but I’m finding organic is a bit difficult to find here. I moved here from New York, and the biggest trend there is ‘farm to fork’ and it’s everywhere. I worked at French Laundry in Napa Valley and Thomas Keller has his own farm and thirty guys who work there, the quality is spectacular. Here in New York I was corporate chef for one of the celebrity restaurants that we ran, and we made honey on the roof, but we had to feed the bees. I taught my guys to make pollen which was kinda cool, but I find it very difficult here to get that level of quality of ingredients.

Colin Clague, Jean-Georges Dubai: Yes, it is difficult, but I think it is changing. There are a few farms in Abu Dhabi growing organically, and you know Jean-Georges is really into organic food. But if you’re

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flying organic food 5,000 miles that does tend to dent things a bit. But we’re talking to organic farmers, local farmers and establishing where we want to be. That’s the way forward.

So what are the trends at the moment, who’s driving things?

Claudio Marras: I think actually we’re driving things more than the customers, really challenging suppliers to get the volumes and consistency we need to deliver a reliable product to our customers.

Hayley Mac, BeSupernatural: At our BeStro in Dubai Mall we are already fully organic, and my juice prices are the same as the prices in other juice bars in Dubai Mall, my rent is probably more crippling and the costs of my produce are also above average. We work closely with Greenheart Organic Farms which is owned by a lady called Eleanor who’s a real character. She manages that farm herself with two children at her feet, and I trust her completely. We’re actually working

on setting aside my own area of that farm to ensure that I don’t have any problems with consistency of my produce. The only problem that I really have is with fruit – we have a lot of fruit on my menu. Things like lemons and mangoes that we can get here that are locally grown are really not good enough, so we have to bring them in from further afield. We actually work closely with Lootah and have been for about a year and a half now. When I started people told me I was crazy to go all-organic because that was unachievable and people just didn’t care about it. But I have a successful restaurant that is fully organic, raw, vegan, and I am pretty sure that this is a trend that’s here to stay!

We actually pushed Lootah to go all around Europe and find organic farms, and they found places in France, in Holland that they didn’t have before. We insist that everything that we use is properly certified, and I think that is important to keep that standard for our customers.

The other thing that we do in our restaurant is bring superfoods from Peru,

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“At our BeStro in Dubai Mall we are already fully organic, and my juice prices are the same as the prices in other juice bars”

Claudio Marras: A couple of months before summer there was this pop-up on Jumeirah Beach, where they put these containers and just made instant restaurants. I think people are craving for this. People are going there and feeling more comfortable with that kind of relaxed open air experience with this pop-up place. Casual is important there, but they can sit, they can walk around, they can relax. Food trucks are another thing, where you can just go and sit and eat good food wherever they are.

Chef Hayley Mac

Bobby Griffing: Food trucks are huge in the States, and you’ll find them in all sorts of places - Vegas, Boston, Texas, Nevada... Food trucks are not so big in New York, but what you will find is really good street food, street vendors, ethnic is also big.

Hayley Mac

and I actually supply a number of other restaurants around Dubai with ingredients that I bring in by boat.

Rosalind, what changes are you seeing?

Rosalind Parske, Pierchic, Al Qasr Hotel: Within Jumeriah, we have obviously moved into JRG which for us chefs I think is a great idea. It give us as chefs great power to do things as we want without having to go through loads of channels. As a restaurant within a hotel this actually enables us to outsource the ingredients we want, to really challenge suppliers to bring in the best stuff and find the ingredients we’re looking to put on our menu.

As for trends the big thing I see is the move into casual. I’ve been in Dubai eight years, and now there are so many places you can go and just have a bite, with a drink, without a drink, and now you can get some really great food in the malls, in JBR, loads of variety and different ideas.

How prevalent now is ‘casual high end’?

Thanks must go to The H Hotel, One Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai for the use of their Excelsior 2 meeting room, and to Daniel Morgan, F&B Development & Operations – General Manager, Roya International, Dubai, for their sponsorship and making this event possible.

If you would like to join a future round table, please get in touch: hospitality@ cpimediagroup.com

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Bobby Griffing: That’s what Catch is. In New York we actually call it ‘fast casual’, and it’s a huge trend. I was in New York for five years, and now there’s actual markets that cater for this whole trend, where you just walk around and buy stuff. I lived in Union Square and now in Union Square Market there’s a section that’s just vegan. I think the other trend in New York, in the States, is taking classic dishes from the ‘70s and ‘80s and making them a little bit more modern.

I love doing that, plays on older dishes that were really popular.

Claudio Marras: What you see in the States is food trucks being run by really big chefs, name chefs, producing some awesome food.

You see real innovation and fusion, trucks serving things like Asian hotdogs, and they’re creating a real following, so much so they’re taking business away from some established restaurants. So I see that people are waiting for this, if you put more, more people will follow.

Is Dubai big enough for this? Will food trucks take business away from established outlets, or will they grow the whole sector?

Colin Clague: When I was out in Singapore with Jason Atherton, you would really think twice, the food was so good, you didn’t need to go to a restaurant to eat really well. People still do, of course, but I think this grows the market. When you think of a really high end that’s maybe only 30 covers, but with a truck you can reach hundreds. That’s sort of what we are doing with Jean-Georges, there’s the fine dining restaurant, and when we get the Garden open, that’s going to be 200 covers. It’s the same ingredients, not lower quality, just what we are doing is simpler presentation.

Bobby Griffing: That’s the thing about trucks, you can keep it simpler, just do five things really well and that’s it.

Rosalind Parske: Yes, Dubai is moving outside, and especially as summer comes to an end, there’s much more opportunity for getting out and walking around. Places like JBR, there’s lots of places where you can stop and get something to eat, let the kids run around and just enjoy the fresh air, not like being in a mall or hotel.

