So how important do you think the brand name is in guaranteeing a restaurant’s success?
LF: You’ve got a lot of people in Dubai that are well travelled and do come to us saying they’ve been to the Trader Vic’s in Washington or London. There is a percentage that comes down to brand recognition, but the volume is not enough to say this is all the success is down to.

Amit Goel, general manager, Hakkasan Dubai: We’ve got Hakassan London, and the brand’s now expanded to the US too. Is that why people come here? It helps that they know the brand and it encourages them to try the Dubai version, but at the same time it puts pressure on you because they expect you to be the same and on par — living up to that expectation, is the biggest challenge.

What’s the appeal of non-hotel outlets?
RM: The hotels focus more on the rooms of course, that’s the max-revenue for them. As independents we focus 100% on our food, restaurants, attention to detail as the guests are coming specifically for that.

CT: As a hotelier, you need to look at the performance of the whole hotel. As a hotelier, my focus depends on which avenue I am going down. Is the owner asking me for quality? Is he asking me for quantity or profitability? As a non-hotel outlet, my focus isn’t on profitability. I believe once I’ve got the revenue, the profitability will come. Service? That takes about 10 years to perfect. My service is not spot on, I’m working to improve it every year.

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AG: Appeal is also a big thing here — and that comes through people seeing a full outlet. No one wants to come to an outlet with empty tables and chairs. Non-hotel outlets’ primary focus is on filling tables and chairs — we can’t necessarily afford the same amount of time focusing on service.

CT: Thats why I say mentality is changing. I’ve worked in Michelin starred restaurants before, I’ve done 14 tables on a night. Now if you give me a 14-table restaurant, I’m dying!

Will the future will bring lots more non-hotel outlets?
CT: Well the problem is there’s not really anywhere to go. Here the licensing is an issue too.

AG: It limits in terms of location too. When finding a place for your restaurant, you need to look for places where it is easy to obtain a license. That’s a big part of the reason we opted to attach ourselves to a hotel.

ZH: Licensing is a concern for any new outlet. It has cost us some business, particularly where catering events are concerned. What’s interesting is the grey matter surrounding this area. When setting up the school, SCAFA, I was speaking to the Dubai Economic Department and explained we used alcohol as an ingredient during teaching — in a controlled way. I wanted to know if this was acceptable. The response I got was: ‘the only advice I can give you is be sensible’. It is very complicated.

LF: Getting the license is tough, even though we are connected to the hotel it took us six months to obtain the license. You need a strong company to survive six months without a license — you are paying a payroll with no revenue coming in, still paying rent — it’s not easy at all.

CT: If I’d opened unlicensed for six months and not being active — I’d have lost lots of staff. That’s a long time and you lose the concept.

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