< PreviousCaterer Awards 2019 Nomination Guide Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 48/ SHOUT LOUDLY Culturally you may fi nd it hard to boast about your achievements. For Brits, life is all about being understated and modest about what they have done, but that’s not the route to take when it comes to awards. It’s all about selling yourself and that means bragging and bigging up everything you have achieved in the past 12 months. Being humble might come naturally to you but it’s important that our judges fully appreciate and understand exactly what you have done to deserve this accolade. TAKE CARE You have plenty of time to get your nominations in, so use it! Starting the process early and ensur- ing that you mention all the pertinent points in a clear and concise manner will help the judges make their decision. Leave it to the last minute and it’s likely that you’ll forget an important detail or write a muddled nomination that leaves the judges asking more questions than fi nding answers. The judging panel can only make their decision based on the facts off ered in front of them and their own industry experience, so to give yourself the best chance of making the fi nalists and tak- ing the trophy home, ensure they have all the information they need. TARGETED STRIKEE There may be 16 categories for you to choose from, and the Caterer Middle East Awards allows you to enter as many as you wish, but focusing on you or your company's key strengths and ensuring a strong nomination in those areas is better than a wildfi re approach. Being selective will allow you to focus on building the best possible nomination and will let the judges see the best of you or your or- ganisation’s achievements. Take your time to con- sider all your key strengths and ensure you back them up in your nomination with as much evidence as possible. Give the judges a reason to choose you over your competitors. Bull & Roo Hospitality & Investment’s The Sum of Us won Casual Dining Team of the Year 2016. Nearly 600 people attended last year’s gala ceremony.Nomination Guide www.caterermiddleeast.com Caterer Awards 2019 /49 February 2019 | Caterer Middle East GET IN TOUCH For advertising and sponsorship opportunities please contact nick.clowes@itp. com and for table bookings please contact teri.dunstan@itp.com FOLLOW THE PROCESS The rules are simple but they must be followed correctly to ensure you don’t miss out on an award on a technicality. The Caterer Middle East Awards nomination process is straightforward and we do our best to ensure every- one gets a level playing fi eld, but make sure you follow these simple steps. • Stick to the word count. • Only submit entries via the website. • Read the entry guidelines carefully beforehand. • Don’t miss the April 2 deadline. Do all this and you will give yourself the best possible chance of taking home a sought-after trophy on the night. SET YOURSELF APART You know yourself or your company better than anyone. What is it that makes you stand out from your competition? What’s that special bit of detail that will live long in the memory of our judges? Remember that you will be up against dozens of other entries so it’s vital that you set yourself apart and don’t just blend in with the rest of the nominees. Don’t be scared to give your nomination some colour and tell a story that will stick in the judges’ minds. Trust in yourself and make sure that you let that insider knowledge shine through, and ensure the judges fi nish your nomination thinking they under- stand you. Perfect duo. Unbeatable in corporate catering. Large quantities of food in exceptional quality can be produced quickly and with no stress for the user. No matter who operates the appliances, you will always achieve the results you want. Find out more: rational-online.comEvent Preview Caterer Food & Business Conference Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 50/Caterer Food & Business Conference Event Preview www.caterermiddleeast.com /51 February 2019 | Caterer Middle East Caterer Middle East pulled together some of the industry’s top players to discuss the issues that are causing them concern. The points brought up at this panel will then form the basis of the Caterer Middle East Food & Business Conference taking place on March 5, 2019 in Dubai By Simon Ritchie | Photography: Rajesh RaghavEvent Preview Caterer Food & Business Conference Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 52/ Event details: DATE: MARCH 5, 2019 VENUE: Grosvenor House, Dubai Marina, UAE FOR SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES CONTACT: Natasha.cristi@itp.com TO SPONSOR CONTACT: nick.clowes@itp.com FOR MORE DETAILS: www.caterermiddleeast.com With the Caterer Middle East Food & Business Conference barely six weeks away, an expert panel of chefs, restau- rateurs, and F&B experts descended upon Carnival by Tresind to give their opinion on the industry, and help us shape the make-up of the conference itself. From last year’s advisory panel, only Reif Othman returned, with a new band of fresh faces keen to provide us with their insight. Guided by Caterer Middle East editor Si- mon Ritchie, the group gave