F & B
Baba Nest at Sri Panwa Phuket
night ? It ’ s great to put these things in a resort , but honestly , by the time the sun goes down , which is the time when people are going to go to the rooftop bar , then in the evening there ’ s nothing to look at ,” Rigby says .
Sri Panwa Phuket ’ s Baba Nest in Thailand need not worry about the view , but it does have to manage limited seating . A maximum 50 people can sit on the rooftop , which has 360-degree ocean views for guests who can sit on cushions at 12 short tables and be served Mexican-style tapas .
“ Because it ’ s on our rooftop and a high building with nothing obstructing ( the view ), it ’ s best to have short seating rather than high chairs for guests ’ safety and to make it more comfortable ,” says Pimkan Kongsanoon , who runs business development for the property .
Because of the limited seating , reservations are strongly encouraged and the restaurant imposes a minimum spend – THB 1,000 ( US $ 30 ) per person for in-house guests and THB 2,000 ( US $ 61 ) for outside guests .
Limited space makes a difference operationally as well — storage and kitchen are located on a floor below the rooftop bar itself . According to Kongsanoon , as the restaurant is only open 5 p . m . till 9 p . m ., the kitchen capacity stays “ efficient .”
In a sea of rooftop restaurants , Baba Nest
“ IF YOU DON ’ T HAVE ANYTHING UNIQUE TO MARKET THEN YOU ’ LL JUST BE TELLING THE SAME STORY THAT EVERYBODY ELSE DOES .”
GUY RIGBY
understands the importance of differentiating , which Rigby stresses could not be more important to a successful rooftop .
“ You ’ ve got to distinguish your product , define it , make sure it ’ s unique and stands out from what everybody else is doing ,” Rigby says . “ If you don ’ t have anything unique to market then you ’ ll just be telling the same story that everybody else does .”
And what better way to drive uniqueness than by listening to your guest — and hard .
William Friedrichs has been general manager and head of F & B operations at Noelle , a 224-room independent hotel in Nashville , since the property opened in 2017 . The property ’ s rooftop restaurant , Rare Bird , which opened in April , started out with a Butcher Block food and beverage concept , but ultimately pivoted to include seafood and oysters as a result of guest feedback .
Prior to opening , the property also coordinated a private preview party for selected influencers and , virtually overnight , added 3,000 followers to Rare Bird ’ s Instagram account .
“ We ’ ve tried hard to listen to our
28 hotelsmag . com December 2018