HORECA marks resilience of Lebanon's hospitality industry
Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2015
By: Susan Wilson
Source: The Daily Star
By: Susan Wilson
Source: The Daily Star
BEIRUT:
As visitors walk through the crowds at HORECA this year, during the
22nd edition of the hospitality trade show, they wouldn't be able to
tell that Lebanon's food industry has been taking a hit of late as
result of the crusade of Health Minister Wael Abu Faour.
Given
that the industry had already been impacted in recent years by the lack
of tourism, Abu Faour's campaign against poor health and safety
standards could be seen as another blow to Lebanon's reputation in the
region.
Not
so, insists Joumana Dammous Salame, who founded Hospitality Services,
the driving force behind HORECA, with her father back in 1993.
"Although
things are going through a difficult moment in the country they are not
as bad as we think they are," she told The Daily Star, gesturing to the
packed exhibition halls.
"As
you can see, the show, it's bigger, there [are] more positive vibes,
positive energy, positive ambiance, so this is very good.
"We
have a beautiful show, 350 participants, with all the sectors covered,
competitions everywhere ... It confirms the role the country and Beirut [has] to play in terms of gastronomy, in terms of design, in terms of good food."
HORECA
is one of the biggest trade shows in the region and is billed as a
meeting place for industry members to gain advice, network, discover new
talents and products, and work together to toward growth.
Visitors
at the show launched Monday at the Beirut International Exhibition and
Leisure center and running through Thursday have the opportunity to
taste and talk to producers of Lebanese brands, along with
representatives from across the region and Europe.
HORECA
is also hosting a number of competitions and culinary showcases,
including the National Extra Virgin Olive Oil Contest, the Bed Making
Competition, Lebanese Baristas and Bartenders as well as live cooking
shows by chefs both local and international.
Dammous
advises visitors coming to the last two days of HORECA to not miss the
award ceremonies, meeting with judges and chefs, visiting the design
spaces such as Tawlet by Rana Salam and the Lebanese terrace by BLEU and of course gaining free advice from all the experts available.
Such
advice includes regular 10-minute training sessions by G.W.R
consulting, who wrote the new health and safety guidelines adopted by
the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes, Night-Clubs &
Pastries – though the team on duty admitted things had been slow so far.
Maya
Bakhazi Noun, who last year became one of the first women on the board
of the syndicate since its establishment in 1946, is positive about the
industry moving forward.
"The
syndicate is making a lot of effort on food safety, having free
training sessions, free assessments for restaurants, this is one of our
targets," she says.
"Despite
of everything that is going on in the region we still are seeing people
coming here to buy franchises, to get consultancy, to get new ideas.
Yes, there is a lot of hesitation, things have slowed down, but some
people still believe in the future of this country."
Proof
that the industry is still taking off is relative newcomer Cup and
Roll, conceived as a healthy take on pastry. The company delivers their
savory and sweet creations across Beirut and are due to open their first
outlet in Hamra at the end of May.
"We
are more focused on online marketing so when we participate in an
offline event like this we see a lot of good orders ... it's very
exciting, it's really always new people and we're glad that a lot of
people are still discovering our concept," says Wassim Haddad, partner
in the company.
It's
not just Lebanese brands, however, that are seizing the opportunities
presented by HORECA, according to Fatmeh Deriss, who was representing
Iran's Golrang Industrial Group.
"HORECA
is a big event in the Middle East and I think that our place is in
HORECA absolutely, this is the first year we shift our concentration
from the CIS countries to the GCC countries," she says, explaining GIG's
first appearance at the show.
It seems then that Dammous' belief in the hospitality industry's resilience is well-placed.
HORECA is running until April 23 at BIEL in Downtown Beirut.
Chef Frédéric Anton talks success and mankousheh
The guest of honor at HORECA this year is France's Frédéric Anton, a three Michelin starred chef, former celebrity judge on France's Master Chef and the head chef at Le Pre Catelan in Paris.
Anton
began his career in 1984 at the Capucin Gourmand in Nancy, his place of
birth. Career highlights include working for 7 years with chef Joël
Robuchon (1988-1996) at Jamin, receiving his first two Michelin stars in
1999, followed in 2000 by the title of Best Craftsman of France, and
his third Michelin star at the age of 47 in 2007.
Speaking to The Daily Star at HORECA, Chef Anton, who first visited Lebanon 10 years ago, says the country has always been welcoming.
"My
visits to Lebanon have been very good, very nice, because everyone has
taken care of me and given me all the help I need. We have had the
chance to visit many nice places and taste very good Lebanese food; and
we made friends which is priceless."
Lebanese
cuisine, in part because of the widespread Lebanese diaspora, can be
found the world over, but having the chance to taste "authentic"
Lebanese food, with the "colors, and the textures and the history," was
an enjoyable experience for the French chef.
Asked
about the trend toward modernizing Middle Eastern cuisine, he agreed
this was an important step for Lebanese food, like French cuisine before
it. His personal view is that Lebanese food can be quite heavy, and one
way to modernize it would be to make the dishes lighter.
Speaking of his own success, Anton said that chefs need to be themselves and be consistent.
"The way to have three stars in France is to have your own personal style of cooking that allows you to express yourself and not be like all the others.
"The most important thing to having Michelin stars is to keep your [quality] consistent."
As
for his favorite Lebanese food, Chef Anton will find himself in
agreement with many with his choice of mankousheh with zaatar.
The art of making your bed
While
some might have felt vindicated at scientific studies that suggest the
unmade bed is healthier – a poorer habitat for dust mites – for those in
the hospitality industry, making the bed is more than just a mother's
scolding.
"[The
bed] should be very appealing, and for a bed to be appealing he [the
housekeeper] should make it in a certain way so that when the customer
comes in he feels the warmth.
"Sometimes
small details can make this difference; you cannot see it but you will
feel it when you enter the room and either you will feel it's very
welcoming and asking you to jump in the bed [or not]."
So
says Nicole Abdallah, vice president of Reva, House of Sleep, which is
sponsoring the first bed making competition at HORECA.
"The
best hotels [are taking part] and they are trying to see who makes the
best bed," she explains, going on to describe the criteria involved in
judging the contest.
"I'll
tell you some very picky things, like if they take the quilt and put it
half on the floor, half on the bed while putting it on, this is a
catastrophe and should not be allowed in a hotel because it will take up
all the dust from the floor."
Other
rules of the event seen on the judging sheet by The Daily Star included
placing the mattress protector evenly on top of the mattress, using
only plain pillows and, of course, no running around.
The
37 contestants taking part will also be judged on their technique,
timing – "For the competition it is 7 minutes. It's not the fastest, he
should be doing it in 7 minutes perfectly. If he takes more he is
definitely a loser, if he does it in that time or less it is the [end]
result which will judge him." – overall impression – including humor,
manners and self-control – and, last but not least, cleanliness and
neatness.
While many of us might dread making the bed in the morning, Abdallah says the secret is to enjoy the task.
"Love
what you are doing, enjoy the process. Everything you do, if you enjoy
the process of doing it rather than the result, it becomes excellent
because life is the process, the result is [just] minutes of life.
"So
if you teach your employees to enjoy doing the bed … when they do it
with such a pleasure the end result becomes excellent, it cannot be
otherwise."
The
event is open to hotels and hospitality students, and already has been
drawing a crowd, with cheers heard across the hall during one
contestant's particularly impressive flourish of a bed sheet.
The winner of the bed making competition will be announced in an event Wednesday from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at stand M 13.
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