Rising Stars chats with Marcel Haddad, Senior Manager, R & B, MEA at Marriott International

Rising Stars had a catch-up with Marcel Haddad to check in on the upcoming Rising Stars Live Final this September. Marcel is currently senior manager, restaurants and bars, MEA at Marriott International, based in Dubai.

Marcel, what would you say are the most important elements all of the associates across EMEA should be considering now as preparation for this year's competition?

For me, coming from this particular field and for this specific competition, I say that mindset is key.
So when you start off with the competition, you need to think about it as a sport. It's not a one-off thing, right? Like any other sport, you don’t always get crowned as champion. The mindset is to participate, to get the best out of it. The key focus is participation, taking all the learnings possible during the process and the journey. And there's no ‘losing’ in this part because of the knowledge, interactions and meeting with new people in the industry.
That's a win win for everybody. So, for me, first off is mindset.

Second to mindset, what would your next step in the approach be?

Know your product and know the rules. You know these competitions can have tricky details that we need be mindful of. Knowing the product is key. Going through the history of what you're working compete with, the key product that you're using is mandatory for any competition because that's going help you out in the future in terms of storytelling and building your creation. And of course, going into details of what's expected in the terms and conditions of the preparation of your cocktail, making sure that everything is prepped on time and the right way.

This year's competition, we're asking for closed loop practises, we're asking for inspiration of two cities. If you were to share some guidance to people right now on the brief, what would your tips be?

Starting off with closed loop - closed loop is a term we are currently seeing a lot, specifically when we look into sustainable operations. Classically, we take a product, we utilise it and then that's it. That's one time use for any product behind the bar and what we're trying to do is move into a more of a circular economy by utilising closed loop operation techniques, which means for every product at least have a second or third use. So basically, taking anything that we consider at this stage as F&B waste and then turning it a second time and a third time to make sure we maximise, we reuse or recycle every single product we have and working towards a circular economy.

And I think last year when we introduced closed loop, we saw that closed loop could go beyond the simple wins of citrus or coffee. We did have some really elevated interpretations of closed loop.

Correct, it can go all the way to kitchen operations. It can be coming from breakfast or from meetings and events. So really for food waste we have a lot of sources, specifically in the hotel business. You can look into many different areas in your operation to uncover some items that we can utilise or repurpose and create your own homemade setup or maybe infuse to make a proper liqueur. So, there's really a lot of F&B elements that we can explore.

And what about the reference to the Two Cities?

Focussing on the element of the inspiration of two cities, one city has to be your hometown or city destination where your property is based. But I think it's worthwhile emphasising that the second city could be inspired by a painting, a postcard, wanderlust. It doesn't have to be somewhere you've necessarily travelled before. Considering something inspirational, very close to your heart from your home country can be the base of that drink. And, you know, working towards something that can expand to everybody else and showcasing the culture in a different way will be a tale between two cities. Finding that connection between those two elements or those two inspirational places, we do believe is going be a great.

So as part of the competition entry Marcel, it's more than just creating a serve. There is a little bit of homework and learning to do with some of the programmes as well.

Yes. So, as I mentioned earlier, knowing your product is key and as you know, for a lot of these lovely ladies and gentlemen joining us for the first time in competition, there's a lot of new stuff to learn. We have many trainings available and two that are required for the competition Bar Smarts is one of those trainings that's going the essentials in bar operation covering the history of alcohol, the spirit base and beyond.
The second training is The Bar World Of Tomorrow. Bar World of tomorrow is completely focused on closed loop bar operations. Basically, it's our sustainable beverage training programme that we have available that's going bring you towards that closed loop mentality and open your eyes on what can be done in terms of F&B waste and what do you need to repurpose on your own property. So these are key trainings to go through before you prepare yourself to the final cocktail submission.
Both courses are here on Rising Stars under the Resources tab.

I think it’s also worth reminding everybody that we are very happy to see multiple entries from the same property or indeed the same bar.

For sure. So Rising Stars is for everybody to rise. We want to make sure that it's available for everyone. The more the merrier. It's open for all our hotels, all our properties and all our venues. We want to encourage every single bartender or bar enthusiasts to be part of it. This is going give you more exposure, more training, and more development for your personal career. And as well, exposure to other colleagues within the business across Europe, Middle East, and Africa. So please – as many entries from properties as possible!