R O F Y ONL S L A N O I S S E F PRO K.A.C. Prasad Director of Culinary VP Emirates Culinary Guild for East Coast Miramar Al Aqah Beach Resort - Fujairah Izu Ani Head Chef La Serre - Dubai Stephane Buchholzer Culinary Director - Complex The St.Regis - Dubai W Dubai, Al Habtoor City - Dubai The Westin Dubai, Al Habtoor City - Dubai Danny Kattar Executive Chef Intercontinental - Abu Dhabi Atim Suyatim Executive Chef AFHM Hospitality - Dubai

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PRO CHEF

Designing for food What are the issues that you need to consider when designing a restaurant kitchen? Mistakes made in the design of a restaurant can be repaired or redesigned fairly easily. But when a change of design to the kitchen requires changes to kitchen installations, such as water supply and drainage, electrical wiring, gas supply and more, then you have a big problem and a more expensive task.

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plumber knows better than you where it would be convenient to install a dishwasher. Are you sure? Not really.

Of course, in your team for kitchen design you will include plumbers, electricians and builders but only involve them after you have consulted with your chef and experienced designer. Nothing is as useful as tips resulting from the working experience acquired in the kitchen as well as designing.

What you need to know before you go into the planning of a commercial restaurant kitchen is what your restaurant offers on its menu. Accordingly, your chef will know everything about the process of preparation and what kind of restaurant equipment is necessary. He or she will also best know where and how to deploy people from his or her team for maximum efficiency and the designer will take advantage to design the kitchen to be the most functional.

Only after seeking their suggestions should you involve people in charge for building and installation. It happens very often that these people can’t see your vision

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with your eyes and deny the possibility of implementing the ideas. Do not give up! Seek a second opinion from another company and a third one if necessary.

Your restaurant kitchen is well designed if it has following characteristics: • Ergonomic design, which minimises the movement of kitchen staff whilst working.

This is one of the most important factors that influence time savings for cooking and reduces accidents.

• Energy efficiency, such as placing the cookers in one location so reducing energy costs for range hoods.

• The size of the kitchen should be proportional to the number of seats in the restaurant. The general rule is that for every seat in the restaurant it is necessary to provide at least five square feet of kitchen space.

• Equipment should meet all standards of health and safety.

• Working in a kitchen is not possible without very good ventilation.

• Ease of maintenance depends on the

material that kitchen is made of, the arrangement of elements and the way cookware is stored. For example, shelves are a very good choice because of the availability of dishes during food prep and service, but a cabinet with doors is much easier for maintenance.

Of course, each individual restaurant kitchen will need equipment that meets some specific requirements. However, always choose equipment made for the professional kitchen. There are four basic types of restaurant kitchen configuration.

• Assembly line configuration is ideal for restaurants that do not have a large number of dishes on the menu and preparing meals flows in line. So this is especially good choice for fast-food restaurants, sandwich restaurants or pizzerias.

• Ergonomic kitchen configuration has been customised to actions that take place in the restaurant for the fastest cooking.

So, for example, regardless of the poor

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Top design mistakes Common kitchen design blunders usually seem like they will work but, over time, end up costing you a lot of money and can also mean the difference between success and failure.

To avoid them, adopt these strategies: • Add 7% to your budget to cover hidden costs.

• Add some spare time to the construction schedule.

• The bigger the restaurant, the more expensive it will be and not just during construction.

• Match design to the type of operation you’re running.

• Ensure kitchen staff have enough room to move about so they can do their jobs properly. Arrange enough space for equipment.

• When planning your kitchen, never underestimate the need for storage.

Even if you don’t think you’ll need extra storage space, add it in where there’s room.

energy efficiency the refrigerator stands next to the fryer for the fastest possible preparation of fries.

• Zone style configuration is where work tables are located in zones with respect to the operations performed in the kitchen (cleaning, cutting, mixing, etc). Tables in these zones are equipped with appliances and equipment that is necessary for the most effective performance of operations (garbage bins, mixers, knives, etc) • Island style configuration is where tables are arranged similarly to the zone style configuration with the difference that in the middle of the kitchen is one main block. The central section is usually used for cooking while the cleaning and cutting of the food is done on tables along the walls of the kitchen. The reverse arrangement is also possible.

Remember that trends in cooking are changing and the need for menu changes in the future is something that can be realistically expected. But the inclusion

of cooked dishes like soups and stews will require different equipment. Therefore, ensure that your kitchen is flexible and can respond to market demands in future.

Define the actions that will take place in the kitchen and create working zones for food cleaning, cutting, baking, frying, cooking and others. Each employee works in his zone so unnecessary collision, tension and chaos in the kitchen is avoided.

Store kitchen tools and appliances with similar functions together. Dishes and other equipment must have defined homes and they need to be always return to the same predefined place.

Keep tables with a cooling system for the preparation of meat and other foods that require low temperatures during the preparation away from electric cookers and ovens. Also, all refrigerators and ice makers should be as far as possible from equipment for cooking and baking. This provides minimal energy consumption and safety for processed foods.

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PRO CHEF

On the D vine Launched in Dubai in 2014, Dubai Wine Week also known as Dubai Vine Week was created with the intention of focusing on wine and wine related products. For both hotels and consumers, the idea was to allow opportunities for people to educate themselves on the many styles of wine available and to have the chance to taste a wide selection across the week. This year the event runs from 6-12th September across Dubai and, for the first time, also in Abu Dhabi.

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espite many lovers of good food enjoying wine to accompany their meals, most will gladly admit that they know less about wines than they would like.

That is hardly surprising given the enormous global variety and the changing nature of many estates from vintage to vintage.

And, given the relatively high cost of drinking wine with meals here in the UAE, many feel less than confident in straying from known favourites, especially if they’re not sure that the new wine will complement their meal.

Equally, unless a restaurant has a dedicated sommelier, waiting staff are unlikely to be able to offer a reassuring level of informed advice.

