A Cocktail For Success

Muhammad Shafiee bin Abdullah has always wanted to make it big in the food and beverage industry. He recalls: “Since young, I’ve always found bartending and bartenders to be cool and trendy. To me, it wasn’t just about mixing and serving drinks, but also the showmanship of bartenders and the way they showed off their flaring skills to entertain crowds, which intrigued me.”

In 2008, he took his first step towards fulfilling his ambition when he joined the Timbre Group as a bartender. At that time, he had little experience in the trade and relied on picking up bartending skills while on the job.

Shafiee recalls harsh training conditions, competition with better and more experienced bartenders, as well as growing expectations and demands in the job from his managers and customers alike.

Pairing Service Excellence with Top-Notch Cooking Skills

The ability to dish up tasty food used to be the sole quality expected of chefs in the Food & Beverage industry. But judges for this year's Singapore National Restaurant Skills Competition (SNRSC), now into its second year, are looking beyond taste to qualities such as “team work, coordination excellence, hygiene and product knowledge, service protocol and professionalism,” according to Mr Frank Yuen (right), Board Member of the Food & Beverage Managers’ Association (FBMA) of Singapore and General Manager of Le lifestyle Hospitality Food Services.

He said, “Restaurant practitioners, besides knowledge of food preparation and service, should try to gain more knowledge and skills in other disciplines to complement the overall dining experience. They need to keep abreast of developments in farming and fishing, and hone their presentation skills and salesmanship.”

Celebrity Chef Eric Teo (right) who is also judging the competition agrees. He feels restaurant staff in Singapore are “not getting enough exposure to the industry and job hop too often.”

“A professional chef or server needs to love his job and be passionate about the people dining at their restaurants . There are too many part timers who are not trained to handle picky and demanding guests,” said Chef Teo. As for beginners in the kitchen, they should “have the right attitude and be very passionate and fanatic about cooking good food.” He said, “Basic cooking skills, knowledge of various cutting methods, basic cooking techniques and finally knowing the names of basic fruits , vegetables and different types of meat, fish and seafood are the foundation of a successful career as a chef.”