The culinary scene in Abu Dhabi and Dubai is constantly evolving, and with that evolution comes a trend that has foodies – and the country’s food industry – buzzing.
New, home-grown restaurant concepts are popping up at an incredible pace – and many are coming from restaurateurs who already have successful venues up and running.
Why, then, with a proven restaurant model already in place, are restaurateurs so eager to mix things up by developing new, untested concepts?
At the forefront of this trend are Tom Arnel and Sergio Lopez. Better known as Tom and Serg, they opened their namesake cafe in Dubai three years ago. Since the success of that first, Australian-Âinspired cafe, the duo have gone on to create a hospitality business called Bull & Roo – and have added three new food-and-beverage concepts to their portfolio, with a fourth on the way.
“Dubai is a new city that is developing quickly, and we are developing and evolving with it,” says Arnel. “Each of our venues is about us bringing something different to Dubai’s F&B scene.”
Bull & Roo’s first three venues were built around coffee culture – Tom & Serg, The Sum of Us and Common Grounds – but their latest, Brunswick Sports Club, is a radical departure into new territory: a sports-lovers’ dream pub. It will be joined by a Mexican restaurant, Muchachas, which is opening on Tuesday.
“We want to bring individuality and personality to our city,” says Arnel. “I guess this inherently means a move away from a multi-Âoutlet model that sees companies reproduce brands that, in the end, compete against one another.”
He says the excitement of launching new concepts drives him and Lopez – but there are also risks that come with opening second locations of existing brands, which they would rather avoid.
“Maintaining a level of consistency is really tough,” says Arnel. “Especially because duplicating concepts is, by its very nature, less about creativity and more about fine-tuning costs and leveraging what you’ve already created.
“If staff in venue one are totally on point but not as good in venue two, this puts the entire brand at risk. One bad review calls into question the brand name itself, not only the second venue.”
Of course, coming up with a brand-new concept when you already have one that works is also not without risk.
Restaurateurs Davron Hamidov and Zee Alikhonov are a young team just starting out in the business. They opened the wildly popular Friends Avenue Cafe in JLT last year, and will open a new concept at the end of the month called Arrows and Sparrows.
“The risk is that it may or may not work,” says Alikhonov. “And people will be comparing the new venture to the existing one, so we need to exceed their expectations. There are more challenges than excitement.
“Opening a business involves a significant amount of stress related to branding, location, interior, menu, marketing, hiring – the list never ends.”
Hamidov believes developing new concepts, rather than opening a chain, benefits everyone, from restaurateurs to foodies.
“It creates a kind of competition between restaurateurs in Dubai, where more concepts, especially home-grown ones, shape the market,” he says. “The competition between these new concepts directly benefits and improves the food scene.
“As long as there is a limited offering, it hinders the deveÂlopment. When there are more concepts coming to life, it makes entrepreneurs come up with new ideas.”
Some restaurateurs would rather open a new concept than repeat an existing one, even when expanding into other emirates. Lee Maen and his team from the Los Angeles-based Innovative Dining Group brought BOA Steakhouse to Abu Dhabi two years ago – their first restaurant outside the United States.
When it came time to expand, instead of opening BOA in Dubai, they brought a new Japanese concept, Katana, to The Address Downtown Dubai. Katana also has a location in Hollywood.
“Opening a new concept is exciting and allows us to be creative,” says Maen. “But at the same time, it is very time-Âconsuming and risky. It is much easier to open a new location of an existing concept than it is to start from scratch on a new concept.”
In the end, it is a personal decision for each restaurateur, which boils down to the risks they are willing to take. Innovative Dining Group has eight concepts in its portfolio and, for now, is committed to expanding its exisÂting brands rather than launching new stand-alone venues.
For Alikhonov, the benefits of opening a new concept are clear.
“These are completely new offerings with new branding, a new interior and whole new menu,” he says. “It’s a new challenge on our part, which triggers creativity, motivation and eagerness to succeed.
“A completely new concept also gives us the opportunity to work on our mistakes from the current cafe and improve flaws that may be present in the business.”
Arnel sees the risk involved as part of the reward.
“It’s a leap of faith into the unknown,” he says. “But as we see it, as long as each concept is built upon a solid understanding of our customer-Âbase, each is a terrifyingly exciting new challenge.
“Safe is boring. We always want to challenge and better ourselves.”
Four to come
Muchachas
The new restaurant from Tom Arnel and Sergio Lopez – Tom and Serg, the founders of Bull & Roo hospitality – is Muchachas. Inspired by Melbourne’s Mexican cantina scene, the eatery will serve dishes such as yellow fin tuna ceviche, and queso fundido with spiced devil prawns and pineapple. It will also have a range of tropical-inspired drinks. It is due to open on Tuesday, August 23.
• Muchachas, Holiday Inn Express, Safa Park, Dubai. www.muchachasdubai.com
Arrows and Sparrows
The second cafe from restaurateurs Davron Hamidov and Zee Alikhonov is due to open this month. Located at The Greens, it is a departure from the pair’s first concept, Friends Avenue Cafe. The interior of Arrows and Sparrows will be part industrial, part Scandinavian and a bit more mature and elegant than its predecessor. The cuisine will be a mix of comfort food with a twist and signature dishes.
• Arrows and Sparrows, Unit #G08, Building 4, Emaar Business Park, The Greens, Dubai. www.arrowsparrows.com
Ruya
Dogus Restaurant Entertainment and Management (d.ream – partners in Nusret, Coya and Zuma) is bringing this fine-dining Turkish restaurant to the Dubai Marina. Located in the Grosvenor House hotel, Ruya – the Turkish word for “dream” – will be led by executive chef Colin Clague, who was most recently with Jean-Georges Dubai (he has also worked with Zuma in London and Qbara). Ruya will showcase Anatolian cuisine, with highlights that include Cag kebabı (a horizontally stacked marinated rotating lamb kebab), a Pide area, traditional spit and a range of skewers. It is set to open by the end of September.
• Ruya, Grosvenor House, Al Sofouh Road, Dubai
Nourish
Glee Hospitality, the group behind restaurants such as Nolu’s, Rice Creamery, Burger Hood and Tawa Bakery, says its next concept, Nourish, is a health-conscious eatery. Offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, the cafe will have a menu full of healthy bites when it opens in December on Al Wasl Road, in a new development called Dar Wasl. The group has other concepts in the pipeline, too.
• Visit www.gleehospitality.com
sjohnson@thenationalae
