Using this formula, the team is planning to roll the concept out in other countries and Özkanca says this will happen sooner rather than later.
“If we are successful, which we will be, the next stop will be London. This is going to be the first brand born in Dubai of this calibre to be exported abroad,” he asserts.
Özkanca had been looking at locations in London at the same time as he was in Dubai, and it could have been either city that came first. When the opportunity arose to open in Grosvenor House, it was the Gulf region that clinched the debut, as he had always been impressed with the property, which he describes as “a beautiful, well established hotel”, on previous visits to the emirate.
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Sharing Özkanca's confidence in the burgeoning brand, Clague tells Caterer Middle East: “Consider the partners involved. Mr Ferit Şahenk is a hugely powerful man. He is a partner in Zuma, La Petite Maison and Coya, as well as numerous other businesses. The capital is there to really make this a world brand and knowing that the project has legs is an attraction — we’ve just got to make sure we hit the ground running.”
Clague was also in favour of opting for Grosvenor House to house Rüya, pointing out that being on the periphery of Dubai Marina makes it easily accessible from various directions.
“The only problem we had at Qbara was location and Dubai is getting very ‘location, location, location’. Dubai is two cities as far as I’m concerned — you’ve got DIFC and you’ve the Marina, and very rarely do people from those areas go to the other. I’m in the industry so I’ll come to the Marina from where I live, but the traffic puts people off, making it a difficult market [for F&B operators]. The area that we’ve picked will hold us in good stead and the vision that Umut has is very forward thinking, so if we get the food and service right and deliver on the affordability aspect, we’re onto a winner.
“All the elements are there to make Rüya really successful. The service will be very good but not stuffy; the food, I hope, works; and the restaurant looks stunning with one of the focal points being a big oven in the centre of the restaurant.”
Returning to the topic of affordibility, Caterer learns that the team intends for Rüya to be priced attractively.
“It’s going to be a tough couple of years in Dubai and to be ahead of the game, you need people to be able to afford you. We want people to come once or twice a week, so we are definitely not going to be pricing ourselves out of the market,” Clague reasons.
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