As Hakkasan Abu Dhabi celebrates its first anniversary, company chief executive Niall Howard discusses the contemporary Chinese brand, future plans and his favourite dish
On the upcoming Hakkasan in Dubai
We are very excited about opening in Emirates Towers Hotel. The Jumeirah Group is doing quite a bit of development and we are quite proud to be part of that, so it’s going well.
His feelings on competition
Well, we love good competition because it makes areas become destinations for eating, so we love to have serious competition around our restaurants as we benefit from that. We think there is plenty of scope in Dubai and the Middle East — we have competition, but it tends to be our friends like Zuma, some of the new ones and we respect our competition.
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Possibility of opening at the St. Regis in Doha
That is very possible. We are in final negotiations at the moment so hopefully that should all go well and the negotiations should be complete very soon. We have a strategy of four global hubs — the Far East, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas — so we have several locations that we are developing at the moment. Tasameem, the private company that owns Hakkasan, and probably the vision of where we are going is under His Excellency Khadem al-Qubaisi, who is also chief executive of IPIC (International Petroleum Investment Company). He is the guy who guides us to where we are going.
On the financial aspect of the company
Two years ago, just as I was taking over, it lost GBP 6.5 million (US $10 million) and last year we made a profit of just under GBP one million ($1.6 million) and we will continue to do that, except we are investing quite heavily in the global expansion. By and large the model is one of ownership and that’s what we are pursuing at the moment.
His favourite element of Hakkasan
It delights all senses simultaneously and that’s what its unique nature is. From the visual, to taste, to atmosphere, it’s an all-round experience which is difficult to describe if you haven’t experienced it. The Dubai restaurant will be a bit different. There will be certain eclectic features that we copy, but we like to put a local take on each one. Dubai will be spectacular with an amazing lounge bar and an equally amazing external terrace so we are excited by that. There’s a lot of investment going into this.
Best opportunities for the next couple of years
It’s the Middle East and the Americas — Europe and the Far East will be slower so we are focusing on the Middle East first, then North America. The opportunities in the Middle East are the most favourable, everything seems to be going well here; there’s a lot of investment, the people from the Middle East are great and our owners are from Abu Dhabi so these things come together and get in front of the other places.
His favourite Hakkasan dish
I will get shot for saying this, I’m not supposed to have a favourite, but one I will mention — as we don’t do it in the UK — we actually only do it in Abu Dhabi, is the Wagyu spare ribs — they are particularly good. We are proud of that one and it’s an excellent dish.
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