This dual confusion led to the creation of Dubai Wine Week by African + Eastern, which this year runs from the 6th to 12th September inclusive. It consists of three main areas of activity: Invitee only tastings for members of the ontrade, which will be held in the A+E Dubai training facilities. A large selection of wines are made available to taste throughout the day, with several knowledgeable staff on hand to guide people through the selection and provide additional information about the producer, country of origin and price points. Happening before the peak season kicks in, this allows F&B personnel to taste a large selection of wines in a single venue and make decisions as regards new listings for their outlet or property. These trade tastings will run every day, with a representative of a different winery present to talk about their range and host a masterclass. These include: Marcelo Marasco from Bodega Catena Zapata is on Sunday 6th September, arguably one of the most highly regarded wineries in Argentina. Jancis Robinson says: “What sets Nicolás Catena Zapata apart from other top producers in the world is his unflagging dedication to researching, studying and learning

every aspect of viticulture and winemaking that could potentially improve his wines.”

Olivier Watrin from The Rolland Collection is on Monday 7th September. Michel Rolland is widely regarded as one of the most influential oenologists in the world today, consulting myriad producers around the world. “Michel is an amazing blender,” says Leonardo Raspini, manager of Tuscany’s Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, where Rolland has worked since the early 1990s.

Anna Tcheliakova from Domaine Clarence Dillon is on Tuesday 8th September. Clarence Dillon Wines is one of the most important Fine Wine merchants in Bordeaux. This domain also owns one of the most prestigious Bordeaux châteaux, the first growth Château Haut-Brion, which was the only property outside of the Médoc to be included in the 1855 classification.

In addition to these tastings, Dubai Wine Week will help in bringing business into the hotels and outlets, during a traditionally quiet part of the year. Each outlet selects a special offer for the week and this participation is communicated through a wide variety of media to get the message out to end consumers. Outlets can select offers which are appropriate for their own food style or venue design and so have more relevance than a mass market promotion.

Finally, Dubai Wine Week will give the consumer a chance to improve their knowledge of wine, through guided tastings in outlets, menus with food and wine matched together or the chance to try something new which they wouldn’t normally be able to taste. The emphasis is on variety and accessible pricing to maximise the number of people participating in the different events across town.

In 2015, over 100 outlets will host wine related activations for consumers, building on demand created during the inaugural Dubai Wine Week in 2014. Plus in 2015 this is being extended to Abu Dhabi, with more than 30 outlets taking part.

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La dolce vita

On a recent four-cities-in-one-week tour with three vans full of Dubai-based Italian chefs and food writers, Dave Reeder rediscovered authenticity and flavour, as well as Michelin greatness. Here is part one: Milan to Florence.

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t first it seemed like an ambitious but achievable idea. Executive Chef of BiCE Mare Dubai, Francesco Guarracino, decided to take the opportunity of the restaurant’s summer refurb to take his brigade on an Italian road trip, meeting local producers by day and eating in Michelin starred restaurants by night. I was on board with the idea as soon as he invited me, but sadly had to sign up only for week one (Milan to Naples) and miss week two (Naples to Sicily).

And then the idea grew. The plan to visit chefs who would be here later in the year for the Italian Cuisine World Summit brought with it the involvement of Summit organiser Rosario Scarpato and a link up with the 5th Italian Cuisine in the World Forum. Suddenly a simple road trip had taken on a global perspective!

“Chefs distributed real Italian snacks and demonstrated authentic ingredients to slightly bemused customers and friendly counter staff under the glare of McDonald’s management, before unveiled a banner that riffed on the company’s advertising slogan: ‘I’m lovin’ Italian food.’”

Day one Flying into Milan from Dubai via Emirates, we were driven to Lallio, about 45 kilometres northeast of Milan, installed in our first hotel and then immediately swept off to the nearby Pentole Agnelli cookware factory. Whilst our chefs visited the factory and learned about the quality of the products, we installed ourselves in the firm’s Cooking Lab ready for a chefs’ jam session, involving Chefs Chicco and Bobo Cerea (3-star Da Vittorio, Brusaporto), Chef Caludio Sadler (2-star Ristorante Sadler, Milan), Chef Matteo Scibilla (Osteria della buona condotta, Omago) and Chef Gaetano Simonato (1-star Tano passami l’olio, Milan).

Photo credit: Dave Reeder

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Day two An early start as we headed to Expo 2015 Milan, meeting at the Slow Food Pavilion for a general introduction by Rosario Scarpato, before 100+ chefs flashmobbed McDonald’s outlet, in a ‘spontaneous’ event co-ordinated by the network itchefs-GVCI. According to senior associate Chef Aira Piva, “We are outraged. Expo 2015 could have been a unique opportunity for a clear, universal message about healthy, good and sustainable nutrition, which are the same values that the authentic Italian cuisine has spread all around the world. Instead the management decided that the easy money of the junk food multinational was a good reason to betray not only the values for which Milan was granted its Expo but also those of all the cuisines of Italy, the country hosting the event.”

Chefs distributed real Italian snacks and demonstrated authentic ingredients to slightly bemused customers and friendly counter staff under the glare of McDonald’s management, before unveiling a banner that riffed on the company’s advertising slogan: ‘I’m lovin’ Italian food.’”

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We moved on to a reception held by Ferrari Spumante in a wine bar typical of the outlets that the company has opened in Italian airports - snacks at the one in Rome looked fresh and delicious on my return journey - and there is talk of an outlet opening in Dubai International Airport. A quick chefs’ lunch at Eataly and then we left to our moment of destiny.

It was time to meet the camper vans!

A selection of three would convey the party down through Italy - distances being so great that a lot of the trip was planned with overnight drives in mind. I wouldn’t say sleep is impossible rolling around in the back of a camper van on an autostrada, but I’ve had easier beds to deal with.

