FF&E Procurement: Best Practices for Restaurant Owners in Saudi Arabia

It is an exciting time to be part of the restaurant market in Saudi Arabia. New rules about seating sections, music, entertainment and staffing, have brought a new vibe to the dining- out market for the last few years. Entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the industry with fresh concepts that, for a large part, are much more casual than earlier. The COVID 19 has had a temporary effect on this industry, however, the long term trends for eating out or food service market in general in KSA show a CAGR 5% growth in the years to come.

As a Restaurant Owner, when designing your restaurant or refurbishing an existing property, one of the most important things you need to consider is your furniture or broadly the FF&E. The right furniture will tie your theme together and improve the flow of your restaurant. The wrong furniture can make your establishment feel cold and unwelcoming. Done incorrectly, this has the potential of increasing your costs and reducing the overall footfalls.

As an Owner, thinking through the below points would avoid costly blunders in the long run:

Product Engineering: How feasible in the product design vis-à-vis the expected inflow of customers? Are you opening a fine dine restaurant or a high footfall outlet? Is the furniture capable of withstanding the wear and tear of the daily footfalls? Appropriate fabric rub counts for high turnover seating and durable varnishes on tables to reduce staining are just some examples of the standards you would want to look at.

This may seem like an obvious point, but many new restaurant owners assume that it doesn’t matter whether you buy commercial or residential furniture which could prove to be a fatal mistake.

A smart interior design firm would assist you in making the right product specification decisions at this stage. Working with your designers to customize products with more efficient materials or less complex features that remain true to the original design will help in the next stage of Budgeting.

Budget: Once the brand standards and specs are finalized, the budget would play a integral role in deciding whether to buy from a standard line or making custom furniture.  Using the services of a professional Hospitality furniture supply company would help at this stage.

Production Stage: This is a crucial stage and your procurement company can assist you with identifying the right factories who would meet your brand standards, budget as well as the lead time. Approval of material samples and a workshop visit to the factory would assist on getting products meeting your quality standards and specs. A QC visit during/post production also would reduce the time delays if the products are being shipped from an overseas location like South East Asia or Europe to KSA.

Shipping /Clearance: We live in uncertain times with supply chain disruptions across the world due to COVID 19. Your Procurement company could assist you in getting the best logistics options and manage the SABER/SASO regulations as well as customs clearances to avoid surprises.

Warranty: Does your supplier offer a warranty against Manufacturing defects? What is their experience of working with other commercial projects in the region?

There are a lot of moving parts in FF&E Procurement. It takes a skilled team with know how to implement and be successful at the same time. At BAS Global Investments, we have a team of consultants who have worked on marquee projects inside the Kingdom as well as the wider GCC market.

#saudiarabia #furniture #hospitality #FF&E #Restaurant