Walid Malouf, general manager of HDC, the hospitality company for The Pearl in Qatar, outlines his plans for making the island a gem of a dining and lifestyle destination.
Named after a rare and valuable mineral, The Pearl Qatar is aiming to attract equally sophisticated and exclusive residents to the island.
With such discerning clientele in mind, Walid Malouf, general manager of HDC — the island development company’s hospitality division — is cultivating a portfolio of distinguished food and beverage options.
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“Since I joined to set up HDC in 2006 our objective has been to bring lifestyle and fun to the island through our hospitality projects,” he says.
So far he has signed six regional partnerships with restaurant brands for the four million m² island reclamation project, which is located 350m offshore of Doha’s West Bay District.
He has strategically avoided big mainstream names in favour of chic brands with a boutique feel. Many hail from Paris or New York, and this cosmopolitan vibe of trendiness and dynamism means that The Pearl’s restaurants go beyond plain food and drink to what Malouf calls “lifestyle offerings”.
“We have signed a mixture of brand partners,” says Malouf. “Some are young brands that are just starting out, some are more established, but they are all bringing freshness and novelty to the area.”
All partnerships are also regional, adds Malouf: “Qatar is relatively small in terms of population and tourism so we have always known that in order to attract people to The Pearl we need to get out of Qatar, so any agreements we sign must have the potential to expand outside of the country and across to other areas of the Middle East and North Africa.”
Providing a spread of dining options across a variety of different price-points is key to making The Pearl work as a leisure destination, says Malouf.
HDC currently runs a branch of the New York-based coffee concept, Chocolate Bar, which costs an average of $15-20 per person; the flagship outlet of the well-established, upper-casual Lebanese dining restaurant, Burj Al Hamam, with a price point of around $50 per person; and the Parisian Chinese restaurant and bar brand Tse Yang, among others.
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