But licensing issues exist everywhere in this region. What if you expanded to Qatar or KSA?
RM: It’s all about the market — here people want to dine in an outlet where alcohol is an important element. In other GCC countries, it’s different. The cultural norms are like that so it is different. Alcohol is of limited importance so the food becomes the focus — The Qatar restaurant in the Villagio mall in Doha, footfall and revenue is much higher than any of our other restaurants.

AG: It comes back to the concept though — we can’t open Hakkasan in Saudi.

CT: Without the wine glasses on the table, the whole dimension of the room looks different, when we have the dry night here, the restaurant doesn’t look at its best.

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LF: We did Trader Vic’s in Riyadh and just served mocktails — it goes back to consumer understanding. They know they won’t have alcohol — when you make the concept of TV in Riyadh, the bar area is much smaller, we have a large mocktail menu instead — it works well.

Where do you stand on discounting?
RM: For my restaurant I’d encourage it — especially since the footfall at Wafi Mall has dropped, the market has changed, I can’t expect to rely on footfall from the mall. We need to raise our awareness, be it through the Entertainer book, magazines — all these kinds of key elements and promotions. Again it depends on the location of your outlet, the footfall, and accordingly you tie up with various discounters.

AG: If you have enough footfall you’re against it. If you don’t you have to do something to create that footfall. You have to make the figures, whichever way it comes.

LF: It’s to fill up those gaps — you have a quiet two hours, it’s better to offer a happy hour to fill up those gaps — you’re still paying overheads and electricity at the end of the day.

What are your biggest concerns for 2013?
AG: I think our biggest focus, stemming from retention concerns in the industry, is treating our staff well. If you look after your people, they have no reason to leave.

CT: You have to take care of your people. It’s not like before, it’s a new generation of people, they are thinking completely differently.

AG: We have to be prepared for turnover — it happens. It’s generally young people, they’ve not seen the world, they want to explore more, you can’t even stop them. But things have changed. It’s all about your experience, what you’ve seen, where you’ve been and how much you know — we know this is the case, we just have to live with it. When you have a couple of restaurants you can move people around and show them growth.

RM: You need to understand it from their point of view — they don’t want to work as hard anymore. You have to accept that and go a little easier!