Last year was an important year for Alex and Fay Economides. Under M Management Company — which Alex founded in 2013 — the siblings added to their two established Dubai-based concepts, Elia and The Music Room, with two new launches that have taken helped turn Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) into an F&B destination.
Situated within metres of each other at the back of JLT’s Armada BlueBay Hotel, Nola Eatery & Social House and Mythos Kouzina & Grill are two seperate concepts that serve completely different cuisines while sharing the same ethos.
“We wanted to bring something more real. People are interested now in going out for a bite, and to drink and socialise, rather than going to a polished, shiny, modern looking kind of place. Dubai has had a lot of that and I think it’s looking for something different," Alex explains.
Fay agrees, adding: “Dubai has always been five-star heavy with hotels and F&B, but people increasingly want a community and a sense of normalcy.”
Alex says that they sought to deliver authenticity in the “look, feel and ambience” of the outlets, from lighting and décor to uniforms and the way dishes are presented.
“All of that is one major element of making something authentic. Then there is the F&B component and, third, being true to the concept in a consistent way. There are venues out there that have a certain concept but in their day-to-day operations, they sometimes slip away from being true to the concept,” he adds.
He believes that the ‘down to earth’ authentic concepts fit well with the location that he and his sister opted for.
“There were a lot of locations in the market to choose from and we had various opportunities. Souk Al Bahar was one of them but we didn’t feel that area would fit with our concepts or that our concepts would be appreciated there. JLT is a great location as a catchment area with a lot of offices and residents, and the JLT market is quite young and hip, so we felt it would do well for Nola and Mythos,” Alex reveals.
Having lived in Dubai for 12 years, Alex and Fay know the city well and have spent most of their lives in the GCC; although they are Greek, the siblings grew up in Bahrain. The industry is also second nature to them, as prior to launching their own hospitality and F&B management firm, they managed and operated a hotel, developing F&B concepts within it.
Their experiences have taught them that being unwaveringly faithful to your initial concept is key if you want to sustain your outlets in the long-term — “even when it means you have to invest a little more time, money, effort and stress,” Fay comments.
She continues: “It’s not easy being 95% true to the concept versus 60% true to the concept, for example. A lot of operators will, upon hitting the first or second obstacle, say ‘Okay, well let’s do it the easy way’ but that dilutes your identity, and obviously the end result for the consumer is not as authentic.”
Central to establishing authentic concepts is menu creation and Alex says the entire team was involved in this process, rather than solely the chefs, and that with Mythos, the fact that he and Fay are Greek “adds a lot of value”.
Fay concurs: “The Greek part is easy. We’re familiar with what the market wants with regards to Greek food, and we’ve actually been lucky to introduce Greek food properly to Dubai, and observe Greek food growing. A lot of Greek offerings have opened and closed in the last 12 years.”
| Advertisement |
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
