“Being part of a vibrant restaurant and its team makes the difference,” says Hani Roustom, who in February joined The Hazelton Hotel, Toronto, Canada, as general manager.
“I had no intention of moving across town,” the first-time GM continued. As EAM at The Shangri-La Toronto, he was contacted by celebrity chef Mark McEwan, whose empire runs from lead judge on “Top Chef Canada” to cookware, catering and heading McEwan Group restaurants. When The Hazelton was planned, its developers, helped by consultants, leased out the entire edible and potable side of the business – to McEwan as a 50-50 partner. The hotel opened in 2007 and got off to a great start.
Fast forward to late 2015 and the property was owned solely by Hazelton Hotels International, namely local entrepreneurs Peter Cohen and Bruce Greenberg. It needed a new GM. Mark McEwan knew Roustom had a strong F&B background and that he understood luxury. He quickly convinced all concerned that here was the person to fill the position (Klaus Tenter, the long-time Four Seasons legend who has been involved with this project since its start, was also enthusiastic).
“Onboard, I immediately set about integrating what had been two operating teams. The hotel has 77 rooms and suites, looked after by a staff count of 100 employees with less than 5% annual turnover, and previously all this was headed by the GM. The F&B team, which runs not only the highly successful ONE restaurant but also room service and meetings-events catering, had its own separate structure,” Roustom recalled.
One of the first things he did was invite ONE’s GM to daily morning meetings and the weekly Executive Committee meeting: All 121 ONE members, both full-time and part-time, are now thoroughly integrated into the hotel operations, including personnel benefits.
“Another early initiative was instilling more luxury throughout the hotel. I knew we could do this. With this number of keys and a superb product in an excellent location on Yorkville, my team and I discussed what we needed to do. A new Ask First initiative enabled everyone to suggest what was needed along our journey – sometimes it was only, say, another floor sweeping machine, to help logistically,” he explained.
After only a few months, as his team believed in him even more strongly, the entire hotel began to function more efficiently and more profitably. Minimum price for a room for Saturday November 5, 2016, is C$484.15 (US$361.66) on TripAdvisor, which currently lists The Hazelton as No. 1 of 135 hotels in Toronto. The hotel’s average stay is 2.1 nights, 37% are repeat guests, and it is hoped 2016’s overall occupancy will have risen 15% in a year.
“I never considered doing anything else,” Roustom declared. Born in Sidon, on the Mediterranean coast of southern Lebanon, his entire extended family was either entertaining or being entertained. At 17 he went to hotel school in Nicosia, Cyprus, after which he joined the Louis Cruise line. “For five years I had such fun,” he recalled with a big laugh. “I discovered the world, made lots of friends onboard and I did not mind working hard, seven days a week for months, once nine months, at a time.” Next came a master’s degree at Cornell University, after which he was taken on by Four Seasons Washington D.C. as assistant restaurant manager, rising to F&B, opening the new Four Seasons Toronto’s Café Boulud Restaurant and dbar. He subsequently switched to Shangri-La Toronto.
“I always thought I was a big brand man but I am exhilarated by this independent hotel. I have the full support of my owners, who are led by two local professionals, accountant Peter Cohen and lawyer Bruce Greenberg. I also have an incredible complement of F&B colleagues. Mark McEwan has put in a fabulous team here, and chef Darby Piquette, here since 2007, and his 34-strong brigade regularly do over a thousand covers a day, especially during summer when tables on the sidewalk are particularly popular. Except at breakfast, roughly 80% of diners are locals. Even my family back home never entertained to that degree,” said the proud boy from Sidon.