Hot dogs and pizza? At Motiongate Dubai theme park, located at Dubai Parks & Resorts, there’s so much more to dining options. We interview Ralph Fernandes, food and beverage director, for a sneak peek into fun-filled F&B.
Food and Beverage Director
How frequently do you update your menu and introduce new dishes/items?
We introduce new dishes/items based on customers’ feedback and demand. The menu is refreshed every three to six months.
How many F&B outlets do you have across the park? What are some of the cuisines that you serve?
We have more than six F&B outlets in Motiongate serving Italian, Chinese, Arabic, Indian and American cuisine. Apart from that, we also manage a host of other catering events in the park.
How many people do you employ across the F&B function at the park?The number of employees employed at a given time depends on the seasons. During peak season from October to March, we have 90 to 95 employees, and from April to September, we have 70 to 75 employees.
Food has become a key part of the experience at the park – please provide some examples of how you use F&B to enhance the experience for visitors?
Theme parks are lively destinations and riding roller coasters makes people burn a considerable amount of energy, so they are always looking forward to a good meal.
We do offer great meal deals where visitors can get a discount on meals combined with an all-day beverage programme. We make sure that all of our meal deals cater to all types of audiences across different age groups.
How do you plan your menu? Do you have special menus for different occasions?
We plan our menu based on the various nationalities visiting the park. Yes, we have special menus for different occasions such as Eid, Christmas etc.
What are the top three most popular food items at the park?
Most people are looking for quick food, so pastas, pizzas and burgers feature top of the list.
Are there any restaurant/food items or specific dishes linked to the theme park/brand such as movies or characters? If yes, which dishes and which movies/characters?
Yes, we have specific dishes such as the Gargamel Burger, which is a character from The Smurfs movie, and we also have Mr Pings Schezwan Chicken Noodles from Kung Fu Panda. All our menus are also designed around different movie themes and characters.
Are there any particular challenges you’ve overcome in the process of developing your food and beverage services at the park?
One challenge we had was the lack of food and beverage menu awareness in the park. To address this, we had a professional photo shoot of our food items and we now have better images and redesigned menus that represent our food items better.
F&B in theme park requires constant creativity and innovation. What sort of R&D goes into menu planning and development before launch?We look into every guest survey and feedback and listen very carefully to our frontline staff who are in direct contact with guests and aware of their likes and dislikes. We also benchmark competition and see what we can introduce in the park at regular intervals.
