Stephanie Austin, founder of Prima Cura Training

The image of the nightclub ‘bouncer’ has a clear stereotype: physically imposing, authoritative, and primarily concerned with keeping order among the customers. But step into today’s night-time economy and you’ll find that role has evolved significantly. Door staff are now acting as frontline responders, playing important roles in safeguarding vulnerable people as they enter, enjoy, and even once they’ve left the venue.

These developemnts reflect a cultural change, a shift in the way society views issues like consent, and most importantly improved training. Door supervisors are in an ideal position to spot signs of distress, coercion, or danger.

‘Duty of care’

Nowadays, there’s a much broader interpretation of the ‘duty of care’ concept. One of the most important messages now emphasised in training is that responsibility doesn’t end when someone steps outside the venue. Door staff are encouraged to look after not only customers inside the venue, but also those leaving it, people nearby, and even non-customers within visible range. The mindset of “not on our premises, not our problem” is thankfully becoming outdated.

Another major change lies in the way we define a vulnerable person. Where it once only really meant someone who’s intoxicated, training now stresses that vulnerability can take many forms and isn’t always obvious. A person may be sober but anxious, isolated, or pressured. People of all genders can experience harassment or assault, not just women and girls. Recognising these nuances is key to meeting a duty of care.

This awareness is reinforced by a more diverse workforce. The presence of more women and LGBTQ+ door staff has helped create a more approachable and inclusive environment. For many customers, particularly those feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, being able to speak to someone they relate to can make all the difference. It opens the door to earlier disclosures and ultimately, better support.

Initiatives like “Ask for Angela” have also contributed. Now widely recognised across venues, the scheme provides a discreet way for people to signal they need help. While not a complete solution, it represents a step toward embedding safety into nightlife culture.

Responding to raised concerns

Equally important is how staff respond once a concern is raised. Physical intervention is rarely appropriate in cases involving vulnerability. Instead, training focuses on communication, empathy, and alignment with safeguarding policies. The aim is to support people in a way that minimises further harm, without escalating a situation unnecessarily.

The industry has also learned from past mistakes. There is growing awareness of the risks associated with ejecting someone from a venue without their belongings or without informing their friends. What might once have been standard practice is now considered dangerous. Leaving individuals stranded or isolated only increases risk.

Training is the key

Ongoing training is absolutely critical in maintaining this progress. Laws change, but I’d like to know one person who can cite every law relevant to their profession. On top of that, societal expectations and emerging threats form quicker than the law can keep up with.

From increased numbers of drink spiking incidents to changes in local crime patterns, door staff must stay informed and receive the training they need to ensure public safety is maximised. Regular refresher sessions not only reinforce responsibilities but also provide space to share experiences, discuss challenges, and learn from one another.

These sessions often include guidance on local support services, enabling staff to signpost individuals towards appropriate help, whether that’s mental health support, substance misuse services, or national helplines for issues like exploitation. They also cover practical skills like accurate incident reporting and navigating communication systems such as venue radios and emergency services.

Together, these developments are changing what it means to work the door. Today’s security staff are active participants in a wider safety ecosystem. Observant, informed, and increasingly compassionate, they stand on the frontline of nightlife, ready to step in when it matters most.

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Offer Details
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Words by Firas Nasir, CEO of Organic Foods & Café and Co-CIO of the Gulf Japan Food Fund

The most consequential changes in business rarely announce themselves. They accumulate quietly in procurement decisions, in vendor reviews, and in sourcing conversations held far from the shop floor. What is happening inside UAE retail supply chains at the moment is exactly that kind of change. In the past, retailers across all formats built their vendor lists around established global suppliers who could deliver volume, compliance maturity, and operational consistency at scale. Local producers, by contrast, sometimes struggled to meet the benchmarks that major buyers required: reliable cold chain infrastructure, internationally recognised food safety certification, and the capacity to scale supply without compromising on delivery windows.

That gap has narrowed considerably, and the timing matters. Investment in UAE logistics infrastructure, including temperature-controlled warehousing, last-mile refrigerated delivery, and the development of alternative trade corridors, such as the Oman-UAE Green Corridor and the east coast ports of Khorfakkan and Fujairah, has given domestic suppliers a credible and sustainable path to retail shelves that simply did not exist half a decade ago.

The impact is most visible at retailers who made early commitments to domestic sourcing. For instance, Organic Foods and Cafe, which works with over 400 vendor partners across local and global supply chains, has tracked the evolution closely. Over the past four years, the composition of its vendor list has shifted meaningfully, with a clear move toward sourcing from closer geographies. This has improved product availability, reduced transit times, and meaningfully lowered the carbon footprint across key categories. The transitions have been most pronounced in beverages, fresh produce, and dairy, categories where domestic producers have invested seriously in quality and consistency. The products now earning space on shelves reflect genuine operational maturity, not simply a preference for local origin. Organic eggs from Risha Farms in Fujairah and fresh organic milk from Organiliciouz in Sharjah, both now stocked consistently, represent a generation of domestic suppliers that would not have met major retailer requirements a few years ago. Alongside them, homegrown brands, including ME Kombucha, Pure Harvest, Humantra, Nothing Silly, and Shake Your Plants, are finding sustained footing in channels that once defaulted to international names as a matter of course.

The broader retail sector is also responding. The Make it in the Emirates initiative, a government-led effort to boost domestic manufacturing and industrial investment initiative, has added meaningful policy weight to what was already becoming commercial common sense, with approved vendor lists across the industry being reviewed through a lens of supply chain resilience rather than simple cost optimisation. That recalibration has been sharpened further by recent events. Retailers who have already embedded local sourcing into their models have proved markedly better positioned to absorb the shock. Alternative freight channels were activated where necessary, but the businesses least exposed were those that had built domestic supplier relationships before disruption made it urgent.

Of course, challenges still remain. The shortage of organically certified local producers is a persistent gap, and the expectation from retailers has not softened, with domestic suppliers held to the same delivery, safety, and scalability standards as their international counterparts. But the pipeline of producers meeting that bar is growing, and the commercial argument has become difficult to dismiss. Faster turnaround, extended shelf life on domestic fresh goods, and meaningful resilience against freight volatility now outweigh the scale advantages that international suppliers once held unchallenged.

The restructuring of UAE retail around homegrown brands was already underway but the current geopolitical situation has expedited it to a new level. It is now being driven by hard commercial experience, enabled by maturing infrastructure, and supported by national policy. And the businesses that recognise it for what it is – a fundamental supply chain shift, not a sourcing trend – will be the ones who shape what UAE retail looks like in the decade ahead.