Anway, the first experience was quite easy - just 40km to Cavenago di Brianza and Chef Enrico Bartolini’s Ristorante Devero. Bartolini has been hosted a couple of times in Dubai - BiCE Mare and Roberto’s - and his belief that “the secret of cooking to perfection is attention to detail” showed in the series of exquisite courses he delivered, each one simple but surprisingly complex. It was traditional Italian fare brought stunningly up to date and demonstrated why the chef was the youngest ever to be awarded 2-stars for his restaurant.

After the meal, it was back in the vans for the overnight 370km drive to Florence.

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Day three With non-chefs installed in a simple hotel in the heart of the city, we visited the Mercato Centrale, long a daily stop for Florentines wanting fresh, local ingredients but expanded and revitalised by its President, local restauranteur Umberto Montano. Now it pulls off a great double act: a truly local market for the neighbourhood with great produce and a magnet for tourists and locals alike to eat at a wide variety of artisan food outlets. In the market’s first year of opening, close to two million people visited - more than the Uffizi.

What inspired him? “The idea itself is to give ever more identity to the extraordinary patrimony of Italian food culture - a task that allows one to understand that it’s not just a turn of phrase to say that Italian food is the best in the world - it is a reality,” he explains. “It’s done something obvious: giving a space to the artisan, the star of Italian food at its very best.”

The group ate its way around the upstairs floor, all under the brand of Eataly before the chefs attended the Lorenzo De’ Medici Cooking School located above the market. Here, Chefs Igor Macchia from the 1-star La Credenza and Chef Daniel Repetti from the 1-star Nido del Picchio conducted a three hour masterclass.

Non-chefs were free to explore more of the Mercato Centrale or the city and our choices ranged from cocktails overlooking the Ponte Vecchio and the River Arno to seeking out a local fish restaurant - Ristorante Pescheria San Pietro near the Stazione di Santa Maria Novella. For me, at least, an early night in a simple but comfortable hotel - the next day would mark the start of some major mileage for us all…

Next issue, we head south to Rome, Naples and beyond, meeting producers and eating great meals at Michelin star restaurant’s including Chef Heinz Beck’s 3-star La Pergola.

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Face to Face With

Darren Velvick

Another fruit of Marriott International’s Project Canvas intitative, Darren Velvick’s new venture The Croft opened softly in mid August and is set to make waves in Dubai Marina. Hospitality Business spoke to Chef Velvick about the journey and his arrival at The Harbour.

When did you first get interested in food, and what was your journey to here.

Let’s start with here first. You’re sitting in The Croft, and we’re soft opening here on the 16th. Where’s here? We’re in the Marriott Dubai Harbour Resort & Spa, on the 5th floor in a space that used to be called Azur putting the finishing touches in place to launch it as my own restaurant The Croft. We’ll have an official launch in the early part of September, but right now my job is to be here and drive things forward. If I relax and let things slip it will be another week and then another week, so I’m not going to let that happen. It’s mainly now accessories going in, the construction side is mostly done and it’s just the finishing touches we need to get right and make sure everything runs smoothly. We’ve actually got bookings already for the 16th, so that’s it!

So where did you first become aware of food and cooking, and when did you realise that this was something you really wanted to do?

Well actually this is where I got the name, where The Croft comes from. If I go back to my childhood, my passion for food really started when I was growing up in little village called Hampsted Norris, near Newbury in Berkshire. My mum used to take us up to the woodlands not far from our house, and we’d walk up there to pick blackberries, wild strawberries and mushrooms. That woodland also fed us with firewood, and we’d come back with branches and logs that I’d saw up for firewood. That bit of land really made us self sufficient, but it wasn’t until I arrived in London that I later realized how significant that was, because then in London, everything was delivered, it came to you. You never saw where things came from, saw vegetables growing in the ground, ingredients all came to you.

So when I started, as a 14 year old, I had a little paper round, and then one day a friend of mine started working at a local pub/ restaurant, and he said to me “why don’t you come up and have a look too?” So I cycled up there, spoke the chef, a big guy who looked a lot like Basil Fawlty and his name was Richard Smith, and he said to me “boy, can you stand?” and when I said yes, he said “right, you’re in!” So that was it, I got paid one pound fifty an hour, and I started washing up after school. At weekends I did much longer days, and as things went on I got more and more involved with the food.

Some of the cooks came up from London, a few came from Langans Brasserie, that’s where Richard Smith was, and some others were from The Greenhouse from when he’d been the head chef there. Basically Richard Smith and his wife Kate had a really good reputation in London. But they moved out of London to have a child, and so took on this little pub, but started doing really good quality, high end food long before ‘gastropubs’ were even around, proper food, all natural ingredients, the best chickens, and the place was really doing well – the car park was heaving.

What happened was, I was still 14 or 15, working at the Royal Oak in Yattenden, and the owners and their business really outgrew their little pub. So they took on a much bigger place when the opportunity came up to buy the Beetle and Wedge on the Thames in Oxfordshire. So they purchased that, and were running both places at the time but found it too much stress, too much hassle, so they gave the lease back to the owners of the Royal Oak and focused on the Beetle and Wedge. By then I was sixteen, and Richard Smith said “Look, what are you going to do with your life, your career?”

I had two options, I was looking at rugby which I played really well but it wasn’t really a paid

sport then, and then Richard said “well, why don’t you do a YTS scheme with me?”

Well, I loved the food, though all the chefs were saying to me “the hours are long” but I was saying “no, I love it, I love it!”. I tasted incredible food there. Even though my mum was a really good cook we had ingredients in the pub that she couldn’t dream of, fois gras and smoked salmon, sweetbreads and scallops. We didn’t have a wealthy background so all these new flavours – I’d never even seen a scallop! – they were amazing to me, I was really intrigued and interested. So he put me through YTS training, a 706-1, 706-2, then I felt I was weak in pastry so did 706-3 all at Thames Valley University in Slough and I learned about all that side of things. I actually stayed a really long time at the Beetle and Wedge with Richard, seven years, and in that time I learned the whole operation, so even though I was still young, I was at the level of a 28 year old. I learned purchasing, stocktaking, I was given a lot of responsibility so when the head chef left, I was running the place for about four months at a very high standard, and that was a lot of pressure for me. But after a while I reckoned I hadn’t seen enough new ideas, and Richard understood that and so he sent me to France.

