The QTea high tea served in the lobby of the QT Sydney hotel .
FOOD & BEVERAGE
ACTIVATING the lobby
SEASONAL ACTIVATIONS , SPECIAL EXPERIENCES AND POP-UPS , ESPECIALLY WHEN DONE WITH HOTEL AND RESORT LOCALES IN MIND , ELEVATE LOBBY FOOD AND BEVERAGE OPERATIONS .
Contributed by JEANETTE HURT
“
Classically
, hotel lobbies were very stale and boring , literally like airport waiting rooms ,” said Alex Ghalleb , global vice president of F & B operations for Carte Blanched , which curates all the F & B operations in all Ennismore lifestyle hotels . “ Particularly now and going forward , the lobby is much more geared toward an experiential style of life .”
To gear things properly , Ghalleb said , hotels and resorts must really consider the locations and cultures of where they will be situated . “ There ’ s not one blanket rule ,” he said . “ We approach each local community and culture for the priority of how we move forward and what kind of opportunities would work for each community .”
That mindset – of approaching each property individually from the community standpoint – has not only helped Ennismore ’ s properties be successful but it ’ s helped the hotel group , with brands ranging from Hoxton to 25hours , JO & JOE , Mama Shelter Delano , Mondrian , SLS and Tribe , avoid some potentially costly mistakes . For example , at a property in Rome , they had started the design process for an espresso bar ; initially , they had planned to have lounging areas so people could enjoy coffee on the sofa . But in Italy , people stand at a bar , have an espresso and then they ’ re gone in minutes .
“ We took away the bar stools , and we really changed the way we thought about coffee shop dynamics ,” said Charlie North , global vice president of interior design for AIME , which procures interior design spaces and curates the ambiance for each Ennismore property .
“ We took our learning experience in Rome for our next Italian project in Florence ,” North added . “ And we ’ ve positioned our bar to offset front windows so that people can walk up in scooters , have their espresso and go , and we then bridged the outside with the inside , enchanting the connectivity for the main space .”
Every lobby food and beverage operation has to appeal to locals . “ We always ask what would draw locals ; it must have a connection with the locality ,” Ghalleb said .
“ Since 50 % of our revenue is driven from F & B , it ’ s all the more important that the local audience is brought in ,” said Marcos Eleftheriou , vice president of culture and internal communications
74 hotelsmag . com Jan / Feb 2023