Food service in the Hotel Chapter Rome – interview with General Manager Jacopo Arosio

With his experience of over 25 years in the world of high profile hospitality, Jacopo Arosio started his career ‘on the bottom rung’, working his way up through every hotel department to become a point of reference for large international chains of 5* hotels, including the Milan and London Four Seasons. Today he is the General Manager of Rome’s Hotel Chapter. 

In January 2019, Arosio guided the opening of this designer hotel, unique on the Italian capital’s accommodation scene.  The inauguration was a ‘soft opening’, with the accommodation part to be gradually integrated with several food and beverage service points. The latest of these will be opening soon: the Campori Restaurant, for which GICO has supplied a fully bespoke kitchen.

What is the role of a food and beverage service in the Hotel Chapter?

We made a precise decision on opening the structure: to focus primarily on the rooms and accommodation and then integrate our services. 

We opened the hotel with just one food & beverage point, besides breakfast, and that is the Lobby Bar on the ground floor. The key concept of this ‘street bar’ is integration: the project is designed to be open to all, including the Romans, with direct access from the street.  The decision was made because in Italy the culture of non-guests using hotel services has not yet taken off.

 

 

The ground floor also has a second food and beverage point, ‘Market’. This is a salad bar that provides quality, healthy dishes prepared to order. 

 

 

Just before the summer of 2021 we opened ‘Hey Güey’, our rooftop facility, which brings a corner of Mexico to the roofs of Rome. The cuisine here is young, fresh and prepared by our South American chef in a specially equipped Ape Car.

 

What are the advantages of having a number of types of food and beverage services?

The Hotel Chapter project is designed with the aim of creating something undoubtedly unique, a place where art and design mix with hospitality and top quality cuisine, while maintaining a young, colourful and informal character, with guests welcomed by staff dressed in jeans, flowered dresses and Doc Marten’s. This sunny atmosphere is different in a positive way and is immediately apparent in the lobby, flowing through to our F&B services. 

To answer your question, having a number of F&B services, in my opinion, is a real strength. We have a ‘winter’ bar, a super colourful summer patio, a place for a quick lunch break and – coming soon – a fine dining restaurant run by an important chef, perfect for a dinner party or tasting menu. 

Everything we offer is designed to give our structure a strong identity, differentiating us from every other competitor in the city, and secondly to aim at more than one target, in terms of age and budget. 

What is the logic behind your F&B and hospitality management?

Here at the Chapter we are convinced that to run a structure on a par with the highest level in the world it is important to involve every member of the team. Our staff are young and motivated and an integral part of running the hotel. Our corporate philosophy is based on collaboration in all things.  I am truly convinced that to view problems in their entirety and solve critical issues there must be open exchanges of ideas, vertically and with all departments.  Often, those who actually do the work are not involved and listened to enough.

That’s why, when planning the kitchen for the new restaurant soon to be opened, the proprietors and I chose to immediately involve the Executive Chef in charge of all the hotel’s F&B services. Thanks to our cooperation with GICO, we have literally ‘hand-tailored’ a bespoke kitchen for the restaurant, to meet all our needs.

The most important aspect for me – as General Manager I always look first at the management angle – is that with GICO we have managed to design a layout optimised to the millimetre, making the restaurant, kitchen and storage area not three places, but a single, efficient and functional solution.

 

As we look forward to the opening of the new Hotel Chapter restaurant, to which we wish the very best of luck, our thanks go to general manager Jacopo Arosio for telling us about one of the most interesting recent hotels, not just in Rome, but throughout Italy.

To find out more about the project, which we will be talking about in the next months, stay in touch with GICO: fill in the form below and register for our newsletter.