The
new way to an owner’s heart is through the stomach. Watch Accor's huge appetite
to refresh F&B for its Premium, Midscale and Economy brands in Asia and the
Middle East.
GLOBAL REPORT – Accor wants to change a general truth that glorious F&B
is usually the domain of luxury and lifestyle hotels. It has started in Asia
and MEAT (Middle East, Africa, Turkey) with the appointment of former head of
Asia Pacific at KSL Capital Partners, Tony Chisholm, to a newly created
position of vice president F&B (Premium, Midscale & Economy) covering
the two regions.
Brands in the division include Mövenpick, Swissôtel,
Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Handwritten Collection and Ibis. The move is
inspired by its Ennismore lifestyle hotels, which Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin has
said earn more than 50% of their revenue from F&B and events, not rooms,
and from locals, not tourists. In a November 2021 interview, Bazin said legacy
brands typically struggle to achieve such high percentages of revenue from
F&B, while COVID travel restrictions have further reinforced the value of
local revenues and lifestyle experiences.
“We have legacy brands such as Ibis, Pullman, Mercure, which
I’m proud of. What we should be doing, and are starting to do, is to export
lessons and best practices from the lifestyle brands to legacies,” Bazin said. “I’ve
no doubt that a Novotel, Pullman, even Ibis could have a lifestyle component,
whether it’s design, culinary or personnel. And I’ve no doubt you can make an
old hotel trendy; you just have to shift your mindset. I’m going to encourage
enormous bridges between Ennismore and Accor so that all my owners are proud
they are part of the adventure.”
Knives out
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, but Chisholm has
sharpened his knives to align the F&B proposition of Premium, Midscale
& Economy in Asia & MEAT with Bazin’s vision.
“The company is certainly shining a light on this part of
the business, recognizing the contribution F&B makes from a guest experience
value but equally in revenue contribution across the regions that I take care
of,” Chisholm said. Accor’s Asia & MEAT regions comprise around 700 hotels
and are estimated to turn over a billion dollars in F&B revenue.
Chisholm said his goal is for Accor to be recognized by
owners in Premium, Midscale & Economy as an F&B market leader by
2026-2027. His strategy is built around three key pillars: creative F&B
concepts, sustainable F&B and F&B financial discipline.
“We’re creating a bookshelf of new exciting F&B concepts
– Italian, Spanish, Greek, Indian, etc. – that we can roll out over the next
couple of years, but moving away from breakfast-designed restaurants to
interesting standalone ones that are successful investments for owners and
vibrant places for local guests, not just hotel guests,” he said.
We’re creating a bookshelf of new exciting F&B concepts – Italian, Spanish, Greek, Indian, etc. – that we can roll out over the next couple of years, but moving away from breakfast-designed restaurants to interesting standalone ones that are successful investments for owners and vibrant places for local guests, not just hotel guests.”
Tony Chisholm
“We understand that today’s consumers are looking for
F&B, entertainment and retail, so we’re integrating those pillars into
these new concepts.”
Since stepping into the role in July 2023, Chisholm has
already developed 10 new concepts that he aims to open over the next 12 to 18
months. One of them is Gemma’s Kitchen & Bar, the first of which is
scheduled to open in Novotel Nairobi in 4Q24.
Gemma is an imaginary young Italian underrated painter who
holidayed in Nairobi and became a part-time chef to help pay back her
grandmother for her tuition fees. Armed with old-school Italian cooking rituals
and secret recipes from nonna, she then decided to open her own restaurant and
gallery displaying and selling her paintings and sculptures. The restaurant is
a “social dining destination” with an artistic vibe and casual-style Italian
sharing menus.
“I can have Gemma’s not just in Novotel Nairobi but Pullman
Singapore or Swissotel Jakarta, so these concepts start becoming a brand.
Owners can see real value in partnering with Accor because we’re creating
brands within brands that drive repeat business,” Chisholm said.
Chisholm, who worked with Accor for 13 years in his earlier
career years, conceptualized Mad Cow Wine & Grill at Pullman Saigon in 2017
when he was country manager Vietnam. There are now five Mad Cow restaurants in
Asia. He targets 30 new concepts by the end of 2024.
