UK restaurant chain Cafe Rouge coming to UAE

Diamond Lifestyle on Monday announced the acquisition of the franchise for UK-based Café Rouge to launch the French restaurant chain in the UAE.

Founded in 1989, Café Rouge is a chain of bistros offering a classic French ambiance and is owned by the Tragus Group. Café Rouge is currently operational at 126 sites in the UK.

Shailesh Dash, chairman of Diamond Lifestyle, said: "Café Rouge is a brand that embodies our vision of bringing exceptional casual fine dining to the Emirates.

"We are proud to introduce another concept to our growing portfolio, one that exemplifies effortless, playful, stylish and above all French dining.

"We are excited about the potential of the brand in the UAE, which, given the recent announcement of its Expo 2020 win, is set to become one of the leading F&B destinations in the world."

Peter Blake, Cafe Rouge & Belgo MD, Tragus added: "We're confident that our first restaurant in Dubai will be the start of an exciting new chapter in the Cafe Rouge story."

Diamond Lifestyle is managed by Al Masah Capital Ltd which manages three private equity platforms - healthcare, education and food and beverage.

Amitava Ghosal, Partner, Al Masah Capital said: "We launched Diamond Lifestyle with the aim of becoming a key player operating a number of high-energy luxury restaurants and lounges in the GCC, Turkey and South East Asia.

"Café Rouge will be another significant addition to our portfolio and one that we hope will create many new opportunities in this region."