Monday, November 06, 2006 Service with a smile By Jigs Arquiza
FEEDING a large number of people is no easy task, and in a large hotel, the undertaking becomes even more challenging. Maintaining the culinary standards of the hotel’s food, making sure it meets the expectations of its guests, and giving the diners something different and memorable, this is the kind of thing that challenges all Food and Beverage Managers. These are the challenges Dorian C. Mendoza, Waterfront Mactan’s new Food and Beverage Manager, thrive on. With several Chefs on Parade awards under his belt and well over a decade of experience behind him, Ian, as he prefers to be called, is definitely very capable of meeting these challenges face-to-face.
His joining the F&B industry was actually an accident, he explains. “I never expected to be working in a hotel. A friend of mine applied for a job as a bartender in a hotel in Manila, and I went along with him to try my luck. Before I knew it, I got accepted.” He goes on to say that it has been a very long process for him, learning his craft and working his way up to where he is right now. “I really owe it to the people that I have worked with,” Ian relates, “they were very professional and I’ve learned a lot from them.”
Working at Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino gives him a sense of achievement, Ian admits. Being given carte-blanche in running his department, setting his own standards of quality and excellence, and doing things his way has enabled him to serve his customers better.
According to him though, being in charge of the F&B section of Waterfront Mactan is not actually a one-man show. “It’s not about just one person. It’s all about having the right people working together towards a common goal.” Valuing hotel customers is also an important part of Ian’s work philosophy. “We would even go out of the box to cater to the customers’ requirements. Service-oriented kasi tayo eh.”
A wine connoisseur as well as a gourmand, one of his hopes is that the Filipino taste would be more sophisticated and educated in terms of food and beverages, especially wines. He feels happy that with today’s younger generation, this is fast becoming reality, as the youth is more and more being exposed to more western or cultured tastes. This is also one of the reasons why, with so many people in the F&B industry going out of the country, working at hotels abroad or in cruise liners, he chose to stay and work in the Philippines. “I want to share my knowledge with my countrymen,” he says with a beaming smile.
