Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming January 2016 18 to overhaul F&B at The Grand Ho Tram in Vietnam, I visited many suppliers to personally taste and select every vintage on the 120 item wine list. A great technique to generate value is to buy wines en primeur . This means buying wine at a great price early while the vintage is still in the barrel or the grapes are even still on the vine. IAG: How do you go about generating an excellent service culture amongst line F&B staff when many of them are quiet young and inexperienced and can be hard to motivate? RO: First, you have to lead by example. To create a culture where service is important you have to be humble. As a leader you have to serve your team. Second, you have to give your staff goals and set a clear career path. It’s best to promote staff from within because once employees see that, it’s a huge motivational tool. And continuous praise. If you praise a staff member who has done nine bad things and one good, then the next time he will do eight bad and two good. IAG: In what has to be one of the most unusual language sets going around, you speak English, Arabic, Russian and French! Do you get much of a chance to use them all? Has it helped your career? RO: In the Middle East people with experience are in high demand, so if you have both Arabic and experience there you can get a job anywhere. Then there are Russians, who will always expect everyone else to speak their language when they travel the world. When they have a problem, I’m the one who gets called to the front desk to deal with them. IAG: Who do you most admire in the industry? RO: Shaun McCamley, who constantly mentored me when he brought me in to help him overhaul loss-making casinos in Vietnam and Laos. He’s the one who gave me the book – The Servant by James C Hunter – to read. He taught me that to be a great leader you must first be a humble servant. The higher you go, the more that becomes true. You’re only as good as the people under you. One day you might have to call on people and put together a team. If you’re a jerk, no- one is going to come. Another was Antonio Guijarro, who was one of my great bosses. IAG: Are you a gambler yourself? If so, what do you like to play? RO: My mother made a few bets when she came to visit me in Macao. But during my five years there, I never touched a table or slot machine. IAG: What do you like to do in your spare time? RO: I love my wines and am constantly trying different vintages to find something new. I also love movies, with The Shawshank Redemption , Midnight Run and Scent of a Woman among my favorites. IAG: Where do you see yourself in five to ten years? RO: As vice president in charge of a huge F&B operation you lose touch. You’re in an office and not dealing directly with guests, so you just have to hope you’ve found the right people and trained them well. My biggest strength is in direct contact with guests. Ultimately I want to go back to being the GM of a resort, where I say hello to everyone who checks in, and goodbye to everyone who checks out. Industry profile “ To find the best balance between price and quality you have to be personally involved with every selection.” Rami tasting an en primeur Chateau d’Yquem, a superior Premier Cru wine from Sauternes in the Graves subregion in the southern part of Bordeaux.