Added Incentive
F&B promotions encourage guests to come and stay. They provide rewards for F&B staff, as well.
By Joan Marsan, Associate Editor -- Hotels, 10/31/2000 11:00:00 PM
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| Food-to-go, offered by the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles, transcends the F&B department’s greatest barrier to increasing covers—the guest’s departure. Now even while guests are away, the hotel earns F&B revenues on such easily transportable items as bagels and cream cheese for breakfast or maki sushi rolls or Montecristo sandwiches for lunch. All items, ranging in price from US$9 to US$20, can be ordered through roomservice. |
A 70% increase in covers. A 60% increase in revenues. The reasons for holding promotions are as compelling as customers and cash. But promotions promise more than additional income. With their necessary dose of freshness and creativity, they boost a property’s image. And they offer great rewards to kitchen staff who can learn from the new techniques and ingredients promotions may require, or the new chefs to whom promotions may offer them exposure.
Promotions should enhance an F&B program’s already-established image. Westin has worked to achieve a culinary identity based on simplicity and a three-flavor profile approach to cooking. Westin’s summer 2000 F&B promotion (above), highlighting classic servings of Häagen-Dazs ice cream served single scoop or as part of such lavish creations as a banana split in a chocolate bowl, support the chain’s epicurean goals.
“We involve all our chefs in the development of our winemaker dinner menu from the executive chef down to the commis chef,” says Darren Cann, general manager, the 332-room Stamford Plaza Auckland, New Zealand. The hotel’s wine promotion acquaints cooks and guests alike with New Zealand’s up-and-coming winemakers. Each month, chefs focus on pairing foods with different wines. “To a degree the dinners are a testing ground for new dishes for the restaurant, and many of the dishes created for the winemakers eventually end up on our a la carte menu,” Cann says. The promotion helps expand the kitchen’s repertoire even while it brings additional business to the hotel. The monthly dinners seating 64 people, staged in the Raffles Ballroom, generate an additional NZ$75 per guest, an affordable price that encourages a good cross-section of local diners to attend.
Guest Chefs
Two guest chefs from the 609-room Westin Philippine Plaza, Manila, joined the staff of the 418-room Sheraton Surabaya Hotel & Towers, Indonesia, assisting them with the production of authentic Filipino food for a Filipino culinary festival. Sponsorships from Bouraq Airlines helped to provide three raffle prizes of airfare for guests, as well as airfare for the chefs. The Sheraton’s cooks expanded their knowledge of the neighboring islands’ cuisine, while covers and revenues increased by 60% as locals (including members of Surabaya’s large Filipino community) flocked to the hotel for the two-week event.
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| Cooking courses like the Ritz-Carlton Bali’s Rasa-Bumbu program, during which guests travel with Chef Roy Khoo to local markets, educate guests and provide an additional revenue stream. They also allow kitchen staff to interact with discriminating customers, developing a deeper understanding of their tastes and preferences. |
“The hotel became the talk of the city,” says Mintoro Tedjopranoto, F&B director, Sheraton Surabaya. “The idea of creating a promotion is to offer the market a variety of cuisines appreciated by the locals and that could increase not only F&B covers and revenue, but also public awareness and loyal, returning guests.”
The 430-room Ritz-Carlton Chicago, a Four Seasons hotel, experienced a 20% increase in covers during a similar one-week promotion that highlighted the cuisine of its sister property the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix and awarded guests with a trip to the new hotel. The promotion gave the Chicago property an opportunity to add Southwestern-style cuisine to the menu at a time of year, early summer, when customers crave the spicy fare. It also created top-of-mind awareness, says Susan Maier, marketing director, encouraging guests to keep Ritz-Carlton in mind when they make travel plans in other cities.
If guests don’t know about a promotion in advance, it has little hope of generating increased interest and covers. The Epicurean (above), the Ritz-Carlton Chicago’s thrice-yearly F&B newsletter, elegantly alerts diners on the hotel’s mailing list (those with a demonstrated interest in the hotel’s restaurants, and therefore, those most likely to visit) to promotional events scheduled at the hotel’s restaurants.
The Importance of Partners
The 517-room Furama Hotel, Hong Kong, relies on partners to increase the success of its promotions. By offering discounts in specific restaurants to credit cards holders of banking partners, the Furama boosts covers by about 25% and increases revenues by 8% to 10%.
But a partnership with the Hang Seng Bank, through which the hotel offered a “Buy One Get One Free” meal promotion, resulted in a 70% jump in covers and a 15% revenue hike during the hotel’s low season. “When you offer ‘Buy One Get One Free,’ you would expect food costs to increase quite dramatically,” says Belinda Franz, advertising manager, Furama. “However, as we offered the discount on set menus and buffets only, we actually found that our food costs for the month remained the same.” Additionally, the bank covered all advertising and direct mailing costs, allowing the hotel to achieve an unprecedented profit on the promotion.
