• Magazine Archive
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
  • Login
Hotel News ME
  • Hotels
  • Catering
  • Reviews
  • Suppliers
  • People
  • Videos
  • Events
    • GM Leaders Conference
      • Conference 2020
    • Leaders in Hospitality Awards
      • Awards 2021
    • Leaders in F&B Awards
      • Awards 2019
    • The Big F&B Forum
      • Forum 2019
    • Executive Housekeepers Conference
  • Business Connect
No Result
View All Result
Hotel News ME
  • Hotels
  • Catering
  • Reviews
  • Suppliers
  • People
  • Videos
  • Events
    • GM Leaders Conference
      • Conference 2020
    • Leaders in Hospitality Awards
      • Awards 2021
    • Leaders in F&B Awards
      • Awards 2019
    • The Big F&B Forum
      • Forum 2019
    • Executive Housekeepers Conference
  • Business Connect
No Result
View All Result
Hotel News ME
No Result
View All Result
Home Catering

F&B entrepreneurs warn new players to “lose the ego”

Dina Maaty by Dina Maaty
February 24, 2016
in Catering, F&B, News
A A

Panellists at the Start-up Advice for the F&B Entrepreneur discussion at the Gulfood Conference advised new F&B business operators to be humble, to take advice from the right people, and to negotiate carefully with partners in order to successfully enter the market.

Samer S. Hamadeh and Ziad Kamel, co-founders and managing partners of Aegis Hospitality; Karl Naim, co-founder and CEO of ChefXChange; Raki Phillips, co-founder and CEO, SugarMoo Desserts and Khalil Shadid, founder and CEO of ReserveOut came together at Dubai World Trade Centre on Sunday 21 February to share their advice with budding F&B start-ups in the region.

L-R: Raki Phillips, Karl Naim and Khalil Shadid

Hamadeh and Kamel of Aegis agreed that F&B entrepreneurs must be wary about the people they take advice from.

“My advice is not to take advice,” commented Hamadeh, who added that advice from friends and family or anyone else with an emotional stake in business decisions should be avoided.

“Nobody is in your shoes, nobody wants to do what you want to do necessarily and the odd people doing the exact same thing are rare,” he said.

Meanwhile, his business partner Kamel, said that advice should be sought from the right professionals in order to clearly map out your business plan.

“[You should get] sound advice from people that do know what they’re talking about – legal experts, financial experts.

“Dubai is a big market but you need to know how to tread; you don’t want to expose yourself too much,” he said.

Kamel also warned that resilience is key at the start, and once a business plan is solid, it’s important to overcome the teething problems.

“Once you have your idea and start implementing it, you need to keep pushing to overcome all obstacles; it is possible, but there’s only one person who can either make it or break it and that’s you,” he said.

Agreeing with Kamel’s sentiment, ReserveOut’s Shadid added that F&B entrepreneurs must “throw ego out of the window” in order to get ahead.

“All of us at some point made an assumption and it didn’t work and the reason we’re still here and still successful is we were able to pivot quickly; to identify where we had to make a turn and then make that turn being humble.

“You must focus on understanding your market – what are you going to be doing, who are you selling to, what’s the price point, is there someone out there willing to pay for this? That’s how you validate a business,” he said.

Some of the key stumbling blocks in the first phase of starting up a business were also highlighted  ̶̶ the toughest of these being partnerships, according to SugarMoo’s Phillips.

“I think the biggest thing is the vendors we work with – nobody will ever stick to a contract, nobody will ever deliver on time or keep a promise,” he said, advising start-up businesses to be tough on suppliers to avoid being messed around at the beginning.

“I’d say negotiate terms that benefit you. If someone is delayed in delivering you something, charge them a penalty, renegotiate your fees,” he said.

Naim of ChefXChange agreed, and suggested that start-up businesses should focus on themselves to begin with rather than diving into partnerships too quickly.

“We spend a lot of our time trying to build partnerships with companies that are more established than we are, and with suppliers.

“It’s very time consuming and sometimes I think it’s not worth it. Maybe it’s better to focus on what you are actually doing, rather than trying to partner,” he said.

The Gulfood Conference, produced by BNC Publishing took place from 21 – 23 February at Conrad Dubai and Dubai World Trade Centre.

The Conference tackled some of the key issues impacting the F&B industry in the Middle East including the start-up landscape, franchising, financing, food security, halal opportunities and public health and the food industry.

A full review of the conference will be available in the March issue of Catering News Middle East.

Tags: cateringcatering news mechefchefsDubaiDubai food festivalDubai World Trade CentredwtcemiratesentrepreneursexpansionF&BfoodgulfoodGulfood 2016Gulfood ConferencehospitalityHotel News MEnewsrestaurantrestaurantsstart-upsuae

Related Posts

Radisson Hotel Group to expand with 30 hotel openings across EMEA in 2021
Hotels

Radisson Hotel Group to expand with 30 hotel openings across EMEA in 2021

March 3, 2021
Hospitality software provider Duetto announces promotion and appointment
Appointments

Hospitality software provider Duetto announces promotion and appointment

March 3, 2021
Dubai cancels permits for Ramadan tents in 2021
Catering

Dubai cancels permits for Ramadan tents in 2021

March 3, 2021
Please login to join discussion

Trending

Gates Hospitality announces two new senior appointments
Appointments

Gates Hospitality announces two new senior appointments

by Dina Maaty
March 2, 2021

Read more
sbe names general manager for SLS Dubai Hotel & Residences
Appointments

sbe names general manager for SLS Dubai Hotel & Residences

by Dina Maaty
February 24, 2021

Read more
Spoilt for Choice: Nakheel’s multi-venue dining concepts in Dubai
Catering

Spoilt for Choice: Nakheel’s multi-venue dining concepts in Dubai

by Dina Maaty
January 7, 2021

Read more

Digital Magazine

Hotel News ME

Copyright © 2021
BNC Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Hotels
  • Catering
  • Reviews
  • Suppliers
  • People
  • Videos
  • Events
    • GM Leaders Conference
      • Conference 2020
    • Leaders in Hospitality Awards
      • Awards 2021
    • Leaders in F&B Awards
      • Awards 2019
    • The Big F&B Forum
      • Forum 2019
    • Executive Housekeepers Conference
  • Business Connect

Copyright © 2021
BNC Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In