I went to a Michelin-starred place in Normandy. It was very seasonal and I stayed there for just under a year. At the end the chef there was supposed to send me out to Pierre Gagnaire but that fell through due to the introduction of a new law in France setting a 35 hour week and they wanted to wait and see how that affected their business. So out of chance I went back to the UK for a day on the ferry, and while I was there I picked up a bunch of catering magazines to read. I also picked up a motorbike magazine, because I was a bit of a fanatic, and when I got back

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to France I was reading it and came across a photo of Gordon Ramsay with a CBR900. I didn’t know anything about Gordon Ramsay, but because he had a motorbike I thought “I’ll write to him!” and so I did saying “look, I’m in France, I’d love to come and work with you” but didn’t really expect a reply because in those days, getting into a Michelin-starred kitchen was really hard. So I was amazed when I went back to the UK and my mum said “you’ve got a letter here from London” and it was Gordon. He said “get in touch when you’re back, come down to London and we’ll have a chat.”

So off I went to London. I met Gordon, and he was opening a new place called Teatro, and so I went there to work, on Shaftesbury Avenue.

Gordon was consulting it, and I found myself working with a chef called Stuart Gillies. He’s still with Gordon in fact, now his director of operations. At that time I was very much still chasing stars because that is what I thought you had to do. I stayed there for six months but the more I did the more I realized this wasn’t what I wanted to do, all shepherd’s pie and stuff, and so the time came to move on. For my career I really wanted to do the finer end.

A friend of mine there was actually leaving, going to Marcus Wareing, and so I said to him “ask him if he has any other places”. He came back and said “Marcus says give him a call.” And I thought “wow, OK,” and gave him a call. And so before you know it, I’m working for Marcus, at L’Oranger. Marcus had L’Oranger, Gordon had Aubergine and they were all part of the same group. Then no sooner had I started with him, two months later, the whole thing exploded! The whole team walked out, Gordon left, Marcus was sacked. We all went with them because we worked for chefs, not for the organization A-Z. Gordon then launched Royal Hospital Road so I went there for the opening and the first six months, and by then Marcus had got Petrus and because I had always been with him that’s where I went. So that’s my CV in a way, as a young lad I went from dishwasher in my local pub to working with Gordon and Marcus.

But in fact it really led to what I’m doing today. Here at The Croft I have actually got a couple of things on the menu that I developed at the Beetle and Wedge that taste great. From London, what I learned was the refinement and techniques so what I have here is a bit of a mix, but I believe it is a mix of the best bits of both and I have blended them together, so not too rustic but finding the right balance.

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Working in London, that was tough. You don’t just learn to cook, you learn about your own character because you’re pushed to the absolute ultimate. People would never understand you today when I say that I used to get up at five in the morning, and I’d get home at two o’clock or three o’clock in the morning. On a Friday you’re coming home in daylight after you’ve blitzed the kitchen and then you get back up and do it all over again.

People would say your insane but at the end of the day, no-one forces you to go and work

“No-one forces you to go and work with these guys, you could walk out at any time and easily get a job anywhere else, but in that era it was something really special, I needed that push to stretch and become the sort of chef that I am.”

with these guys, you could walk out at any time and easily get a job anywhere else, but in that era it was something really special, I needed that push to stretch and become the sort of chef that I am. I needed that sort of motivation – not only did it teach me how to cook, it taught me how to manage my own inner self. If you want to go a bit deeper into it, it challenges your personality.

In many ways coming to Dubai I have to keep pinching myself, because we’re only open for dinners and in some ways that is a great opportunity as well. But I’m not the sort of person who will sit back and switch off, so I keep busy researching things and finding new ingredients, even when I’m at home.

I was back with Marcus and working in London again when the table 9 opportunity came up. I’m actually quite a shy person and was quite happy working behind the scenes, so the chance to step forward and be the face

of the restaurant was something I needed to do. It was actually my first place with my name over the door, but there were fairly strict limits on what I could and could not change, and it was my first place properly in charge with full P&L responsibility, not just the cooking, so I was accountable, but that was what I needed to learn.

Our customers there were great, really keen to get to know you, ready to have a conversation, invite you round to their events, completely unlike London, but I think it’s an expat thing, we are all in the same situation here so there is less resistance and formality. A lot of those customers came from around here, and they went to table 9 for special occasions.

While I originally wanted to create a more casual dining, that wasn’t what table 9 was all about so we had to refocus and really stick to the high end offering.

That’s what I want to do with The Croft, make it really friendly and casual and relaxing, somewhere people can drop in as often as they want, meet friends and have a good chat with the team. I’ve been here a while now and am really clued in on pricepoints, so we’ll make the menu really accessible and flexible so people can eat and have a good time without breaking the bank.

The Croft is about being self-sufficient and sustainable, being true to the origins of the word which was a piece of land from which you could sustain yourself and your family. We’re going to keep that kind of thinking, in the winter months we’ll buy as much as we can from The Farmers Market, use as much local produce as we can, though we will also be bringing in seasonal fruits and foraged foods and local stuff from England too. Lootah my supplier really links in with local suppliers and people like Greenheart Farms to get the vegetables and produce that we really want. I appreciate that.

I’m already getting organic chickens from the guys in Al Ain, and organic eggs as well, but things like my Tamworth cheese we had a real headache getting that imported, though it has now finally arrived! And that’s what I want to do, rather than pile up an ordinary cheese platter, I would rather showcase one stunning example of the best that there is and do it properly.

