Dubai Japanese restaurant Okku is planning to open outlets in the UK, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the US, India and Singapore as part of its global expansion, founder Markus Thesleff has revealed.
“We’re going to hit the big cities and give them a run for their money,” Okku’s founder Markus Thesleff told Arabian Business’ sister magazine Caterer Middle East.
The Japanese eatery recently announced plans to expand to the UK, with its first venture set to be in the St James area of London. Spanning three floors, boasting over 18000 square feet with seating for more than 435 guests from restaurant to bar, Okku
London will be the first high-end restaurant born in Dubai to set foot into the UK capital.
He also confirmed the brand would open outlets in Casablanca, Morocco and a diffusion concept called ‘O’ by Okku in Jeddah is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2013, followed by Riyadh within 12 months.
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Plans are already under way for Okku-branded locations in Las Vegas, Mumbai and Singapore in 2014, he added.
“We have to go into each market, look at it as a unique market and look at what it will take to compete in this marketplace. Everybody’s got different profiles, tastes, their idea of fun is different – and we have to tailor that but always keep within the Okku DNA,” Thesleff added.
The restaurant celebrated its third birthday in May and Thesleff reported that it posted a 13 percent increase in revenue over the first eight months of 2012.
“We do ok,” Thesleff said modestly.
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