their thoughts on everything from rent prices and food delivery, to celebrity chefs and bloggers. RENT CONTROL With it taking up such a large portion of any business’s overheads, rent is always a hot topic and it was no different for this year’s panel. Dubai has seen a high turn- over of restaurants in recent years, with some operators unable to keep demand high enough to pay ever-increasing rental prices. For Samer Hamadeh, founder of Aegis Hospitality which operates the likes of thousand people ready and willing to open restaurants that have the backers”. However, Sascha Triemer, vice president, food & beverage, Atlantis, The Palm, said his personal opinion was that rents are going down, as you could see it “not only in restaurants but also in the private sector”. Metres away from where the advisory panel gathered lay proof of the diffi cult times that many restaurateurs in Dubai face, in the just permanently closed the night before The Artisan concept. Bhupender Nath, founder of Pas- sion F&B and our host for the day, told the group that “the reason is rent”. He The panel was hosted by Bhupender Nath at his Carnival by Tresind venue. Akiba Dori at D3, the industry itself has to take some of the blame for that due to its “whatever it takes attitude”. He said: “A lot of people that weren’t really savvy agreed to ridiculous rents. So we — not us personally, but the indus- try — drove rents to a point where it was deemed acceptable to pay US$100 a square foot for a city with four million people.” Getting landlords to bring rents down has been a tough ask however, as Natasha Sideris, the restaurateur behind the suc- cessful Tashas café chain suggested. Speak- ing from personal experience in South Africa where she managed to get landlords to drop unsustainable rents, she said it’s not as easy here because “there’s another Samer HamadehCaterer Food & Business Conference Event Preview www.caterermiddleeast.com /53 February 2019 | Caterer Middle East I THINK A BLOGGER SHOULD BE SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, NOT SOMEONE THAT PUTS UP A PICTURE OF A LAMB AND SAYS ‘A DELICIOUS VEGETARIAN DISH’” — Roberto Segura, founder, 3 Hospitality MEET THE EXPERTS TOM ARNEL, FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR, BULL&ROO BHUPENDER NATH, FOUND- ER & MANAG- ING DIRECTOR, PASSION F&B NATASHA SIDERIS, MAN- AGING EXECU- TIVE, FOUNDER, AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR, TASHAS REIF OTHMAN, CULINARY CHEF CON- SULTANT, HOTARU FOOD CONCEPTS SAMER HAMA- DEH, FOUNDER, AEGIS HOSPI- TALITY ROBERTO SEGURA, FOUNDER, 3 HOSPITALITY SASCHA TRIEMER, VP, F&B, ATLANTIS, THE PALM explained further that as rev- enues are decreasing in many concepts, rent is heading up to “25%, 30%” of their total in- come. “Landlords are not able to understand that there are hundreds of outlets opening and every building has a retail outlet and every building has an eatery joint” with which res- taurants are fi nding it increas- ingly hard to compete. Fingers were consistently pointed to the sheer number of venues making it impos- sible to compete in a shrinking marketplace. Roberto Segura, founder of 3 Hospitality which operates Craft Café in D3, opined that with only 5,000 people working in the D3 area and 22 restaurants in opera- tion, it was simply unsustain- able for all of them. LABOURING THE POINT One of the points raised at last year’s advisory panel was the high cost of labour, but one of our panellists has gone out of the way to not only pay a high wage but to only make his staff work a fi ve-day week — some- thing highly uncommon in the UAE’s hospitality scene. Bull&Roo managing director Tom Arnel said it is “the best thing I ever did”. He believes that it is a massive help in terms of staff retention as it keeps his staff happy, meaning he doesn’t need to regularly go through the large expense of training new staff . He said: “I would rather pay a high salary than have someone leave re- ally quickly.” That is something that the team at Atlantis are trying to achieve, with Triemer introduc- ing more favourable working conditions for his staff over the past year including paying overtime and giving them a better work-life balance, and although he said they are “not there yet” he aims to “defi nitely do it this year”. Hamadeh believes the important thing to look for in any potential employee is a real passion for the trade, and if they don’t show that passion, the hospitality industry is not suitable for them. He said: Event Preview Caterer Food & Business Conference Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 54/ “Some people get into it because they’ll do any job. I get a lot of those CVs. Well it’s not for you then.” The quality of staff leaving training schools was of a concern for Segura who said he had chefs fresh out of internship programs expecting high salaries, even though “what you learn in school is not the real happenings of the kitchen”. GROWING PAIN Segura’s primary concern however, as the owner of several homegrown concepts, was the lack of attention given to local chefs, with the industry’s money men “pri- oritising big names from abroad”. He said: “Why do you want