I want The Croft to be fun, the sort of place where people can pop in and have coffee and a dessert, share a picnic brunch, enjoy a romantic meal for two or an evening on the terrace with friends. It’s about good times, great company, fantastic food and unbeatable value. Come and see for yourself!

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I’m just a

restaurant boy!

After almost a quarter century working extensively in many of London’s top restaurants, Chris Lester moved to Dubai to oversee the entry of Caprice Holdings’ restaurants into the UAE. Almost at once the economy took a nose dive and the projected 30 outlets were rationalised to less than half a dozen, so he returned to the UK. Three years ago, when Jumeirah Restaurants took over the UAE Caprice outlets he returned as Executive Chef and then, with the creation of the Jumeirah Restaurant Group, he became Group Executive Chef. Despite having over 60 outlets to revamp or reinvent, he still insists on spending time in service on a regular basis.

P

roudly a Londoner - he was born in University College Hospital in the centre of the city - Chris Lester grew up in Gloucestershire in a small town hating school as a dyslexic sickened by the bullying he saw around him in the rural community. Practical, he learned butchery from his father, baking from his grandfather and a three week holiday at age 11 with his godparents at their hotel in Inverness fixed his future as a chef.

Moving to London as soon as he could as an apprentice, within two and a half years he was a Chef Tournant at a 1-star Michelin restaurant and has never looked back. Notoriously hardworking and energetic, we managed to sit him down to talk about the route to his current role.

I’m trying to place your accent, Chris.

It’s West Country but not deep West Country…

I’m a true Londoner, born just south of Euston. In fact, I’m lucky to be here - my mother suffered from Crohn’s disease and actually spent six months before my birth and six months afterwards in hospital.

Three days old, I contracted pneumonia!

As a small child, the family moved to Gloucestershire for my father’s work - he ran a hardware store franchise inside Debenhams - and my mother worked as

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his accountant, after an earlier career as a ballet dancer.

How did your dyslexia affect your schooling?

It was dreadful. Anything practical like metalwork or woodworking I was great at, maths I could do but words… I was great at sport, playing at the county level in squash and tennis - in fact, I qualified for Junior Wimbledon one year but was injured and so couldn’t play. I lost count of how often my mother went to school to argue with the teachers that I was intelligent. Luckily I found my niche in food. My father taught me butchery and my gradfather liked to bake but it was a three week holiday in Inverness that I spent in a hotel kitchen that convinced me this was what I should do.

What appealed especially to you about cooking?

I just loved being in control and having a real purpose. After everything else, here was something I could do. I left school unable to read or write but my parents got me a private tutor and I learned in six months! Cooking was all about feel and my dyslexia didn’t stop me from doing what I now wanted. Best of all, in a kitchen I wasn’t being told I was stupid.

How did you start your proper training?

At the Debenhams in Gloucester there was an old style butchery and I worked there for free and I also worked for free in two of the best restaurants in the city. Then I started at catering college in Cheltenham on day release. However, I soon realised that I needed to go to London so I wrote 56 letters to the top places in London - a list I got from the Egon Ronay guide. Really, at that time in the mid-1980s, there weren’t that many great places in the capital - the Dorcester, the Savoy, the Connaught, Grosvenor House and Browns Hotel, which is where I got an apprenticeship. I studied at Ealing College and, after two years, had worked my way up to Chef de Partie.

After that, my career really kicked in!

Where did you go after Browns?

I did almost three years at The Hyatt Carlton Tower, one of only four places in London at the time with a Michelin star. Then after a short time at No. 10, I moved to Souffle at the InterContinental, again a 1-star restaurant. The Executive Chef was Peter Kromberg who taught me an awful lot about Asian cuisine. After that the Knightsbridge Cafe - my first Sous Chef role - then Harrods and then a great spell at Anton Mossimann’s Private

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“The day I stop learning and enjoying what I do is the day that I die. I think I have the best job in Dubai. I’m blessed.”

Club. I also did some stages at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, La Tante Claire and Le Gavroche, before the move in 1993 to the job that probably shaped my career - Sous Chef at The Ivy. What were kitchens like back then?

Oh, many of them were terrible. I’ve been stabbed twice, locked in a freezer, hung up on a meat hook. The 1980s and ‘90s were bad. The worst kitchen? Probably The Savoy, where I worked after The Ivy. Everything in the kitchen was done in French but it was the nastiest place with constant bullying.

However, I don’t think Executive Chef Anton Edelmann had any idea what was going on. I have never bullied anyone.

How did kitchens change after that period? Now you rarely hear of bad behaviour.

I think it changed when being a chef was sort of fashionable and chefs became celebrities on TV and elsewhere. I think Gary Rhodes had a major role in changing the profession - he set a new tone and I have tremendous respect for him. After The Savoy I worked in a number of places, including The Dorchester. That was amazing as my produce buyer was the same as Harrods so we got the best. After five years, I was offered the job of Senior Executive Sous Chef at the Burj Al Arab

by John Wood, who I’d worked with earlier at The Dorchester. That was 2004 and I spent four years there overseeing the day to day running of culinary. At first, buying produce was a real shock - we were buying out of the back of a truck once a week! What a difference to today’s scene.

How long did you stay at the Burj?

About four years, then I got poached! I needed Asian experience at that point in my career and I moved to Macau and Wynn Resorts. After a year, my second wife and I sat down and talked about what we wanted for the next five years and, at the same time, I got offered the Executive Chef role for Caprice Holdings’ entry into the UAE. I’m a restaurant boy at heart and the chance to bring The Ivy and Rivington Grill and so on out here was too good to miss.

Unfortunately, this was just the time when the local economy took a hit so the plans were cut down and after 18 months I left and did consultancy work for companies

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like Jones the Grocer and Just Falafel. Then I realised how much I missed my two girls so took a job back in the UK. And then back to Caprice?

