Let's keep things casual

The recession has caused five-star diners to take a step down from their posh hotel lunches in favour of more affordable cafés, but casual restaurants have also kept their regular customers, who may well have reduced their number of visits but have not yet opted for a fast food fix over their favourite sandwich, salad, or cup of coffee.

Early findings from the Horizons Casual Dining Report, in collaboration with Tribe, suggest that there are 200 casual dining brands in the UAE alone and that the number of outlets will increase by 150% by 2015 (see page 30).

The full report will be released at Gulfood next month, with details on where these new outlets are expected to spring up. Most likely, the achievement of these figures will rely on the development of new malls, rather than the opening of a host of cosy coffee shops tucked away in residential areas.

This is because what the numbers don’t tell us about are the challenges facing casual dining operators. Firstly, the vast majority are not licensed to serve alcohol, which would contribute at least 40% in revenues.

Plus, the standalone outlets face rent struggles, as RMAL’s Tiina-Maija Bergman says on page 32, not to mention ever-rising costs of everything from water and electricity to raw ingredients, which More Café’s Wouter Lap laments on page 18.

According to Lap, it is so expensive to set up a business in the UAE these days that it is very unlikely we will see fresh, new brands like More emerge. And what a shame that would be.