With hotels that are already top producing in F&B, such
as Swissôtel The Stamford in Singapore, Chisholm spends time with the
teams “to move the needle by 1% to 2% that adds millions of dollars of turnover
for owners.” He said he chooses his battles, when asked how he could cope with
improving F&B value for so many brands and 700 hotels.
But he declined to go into the actual figures that he is
expected to produce with the role.
René J. M. Schillings, managing director of TOP Hoteliers, a
hospitality executive search firm based in Hong Kong, believes Chisholm’s role
is needed.
“F&B operations has always had more complexity than
rooms, yet skills set of managers at property level has decreased from 10-15
years ago,” Schillings said. “Before it took more 10 to 15 years for a graduate
to become F&B director. But what has happened in our industry is that the
younger generation wants to be promoted faster and hotels have to accept they
have people with lower skills and less experience than before.
“In addition, hotels that do not have 10-plus outlets – but only
four or five – cannot afford a heavyweight experienced director. That’s why
there is a need at HQ level to have senior experts to support a regional
cluster. Individual hotels’ P&L can no longer carry the cost of such people
or find enough of them. The same trend happens with revenue managers.”
Out-of-the-box
Chisholm’s experience in operations and asset management
sees him dishing out some out-of-the-box food for thought.
On sustainable F&B, for example, apart from removing
single-use plastics and supporting local farms and suppliers, he advocates for
more new ideas to reduce food waste.
“We must be able to put our hands on our hearts and say we
are reducing waste by being smarter about, for example, our menu designs,
portion sizes, pricing. I had lunch at a restaurant yesterday and the meal was
enormous, but there wasn’t an option for medium or small, which would have been
more than enough. I think we have to be more responsible as an industry to get
this right.”
Hotels that do not have 10-plus outlets – but only four or five – cannot afford a heavyweight experienced director. That’s why there is a need at HQ level to have senior experts to support a regional cluster. Individual hotels’ P&L can no longer carry the cost of such people or find enough of them. The same trend happens with revenue managers.
René J. M. Schillings
On F&B financial discipline, he said the industry should
question why F&B revenue management does not get the same focus as rooms
revenue management. “Airlines charge extra for the best seats; should we not
charge a higher price for seats with the best views in the restaurant?
“We also need to forecast [restaurant bookings] better,
which assists us with our labor planning, particularly in markets where there
are challenges with labor,” he said.
Chisholm also wants to bring in an investment approach that
he was exposed to at KSL Capital and treat the restaurants “as if I own them
and take them forward.”
“We need to think of F&B as an investment. So, we should
look at opportunities to drive incremental revenue. One way is maximizing every
square foot of the hotel space to drive incremental F&B revenue,” he
said.
Magic formula
But what’s the magic formula for improving ROI in Premium,
Midscale and Economy?
“To me, it’s about reinvention, operational excellence,
financial dashboards and credibility, as in building credibility with sustainable
offerings and by partnering with credible companies to do creative pop-up
activations, among others,” Chisholm said.
Current F&B trends he sees include “more entertainment,
such as showmanship and theatrics in restaurants, more plant-based menu options
and non-alcoholic wines and spirits.”
He maintains non-alcohol cocktails drive “pretty good bottom
lines.” And guess which country in the Middle East is the number one F&B
revenue earner? Saudi Arabia, a dry destination, which contributed to 30% of
F&B revenues in the region last year. UAE was second, contributing 20%.
As for learnings from Ennismore, Chisholm said, “With the
recent reorganization, the strategy is for us to be closer to our owners in our
particular areas. So, I zoom in on Premium, Midscale & Economy, Ennismore
on their Mondrians, and so on. But at the end of the day, we all have Accor on
our business cards. So, we share best practices and philosophies. We have an
open channel of communication.”
Ennismore is a refreshing buy for Accor. But the idea is not
to copy what they do, but to try and achieve its level of success.
“They’ve set the bar pretty high,” Chisholm said.