Outside at the Scandinavian Fjord Restaurant at Europa- Park (Image courtesy Europa-Park)
sourcing can potentially lead to a situation where one division enabling value to another at their expense becomes more difficult, to the detriment of the customer. If we operate all outlets ultimately this is more simple as the cost and return ends up in the same place. Imagine a cleaner walking past a dirty table and not cleaning it because they don’t have a contract with the F&B outlet if either function is an externally sourced supplier.” And he continued: “I believe the whole experience is
the key driver of decision making (outsourcing or not) e.g. thrill rides, family friendly environment, tigers, wildlife, waterpark location, other attractions, food and beverage, etc. We have some brands that are very successful and popular products and they allow us to operate on terms that suit us both to the benefit of the customer, for example Krispy Kreme and Boost Juice. Many of the financial models that brands have presented to us would result in any superior returns being retained by them in terms of licenses, fees and cost of goods. Ultimately the brand equity belongs to them and they expect a return. “We can’t build a new ride or experience with a fee paid
to someone else so we try to do it ourselves if we can. We are always trying to balance product quality, diversity, nutritional balance, saleability, etc. Ultimately we regularly do in depth analysis on what is selling, what is not and customer feedback. We continue to sell what sells because that is obviously what the customers want. However if something doesn’t sell, we try to find a replacement that does.” On pricing, Gaudin feels there are financial and non-
financial considerations to be made re outsourcing and in house operation. In F&B, he notes, making a decision solely on price can be short sighted. “We have popular items that we know we can get
alternatives for cheaper but they don’t taste as good. Some are made by us, others are bought in.” And does he think park visitors expect to see well-known
F&B brands in parks today? “In our market I think they expect to see the money
Ocean Park offers a wide range of F&B opportunities to cater to the many different nationalities that come to the park (Image courtesy Ocean Park)
invested in exciting new theme park experiences and park renewal to keep giving them reasons to return to or visit the park, generation after generation,” he says. “The money is better invested in Buzz Saw, Shockwave and Tower of Terror 2. Three new rides in a year! That’s what they are here for.” At Ocean Park in Hong Kong, chief executive Tom
Mehrmann explains that the F&B operations are primarily in-house.
42 InterPark September–October 2011
Tantalising the tastebuds! “After the opening of Thrill Mountain, a major themed
area, as part of our Master Development Plan which will open later this year, as well as Polar Adventure, the last area of development, opening in July 2012, we will have a total of eight restaurants and cafés as well as 34 kiosks and mobile food carts throughout the park. “We have an agreement with McDonalds, which dates
back many years and they have one outlet in the park, as well as another revenue share agreement with a tour operator who operates our large Chinese food restaurant, which is a function of the tour trade and the type of meals and group tickets that are being managed through the tour operator (non-group guests do use the facility too). “At one time all facilities were operated by a third-
party. The original park philosophy was to simply run the park and outsource the F&B and retail to third party operators, as it was not considered a core discipline of the management team. We took the entire retail operation in- house in 1998 and the F&B operation in-house in March of 2005. F&B was brought in-house after many years of dealing with a substandard product and guest concerns about the product quality and service. The length of stay in the park was around three hours and per capita spending in F&B was below desired levels. While it was an outside group running the F&B operation it was still our brand and our reputation that was being damaged by the negative impression of the product quality and service. We wanted to have full control of the guest experience, which included the F&B.” Mehrmann notes that the advantages of the park
operating the F&B outlets itself are many. “It allows full control of the service quotient, the product
quality and the guest experience. Likewise, we literally own the entire process, which means the management team engages as owners to ensure the produce, service and experience are world-class. We can control the cost and experience by managing the recipes, buying, delivery, receiving, production, storage, distribution, wastage, cash management and service delivery. Moreover, we are able to focus on maintaining a high standard in the food production process, as reflected in our recent acquisition of the ISO22000 food safety standard. The implementation of a central kitchen has also brought many benefits to our restaurants’ operations. “Another advantage of operating our own food outlets
is that we are able to prepare different cuisines to cater for guests of different nationalities, while the choices are varied in terms of taste, style and price.”
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