Ruth's Chris to open four MidEast outlets by 2015

International steak house chain Ruth’s Chris has revealed plans to open four new restaurants in the Middle East by 2015, bringing its number of outlets in the region to six.

Michael Szczepanski, general manager at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, The Address Dubai Marina, told Hotelier Middle East that the company will probably expand to Abu Dhabi next, and will then look further afield in the region.

He said: “We are exploring the opportunities in Abu Dhabi very actively. And we already visited a couple of properties in Qatar, in Doha, and we have quite a bit of interest coming from other parts of the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – potential investors coming to us and asking us to consider Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait, Bahrain”.

Last week, Hotelier Middle East reported that the company had pulled out of a deal in Doha on the Pearl-Qatar development as a result of the ban on the sale of alcohol.

Szczepanski added: “We’re not committing ourselves to any [openings] yet, but we would like six operational by 2015.

"We would like to strengthen the brands in Dubai as this is our home and we have our offices here so the UAE is the immediate destination. It [Abu Dhabi] seems like a natural choice being the capital, but the rest of them we will leave up to circumstances,” he added.