April 2019
In profile
Tricon Foodservice Consultants Mike Coldicott, owner and managing director, Tricon Foodservice Consultants Ltd, tells us about their services in the Middle East.
Tell us about your company. Tricon Foodservice Consultants Ltd was set up 37 years ago to meet a growing demand for the provision of specialist management and design consultancy within the F&B and hospitality industry. At the time, it did not have sufficient support with regards to knowledge and expertise in the planning of kitchens, serveries, and general food and beverage design. The business grew over the years to support all sectors and areas of the food and beverage industry. As we grew as a business, the work became more varied with different projects and challenges within different sectors. In 2003 Tricon began work in the Middle East and by 2005 we had become quite successful as a business in marketing our services to clients here. Over the past 14 years the business in the Gulf region has grown in reputation and size and we now have 12 staff in Dubai supported by a further 35 staff in the UK office. Tricon have built a reputation in Dubai and the Middle East as one of, if not the only market leader in the provision of kitchen planning services, laundry and housekeeping design, and waste management consultancy. What services do you offer the hospitality industry? A principle part of our business is the management and design consultancy, providing strategic business planning advice, concept development, operational overview, and anything associated with the development and business case analysis of the food and beverage operations. This works in parallel with the planning and design side of the business, which is taking operational concepts from its preliminary stage to base build analysis, detailed design, tender documentation, and construction supervision across all sectors of the market. 48
Hotel & Catering NEWS ME
optimise the use of space. There is also a focus on kitchens that can adapt and develop to suit the market as it moves and evolves throughout the operator lifecycle. We’re seeing great emphasis placed on environmental design solutions that minimise or reduce utility usage using intelligent management systems.
What are some projects that you have worked on in the ME region? The projects that Tricon work on are wide ranging from hotels and restaurants, businesses and retail to sport and leisure. We’ve worked on numerous exciting projects including Olea restaurant at Kempinski, Mall of Emirates with its wonderful show kitchen, the Andaz Capital Gate Tower in Abu Dhabi, Grosvenor House’s acclaimed Ruya restaurant, and the Four Season’s Abu Dhabi where we worked with Turkish chef Nusret Gokce otherwise known as Salt Bae. What are the latest trends in the F&B kitchen consulting industry? We’re seeing clients and developers wanting to minimise kitchen space, which is understandable given the cost of real estate per sqft. We’re constantly devising creative solutions to maximise and
What are the latest trends in the hospitality industry and how is Tricon keeping up with those trends? In hotels it’s about designing the three meal restaurant in such a way that they can support the volume of breakfast service but also have a character and identity to support a lunchtime and evening service rather than just become a generic international all-day dining. We spend a great deal of focus on designing solutions that are scalable for the time of day to avoid that feel of being in a space where only half the counters are operational. Unsurprisingly there is also a great focus on technology being used to aid the chefs brigade and his team with equipment linked via data cabling to provide constant monitoring and feedback on how the equipment is performing. This will only increase in usage given that a well designed and specified kitchen can generate up to 30% savings in utility bills. What are your plans for the rest of 2019? We’re busy working on a number of international pavilion projects associated with Dubai Expo 2020 in preparation for its launch next year. We have ten 5-star hotel developments in progress that we’ve been working on including the new Mandarin Oriental Bahrain, the MGM and Bellagio Porto Island Dubai, and a food & beverage masterplan for a new development in Saudi Arabia. www.hotelnewsme.com