The Abu Dhabi-based boss of Food & Allied Support Services Co (FASSCO) is a hotelier with a difference – among other distinguishing points he oversees food experience at the regional land mark the 364 bed Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD) hospital, where many beds are in private rooms, many with adjacent sitting rooms for families and friends (and there are also two 5 star hotels for staying over). 3,500 caregivers from 82 countries must also be fed every day. As a patient or guest at the hospital, you can choose from 600 food items, designed with the help of Michelin 3-star Michel Guérard. Your doctor will decree, based on your medical condition if you should eat Regular, Healthy heart, Carb control 3-5, GI Soft diet, or Renal diet. Each of the 34 diets has menus for breakfast, lunch and or dinner – take breakfast, you’ll find Regular has choice of omelettes, or plain egg white omelette; using only pasteurized eggs. Healthy heart only offers sunny side up eggs, as does 3-5 (saying ‘0 carbs’), and both GI soft and Renal offer eggs sunny side up. All meals, and snacks, are available 24/7 which you can order, at 45 minutes’ notice, via your suite’s iPad or television, or a paper menu, or via your floor butler (VIP and Royal floors come with their own Butlers), and if you want 2 pieces of chocolate cake at 2am, fine, but you are warned that when you reach your 24-hour calorie allowance the system shuts off. Your meal is served with Bauscher and Hepp, and without salt and pepper unless the doctor permits, and no Coke or fried food is allowed. Your butler, trained with the help of Magnum Butlers, Australia, and EHL Lausanne, are trained to ensure strict adherence of each diet.

FASSCO, till recently chaired by David Baffsky, ex-Executive Chairman Accor Asia Pacific, is owned by Planet Foods, Raju Shete, founder of RKHS (now Sodexo, India). It is Sehgal’s brief to grow FASSCO’s offerings from food service to Integrated Facility Management (leading the consortium of top Singapore based companies) initially in the Middle East but it is already being courted by entities, not only in Healthcare, in Australia, Africa, Asia and elsewhere. FASSCO could well, indeed, get into mainstream 3rd party hotel management in healthcare facilities – look at the hotel-type welcome at Abu Dhabi Cleveland Clinic. You are greeted by a concierge in local dress offering a tasting of 3 variety of dates, including 10-month aged, all under silver cloches, and with 3 different local coffees to provide the best pairings. Girish Sehgal and Stefan Tornau -Director Food Services and Hospitality CCAD who has worked with leading chains in Senior Hospitality and F&B positions including at the Mandarin Oriental, have been well exposed to luxury hospitality. After hotel school in his home area, in the Lower Himalayas, Sehgal’s career took him via Leela and Four Seasons to an MBA in International Hospitality and Services Industry Management at Glion, and on to Taj. He was GM of Hyderabad Taj Falaknuma Palace when he was enticed by the FASSCO vision of bringing hospitality into healthcare.

About: Mary Gostelow
Luxury Freelancer
Gostelow Report & GirlAhead.com

Mary Gostelow is an avid and enviable traveller, on the road 300 days a year! As well as writing her own travel blog, Mary is publisher of the definitive Gostelow Report market intelligence for the luxury hotel sector worldwide, editor-at-large of KiwiCollection.com, contributing editor of Elite Traveller and HOTELS and regular columnist of Best In Travel, Destination of the World News and our very own TheInsider magazine. Visit www.girlahead.com to read up on Mary’s daily blog.