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| Seasonal promotions, such as Wyndham’s spring shrimp special (above), bring something fresh to the table. Guests enjoy the celebration of the seasons, and the kitchen reaps the rewards. Seasonally appropriate produce is less expensive to procure and is top-of the-line quality. |
Marriott International benefits from strong relationships with food supplier partners when it organizes company-wide F&B promotions, such as a winter menu featuring pork and apples. With an average of 140 properties participating in the promotions Marriott develops, supplier cooperation is imperative. And, says Brad Nelson, director of culinary development, so is seasonality. A focus on abundant ingredients at the appropriate time of year assures growers will be able to supply a large quantity of quality produce at a lower cost. And guests appreciate the freshness and of-the-moment attitude a seasonal menu conveys.
Pride of Place
Promotions must be place-specific, Nelson asserts, and Edna Fuentes, F&B manager, the 426-room Hilton Cancun Beach & Golf Resort, agrees. The Hilton celebrates its oceanside location on full moon nights by hosting moonlight dinners at the beach. Guests who register in advance receive a private waiter, a four-course menu and a bottle of wine for US$80 per person. In a single month the promotion allowed the hotel to sell an additional 92 dinners, raising the average check from US$29 to US$42.
Location also sells during the high season, when the Hilton offers a poolside breakfast. A full Mexican breakfast in the hotel’s indoor Spices restaurant sells for US$16, while the poolside buffet costs US$5.99. But the outdoor venue attracts 64 more breakfast covers per day during its season, improving the ratio of guests taking breakfast in the hotel from .69 to .78. And because the increased number of guests is distributed between two locations rather than concentrated in a single venue, alternate kitchen staff members have the opportunity to experience a leadership role, building their skills while raising revenues.
On the Side
TURNING TABLES To sell guests on the superior service they can expect from the Hilton East Brunswick, New Jersey, Executive Chef John Shirley will cook anything, anytime, anywhere. He proves it when he hosts private chef’s tables, treating about a dozen diners to his undivided attention as he prepares for them one-of-a-kind, five-course feasts. The interactive events turn a healthy profit, too, generating about US$125 per guest, or more than US$1,250 per meal, and securing thousands of dollars in additional business for the hotel.
“We bring in a group that will schedule other events, and we expose them to my personality, treat them to one-of-a-kind service,” Shirley says, a tactic that encourages them to return to the Hilton East Brunswick. The hotel’s sales staff particularly encourages meeting planners to attend chef’s tables, which highlight the kind of personalized service the chef can offer to clients.
The elements of theater, education, and specialization make the chef’s tables a success. The chef’s gregarious nature and showmanship draw in guests. Shirley teaches the diners about the ingredients used to prepare the meal and shares his knowledge of the wines chosen especially for their event. And a unique menu and presentation make the meal memorable. Shirley will prepare a limitless range of cuisine, including menus featuring vegetarian cuisine, comfort food or venison, in such diverse locations as the kitchen, customer’s homes, and even the hotel elevator.
NEW VENUES CELEBRATE OCEANSIDE DINING When it opens its doors in late 2000, the Mandarin Oriental Miami’s restaurants will compete with the waterfront views for guests’ attention. Designed by Tony Chi and Associates, New York, the Café Sambal all-day dining and the Azul fine dining restaurants will offer a taste of the Mandarin Oriental’s Asian heritage in their Singapore Chili Crabs. Other specialties will include dim sum, sushi, and Thai salads.
In keeping with the location, seafood dishes will reign supreme, with guests delighting in stone crabs and seaweed wraps, chilled oysters in frozen sea salt and fish grilled over an open fire. The South American influence evident everywhere in Miami appears here in mixed grilled meats reminiscent of an Argentine parilla.
Recent renovations at the Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, California, resulted in the opening of Sheerwater, a seaside restaurant highlighting California coastal cuisine. Instrumental in creating the highly seasonal menu is Joseph Giunta, executive chef, joining the hotel after an award-winning tenure at the Westin Rio Mar Beach Resort, Puerto Rico. The new Sheerwater space features outdoor dining terraces, giant fireplaces and a wood-burning exhibition oven used to create the restaurant’s specialty item, afternoon tapas.
F&B APPOINTMENTS
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Bass Hotels & Resorts named Jean Pierre Etcheberrigaray vice president, F&B, The Americas...
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The Amari Boulevard Hotel, Bangkok, announced the appointment of Marco Maggio, chef, and the Amari Watergate, Bangkok, welcomed Chef Frola Matilde...
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Uwe Lasczyk, executive chef, and Sergio Albergo, restaurant manager, joined the Furama Hotel, Hong Kong...
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Salvatore Giardinetto joins the Sheraton Dubai and Towers as executive chef...
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Outrigger Reef Fiji Resort, Viti Levu, Fiji, named Stephen Marquard executive chef, while the Outrigger Wailea Resort, Hawaii, promoted Michael Pastula to director of F&B and welcomes Leanne Kamekona, executive chef. The Outrigger Waikoloa Beach Hotel & Resort, Hawaii, named Miles Togikawa executive chef...
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The Renaissance Grand Beach Resort, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, welcomes Mark Hiebel, director of restaurants...
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The Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, appointed Rick Boyer chef de cuisine...
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Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, named Yves Bainier executive chef...
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Eric Brennan joins the Federalist of Fifteen Beacon, Boston, as executive chef...
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Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford, California, of the Relais & Chateaux group, welcomes Executive Chef Richard Reddington...
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Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C., appoints Matthew Linderman senior manager, F&B...
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The Westin Seattle named Vince Speziale general manager, Roy’s Seattle.
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