The Belmont Hotel is becoming better known for dining by engaging in a radical departure from traditional dining expectations.

After years of guests expecting that men will sport a jacket for dinner, the dining experience at the Forte hotel has become a lot less formal.

Mr. Billy Griffith, executive director and general manager for Forte hotel in Bermuda, said, "It is the first time in the history of the hotel that we have done away with any formal nights. We call it casual, elegant dining. There is no jacket requirement at all.

"It has been well received. The entire transformation of the restaurants was to make it fun and attract more people to come in.

"We never thought that we attracted the number of local clientele that we felt we should have. In terms of marketing, we are going to do a lot more in the next three months to attract more locals to the hotel.'' The restaurant Kiskadees has been let out to a private company and, according to Mr. Griffith, is doing extremely well.

But the hotel has also moved to substantially upgrade the ambiance of the hotel's second restaurant which is beginning to rival the success of Kiskadees.

Mr. Griffith explained,"After three months Kiskadees is doing quite well and building a name for itself. It has great advance bookings through Christmas.

"The second thing that we did was to create a new theme for the Gallery restaurant. We transformed it with new decor, new drapes and some other things into Tree Frogs restaurant, which is supposed to be a fun dining experience.

"The whole menu, the theme and everything else is based around the tree frog.

The menu is very interesting now. We give a good variety in terms of price and selection.'' The hotel is trying to attract more local people to Tree Frogs, especially during the quieter winter months.

Catering manager Mr. Andrew Ward, said, "Everyone thought of Belmont as a place for holiday-makers to go. It wasn't somewhere that local guests went to.

"That is now changing. We are getting a lot more local groups here at the hotel.

"I put out a questionnaire and polled 200 people in June, asking them what they wanted in a restaurant. I also went on a food and beverage managers' course at Cornell University in upstate New York. It was all about hard selling and where to pitch your market.

"I decided after that, that we needed to have a theme to make it a success, something that we could market. We decided to call it Tree Frogs.'' Mr. Ward also changed the menu. Although there is an a la carte menu that stays the same every night, there are also nightly specials from different parts of the world.

The hotel also began marketing items related to tree frogs.

Said Mr. ward, "We marketed the whole idea by buying merchandise for sale. We sell little glass frogs and other items. I'm having a tee shirt made and bringing in ties with tree frogs on it.

"I've sold merchandise for about four weeks, and I've already sold $800 worth of goods. Some people are also asking to buy the menu covers we designed.

"We spent money on upgrading the entire atmosphere. It is no longer a big dining hall. It has more character. The china, the linen, the waiters' uniforms are all brand new. We just put in brand new drapes and we are hoping to put in new carpeting.'' Better marketing of the wine has pushed sales up 20 percent. The wine list has been reduced, but all the wines are affordable.

Tree Frogs is open for breakfast and dinner. And while dress is smart casual, many men still wear their jackets.

POPULAR NEW THEME -- Belmont Hotel catering manager, Mr. Andrew Ward, at the hotel's Tree Frogs restaurant.