to bring in a Michelin-starred chef? He’s not going to be here.” Experience chef is looking to reposition himself in the market but needs to fi nd a backer. He said: “A lot of investors dare to put 30 million on a Michelin-starred chef but we ask for two million and it’s ‘I’m sorry, there’s no money’.” For Arnel, being turned down at the start of his career perhaps ended up being a blessing in disguise as he and former business partner Sergio Lopez opened Tom&Serg in the industrial area of Al Quoz as no one would give them a chance elsewhere — with Hamadeh quipping that he thought they had chosen there “to be hipster”. But with rents at a quarter of the price as more fashionable areas of Dubai, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ONLY DELUDED INVESTORS WANT TO BRING MICHELIN- STARRED CHEFS TO THE UAE. NOBODY CARES FOR MICHELIN- STARRED CHEFS IN SMALL CITIES. NOBODY” — Samer Hamadeh, founder, Aegis Hospitality Hamadeh believed that it wasn’t the public’s choice to bring in foreign talent, saying: “Only deluded investors want to bring Michelin-starred chefs to the UAE. Nobody cares for Michelin-starred chefs in small cities. Nobody.” There was agreement from Sideris also who said that “a lot of investors would rather go somewhere and get a big name that’s not even involved in the business, comes here for a week and then leaves”. There was a dissenting opinion from Triemer however. The Atlantis F&B supremo works with several big names and said that while “some celebrity chefs work and some don’t” his Gordon Ramsay Bread Street Kitchen concept “gets the right people in” and is “bringing enough to justify” itself. It’s an issue of great concern to Reif Othman also. The former Play and The Sascha Triemer Natasha SiderisCaterer Food & Business Conference Event Preview www.caterermiddleeast.com /55 February 2019 | Caterer Middle East TIME TO DELIVER The conversation turned to delivery — or lack of it — as restaurateurs look to adapt to changing market desires. For some, like Hamadeh, it’s a necessity because his competitors are doing it, but when it compromises quality, as he believes it does with pizza, he won’t. “I have a fundamental problem with delivery,” he admitted, “but it doesn’t matter because it’s going to happen whether I like it or not. What’s the point in spending a million bucks on a fit out and then doing delivery?” At his Craft Café outlet, Segura had to introduce a minimum spend due to someone ordering a single coffee for home delivery, while Arnel believes restaurants willing to deliver coffee in takeway containers knowing full well it will barely survive the journey highlights the issue with the concept as a whole — many people will do anything as long as it earns them a few dirhams. Nath doesn’t do delivery at all from his Tresind branches, believing the experi- ence of going out to one of his restau- rants is what his customers are paying for. For Sideris it’s the same, with no Tashas doing delivery. INFLUENCING “Who deems a blogger to be an expert?” Asked Sideris to general mutters of agree- ment around the table. “I think a blogger should be someone who actually knows what they’re talking about and not someone that puts up a pic- ture of lamb and says ‘a delicious vegetar- ian dish,’” joked Segura. It’s safe to say there’s a fair level of dis- dain for the blogger and infl uencer com- munity in Dubai from the experts round our table, although Segura is quick to say “there are 10-15 that tell the truth and they are real foodies. And then you honestly appreciate that feedback.” Rather than pander to the infl uencers with large followings, Arnel said that for him it’s better for a normal person to come in and “say wow that looks awesome, take a photo of it and share it to their 300 friends. That is true word of mouth”. ON TO THE CONFERENCE The panellists could have kept talking for hours but we had to call it quits some- where. With plenty of food for thought, we now turn to putting together expert debates and speakers for the Caterer Middle East Food & Business Conference in March. Make sure you come along to Grosvenor House to hear from a wide range of panellists on all the topics above and much more. Roberto Segura Bhupender NathWAR OF WORDS As restaurateurs grow increasingly wary of unreasonable requests from food bloggers, Caterer Middle East speaks to food writers and chefs to learn how they maintain the peace Over a decade ago, when the fi rst food bloggers started sharing their thoughts about their dining experi- ences in Dubai, the industry was excited about the democratisation of food writing. “Contemporary bloggers would engage with restauranteurs on a much deeper level, ask every question possible, conduct research prior to their visit, not to men- tion meet the chef and the front of house teams. In many ways emerging profes- sional bloggers would go about their work akin to how professional journalists would go through the motions of researching and eventually crafting articles,” Farah Sawaf, managing partner at Soul Communica- tions, recalls. Over the years, however, as the infl u- ence of food bloggers and writers has evolved, and as more infl uencers have