Yes, a year later, Caprice and Jumeirah were ready to expand the brand again and I was invited back as Executive Chef. Then when Jumeirah Restaurants Group was up and running, I moved to my current role as Group Executive Chef. I now have direct culinary responsibility for 38 restaurants and bars in Al Qasr, Mina A’Salam, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Souk Madinat Jumeirah and Souk al Bahar.

How is JRG going? Must have been a blow to lose Christian Gradnitzer…

Yes, it’s a loss as he was very visible.

Although Russell Scott, who’s now heading up the team, is both very commercial and a food guy. Starting the Group was very unusual and there’s obviously been a lot of serious debate within Jumeirah senior management. Thankfully, I’m isolated from all that.

What are the benefits of creating the Group for Jumeirah, for chefs and for diners?

For Jumeirah, the key benefit is to have restaurants that are free-standing. A hotel company is great at hotels but its key strength isn’t in running F&B. Restauranteurs do that and we’re aiming for all the JRG outlets to be best in class.

For chefs? They have more freedom of expression, more credibility and more ownership. And restaurants get a face.

What’s that meant for some of the old school chefs left behind? A number have gone, but that was probably going to happen anyway.

Finally, for diners, they’ll learn about the food because the chef will be visible, will interact with them more.

It’s taken quite some time for us to start to see the changes, hasn’t it?

Well, it’s not an overnight process if you want to get it right. However, we already brought in a new concept with Perry & Blackwater’s Smokehouse and revamped Pier Chic, Zheng He’s, Der Keller, Tortuga, Dhow & Anchor as D&A amongst others. The schedule from now to the end of year is pretty full on! I’m loving it. In fact, I am overwhelmed by the number of CVs from chefs who want to join us. Really, we have the pick of the crop.

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A taste of Spain For some reason, for many years Spanish food was the UAE’s overlooked cuisine. That changed with the opening of El Sur at The Westin Mina Seyahi which introduced Dubai to the modern school of Spanish cooking that has so excited diners elsewhere. Heading up the kitchen is chef Juan Carlos González Hernández, from Salamanca, with enviable experience at two of the best restaurants in Catalonia - El Bulli and El Celler de Can Roca.

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Fried eggplant glazed in soy and honey with burrata (Serves 2) Ingredients • 2 large eggplants • 300ml sunflower oil • 100ml water • 100ml mirin • 100ml soy sauce • 100g sugar • 50g blossom honey • 1.3g dashi • shiso cress • Maldon salt • 100g urrata Method Wash the eggplant and cut it in a cylinder shape of 5cm high.

Make holes into the flesh by using a thick needle to allow the oil to penetrate and cook the eggplant. Fry the eggplant at 140-150ºC till it’s evenly cooked and soft. Place it on top of a paper towel to drain the excess oil.

For the honey sauce, mix ingredients from water to dashi in a pot, then place on a slow fire. Reduce by half or until it reaches 112ºC to create a fine and shiny sauce.

Take the burrata and make a incision to take out the cheese separating it from its skin on top of a small bowl.

Place the cylinders of eggplant on a oven tray and put in a oven on 200ºC for eight minutes then remove and top with the honey sauce allowing the sauce to penetrate all the way through. Place the eggplants back in the oven for three minutes more.

Top the plate with a few drops of the honey sauce and place two eggplant cylinders on each. Place a tablespoon of burrata cheese on each eggplant and finish off with a few Maldon salt crystals and the shiso cress.

Sea bream with creamy cauliflower, cuttlefish tagliatelle and coriander mojo

Ingredients • 1800-1,000g sea bream • 250g cauliflower • 50g butter • salt • 90g garlic • 60g parsley • 40g coriander • 350ml olive oil

• 85ml sherry vinegar • 40g almond powder • 8 cherry tomatoes • 200g brown sugar • 65ml still water • 12ml soya sauce • 3g ginger • 1 cuttlefish • 20ml olive oil

Method Clean the fish to obtain two large fillets.

Clean the cauliflower, cook until it gets very soft then emulsify with the butter and add salt to taste.

Blanch the garlic cloves twice and remove the germ. Put the coriander and parsley leaves in a thermo mix and grind. Add the rest of the ingredients (up to almond powder) and blend as finely as possible.

Blanch the tomatoes, peel them and keep it in water with ice.

Make a caramel and add the water and soya. Add the peeled ginger, let it cool down in the chiller for one day.

Drain the tomatoes and put them in a tray with olive oil for six to eight minutes at 180ºC. Clean the cuttlefish, taking of the head, the ink sack, the bone and skin, as well as the second skin or fine tissue. Freeze the meat and slice it in the shape of tagliatelle.

Put the fish with a bit of olive oil in a hot frying pan skinside down.

Meanwhile, heat the cauliflour cream and temper the tomatoes.

Garnish the plate with the cream and put the cooked fish on top.

In another hot frying pan, add the cuttlefish tagliatelle for about ten seconds then place directly on top of the fish.

Finish the plate with the mojo and the tomatoes.

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Torrija with lemon ice cream and coconut pastry cream (Serves 4) Ingredients • 375g flour • 100g sourdough • 67.5ml milk • 32.5g sugar • 6.5g fresh yeast • 140g egg • 115g butter • 275g sugar • 167ml lemon juice • lemon zest • 250ml cream • 500ml milk • 50g glucose • 1.5l milk • 1.5l cream • 750ml coconut milk • 260g gianduja • 200g sugar • 10g salt • 3 vanilla pods • 1l cream • 120g coconut gianduja • 100g sugar • 25g corn starch • 60g egg yolk, pasteurised

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• 150g beetroot • 20g sugar • 25g isomalt sugar • 5g glucose • 1 slice of brioche without crust, cut to two fingers thick torrija bath Method For the brioche dough, put in the kitchen aid flour and sourdough, then add the sugar and milk. After one minute, add the eggs and mix till the dough has a nice elastic texture then add the salt. Leave the dough mixing for one more minute then add the butter and mix till the brioche doesn’t stick to the bowl. Keep it in the chiller for 12 hours to allow fermentation. Bake at 180ºC for 15-20 minutes in a big mold or 220ºC for six to seven minutes for a smaller version.

