Food for thought for Qatar's catering industry
Originally published in Gulf Times on January 11, 2008
THE catering industry in Qatar is some 30 years behind the international standards and has some major “catching-up to do,” QP subsidiary Amwaj Catering Services’ managing director and board member, Jassim Mohamed Ali al-Kuwari, said yesterday.
“We commissioned an international consultant to do a research, findings of which were to be the basis of our first operations, and found out that the industry is filled with illicit practices, sub-standard food and maltreatment of employees,” be explained.
AI-Kuwari, an industry veteran with 25 years’ experience, charged some major catering companies of mistreating the employees, who live in ‘horrible’ conditions and offering sub-standard food to the clients to increase the profits.
“One company I know employs an extra person just to ensure that people who prepare food are not eating anything,” he said.
“Our promise is to rid the industry of the existing standards and set the benchmark of quality and standard,” the official said.
Amwaj, a 100% QP -owned subsidiary, was created under a directive of HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry and QP chairman, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, with the aim of becoming the leading hospitality and facility management service provider, while setting global benchmarks.
With the initial focus on the oil and gas industry, the company’s stated mission is to deliver high quality service at the best value, being the partner of choice, exceeding stakeholder expectations and being the preferred employer in Qatar.
“We at Amwaj are passionate about food, and promise to operate openly and transparently, while also adopting environmental and eco-friendly practices,” said al-Kuwari.
The initial startup capital for Amwaj was QR 100mn and they were supposed to cater to all the QP managed recreational clubs, “but it so happens that we ended up catering to the recently concluded Qatar Tennis Open and the feedback was immense.”
Now the company is looking forward 10 offer world-class special event catering, corporate hospitality, contract catering and executive luncheons to any interested party demanding “quality”.
Asked if the high inflation in the country had hit Amwaj’s operational costs as well, al-Kuwari, who’s owned a fine-dining restaurant for 15 years in Minnesota said: “Of course it has, and in fact became one of the major challenges to us in keeping the prices down.”
“We just don’t want the people to think that being a new company and a subsidiary of QP, we are pushing for a price increase, when the cost of the commodities itself is shooting up,” he said.
However, according to al-Kuwari, it’s still possible to offer good and healthy food to people without compromising on quality and even affordability.
“We set up a canteen in Qatar Technical School recently, where previously people were getting ‘junk’ food, made of ‘frozen’ items, by ordering through a ‘window’. Now you can actually go there and sit down and have a healthy meal. And you will notice that price hasn’t been changed by one penny,” he said, while adding that “in this age of health-conscious people should start demanding the ‘food that’s cooked just right’.
“We are also trying to set standards for the kind of food we serve to our low-income workers and hope that other companies out there follow the suit,” he said.
“But they will have to start from considering them as humans first,” al-Kuwari added.
As Published