joined the fray, frustrated restaurateurs have spoken out about unreasonable demands from some bloggers, while un- favourable reviews have resulted in some very public spats. For instance, Aegis Hospitality founder Samer Hamadeh told Caterer Middle East last year how a food blogger “threat- ened” to leave a bad review for Akiba Dori after Hamadeh refused to allow the blogger and six friends to dine for free on a Friday night. In November 2018, Dubai-based chef Izu Ani banned Foodiva founder and writer Samantha Wood, following a negative review of Gaia posted by a guest writer on the popular website. At the time, Ani said he believed the criticism was personal, following an earlier clash involving Woods’ popular Dine Around Dubai event — a food tour that sees customers pay to be taken to mystery restaurants. Woods responded to Ani’s criticism, citing a number of factual errors in his comments and pointing to a double standard that favoured positive 56/ reviews on the site, while negative reviews resulted in banning her. The cracks are beginning to show as restaurateurs, food writers, and PR con- sultants struggle to fi nd a balance between promoting an outlet and partnering with the right infl uencers. According to Singaporean chef Reif Oth- man, “food writers are the link between the restaurant and customers”. But to some extent, part of the prob- lem may come down to semantics: based on feedback from several restaurateurs and chefs, the industry struggles with dif- ferentiating between a food blogger and an influencer. For instance, Hamadeh reveals how following the incident with the anonymous blogger last year, he spoke to several food critics and writers “who opened up about their frustrations with some bloggers giving the rest a bad rep”, adding how “anyone who posts a photo with a caption” is now labelled a blogger. Wood, who started Foodiva eight years ago, says she has moved away from posi- tioning herself as a food blogger or Foodiva as a food blog, opting to call herself a food writer instead, and Foodiva a restaurant review website. Food writers that have seen their fol- lowing organically grow over time are also candid about how they deal with restau- rant invitations. For Naomi D’Souza, who has over 81,000 followers on Instagram, restau- rant invitations account for a large part of the content on her account. She says: “When a restaurant invites me for a tast- ing, I believe they are entitled to do it on their terms as long as it doesn’t cross my boundaries. I will also always ask how PR guru Farah Sawaf News Analysis Bloggers Caterer Middle East | February 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 56/many guests I am allowed to bring as I do believe food bloggers, especially the ones doing it for free, have the authority to do so. I would never demand a number way above what’s permitted. “Food blogging for me is more driven towards passion versus just free food, so for me, it is unacceptable for bloggers to wield their infl uence in an incorrect way. I Foodiva writer Samantha Wood was actually shocked when I heard about the recent viral story where a blogger demanded a table for six for her friend’s birthday. I’ve even heard stories where food bloggers demand a carpet to be placed at the foot of the restaurant while it was raining or free Uber rides; it’s quite ridiculous,” she adds. According to Sawaf, PR managers pay an important role as “gatekeepers” when determining which bloggers would be suit- able for an invitation. She explains: “We believe that unreason- able individuals often present themselves by behaving in an unprofessional manner when initiating the request; or introducing themselves as if they are untouchable by making the restaurant seem to be beneath them i.e. ‘the restaurant ought to be happy I’m even considering visiting’; or request- ing the restaurant hosts an unreasonable amount of guests.” That’s not to say that restaurants haven’t benefi ted from partnerships with some infl uencers. Hamadeh reveals how Akiba Dori participated in a Dine Around Dubai event by Foodiva, which resulted in lots of regular customers. Even when dining invitations are ex- tended to bloggers, restaurateurs say they don’t expect positive reviews in return. Othman says: “We rarely invite food bloggers to the restaurant and even when we do, we are very selective. My rule of thumb is to not expect a good review. We are not in the business to please food blog- gers as it is a service we provide to all our diners and we cook with passion. I value honest opinions about how the dishes are and areas for improvement.” Hamadeh adds: “We reached out to a few foodies when we fi rst opened as a way for us to get honest feedback on the food. But that was limited to 10 people and they were all brutally honest in their feedback; we would never ask them to write favour- able reviews. Plus, it’s always obvious to customers when a review is ridiculously biased, so why play that game?” For bloggers, it’s important to strike the right balance when it comes to restaurant reviews. D’Souza explains: “I do attend Bloggers www.caterermiddleeast.com News Analysis /57 February 2019 | Caterer Middle East Next >