For the lemon ice cream, melt the glucose and sugar with the warm cream and add the lemon zest.

When the mixture is less than 15ºC, add the lemon juice and stir slowly. Freeze the mixture in a pacojet canister.

For the torrija bath, mix all the ingredients from milk to vanilla pods and infuse the mixture, heating it slowly.

For the pastry cream, infuse milk and gianduja and strain it. Mix the rest of the ingredients (up to egg yolk)

and stir with a wire wisk. Once it’s ready, add the corn starch previously dissolved with a bit of the milk and bring it to a boil. Remove from the fire and put cling film as a second skin to prevent the cream from making a crust.

Cook the beetroot in water till it’s soft, then peel and put it with the rest of the ingredients (up to the glucose) in the thermomix, blend on high speed till you have a fine paste. Spread the mixture with a spatula very thinly on a silicone pad and bake at 120ºC for 17 minutes.

While the paper is still hot, shape it to the desired form and keep in a Tupperware container.

Warm the torrija bath and warm the brioche separately in a microwave for around 30 seconds. Put the bread in the bath till it absorbes enough to be wet equally. Put the torrijas over a perforated tray to release the excess liquid.

Turbinate the ice cream in the pacojet and leave it aside in the freezer. Put a frying pan on the stove and add a bit of butter, then when it browns lightly add some sugar and stir it till obtaining a nice caramel.

Add a lightly warmed torrija and caramelise on both sides adding a few drops of the torrija bath in the caramel to prevent it from burning. Place some pastry cream on the plate, put the torrija on top and finish with a quenelle of ice cream and the beetroot paper.

PRO CHEF

Roasted salmon with cranberry salsa Ingredients • 1 cup cranberries • 1 tbs lime juice • 1/4 bunch of coriander • 1/2 red onion • 3 tbs olive oil • 1 salmon filet

Method Preheat oven to 180C. Chop onion, cranberries and coriander. Mix with olive oil and lemon juice.

Season salmon and seal on the pan, then finish cooking salmon in the oven.

Garnish salmon with cranberry salsa.

Fruit for health With the rise in levels of diabetes in the UAE, any opportunity to reduce risk should be taken. Cranberries continue to impress scientists with their whole body health benefits, as evidenced by the profusion of cranberry studies that exist. Findings suggest that the cranberry’s emerging role in maintaining blood sugar levels could provide promising news for the future management of risks of Type 2 diabetes.

Ocean Spray is a vibrant agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 cranberry and grapefruit growers in the United States, Canada and Chile who have helped preserve the family farming way of life for generations.

Formed in 1930, Ocean Spray is now the world’s leading producer of cranberry juices, juice drinks and dried cranberries and is the best-selling brand in the North American bottled juice category. The co-operative’s cranberries are currently featured in more than 1,000 products in over 90 countries worldwide.

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PRO CHEF

Goat cheese and cranberry chutney

Cranberry muffin

Ingredients • 4 apples • 1.5 cups cranberries • 1 red onion • 1/2 cup dates • 1 cup orange juice • 1/4 cup sugar • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper • 1/2 tsp ground ginger • 1/3 cup white vinegar • baguette • goat cheese

Ingredients • 2 cups flour • 1/2 cup sugar • 1 tbs baking powder • 1/2 tsp salt • 1 cup milk • 1 egg (large) • 4 tbs butter • 1 cup cranberries

Method Chop onion, apples and dates.

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)

Sauté onion, apples, dates and cranberries with butter in a deep pot. Add sugar, spices, vinegar and orange juice. Bring to boil, then reduce flame and let simmer until chutney consistency

Method Keep the butter at room temperature to soften

Mix butter and sugar then slowly add eggs until all items are properly bonded. Add all dry ingredients and cranberries.

In muffin tray, divide mixture into 1/4 cup batches and bake for 15 minutes.

Cut baguette into thin slices and sprinkle with olive oil, then bake in the oven until dry.

Cut goat cheese into rounds. Put goat cheese on cracker and broil in oven.

Garnish with chutney.

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No human contact It started with ATMs so you no longer had to deal with bank employees.

Then Apple delivered Siri as a virtual assistant. And now the inevitable next step has happened - of course in Japan: the new Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki is entirely run by robots!

Receptionists might be an English-speaking dinosaur robot, or a Star wars-like droid of a female looking robot. One thing is clear, at the Henn-na Hotel, the receptionist will not be human. Neither will the porter who’ll transport your luggage to your room.

If that seems bizarre, then consider this: the futuristic concept is in a theme park. Not as you might expect, a future looking theme park, but a Dutch-themed amusement park studded with 19th-century Dutch windmills.

There’s also a massage clinic but that at least is still manned by humans.

Henn-na Hotel does have some human employees but you’ll only see them in an emergency. Everything else is automated, from the facial-recognition system that gives you entry to your room to the café with an outdoor terrace and a vending machine.

All of this runs counter to the industry’s accepted wisdom that personal service is essential

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to a pleasant guest experience, but Accor Hotels’ Formule 1 brand of ultra low-cost hotels have run for years with most services automated and guests swapping service for savings.

However, the robots at Henn-na Hotel do have a good pedigree - they’ve been developed by Kokoro, a company which has been developing so-called ‘actroid’ robots, for more than a decade. The humanoid variety have been designed to look like and share the mannerisms of polite young Japanese women, so you will think they’re really breathing, they’ll blink and make eye contact, even alter their behaviour based on interaction with individual guests.

Hotel company president Hideo Sawada believes that the robots will carry out 90% of work in the hotel. As he told the Japan Times: “We will make the most efficient hotel in the world.” The hotel opened in July and its 72 rooms range from about $60-70 a night.

Š iStock / Thinkstock - Š Studio Rougereau

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