Restaurant developer Duncan Fraser-Smith recently shocked the regional F&B community by announcing that he had been appointed director of global food and beverage for The First Group.
The property development firm’s new F&B arm will be tasked with developing F&B concepts for its upcoming projects as well as repositioning restaurants housed in their existing properties.
Without changing all of the infrastructure, Fraser-Smith aims to give the outlets at Wyndham Dubai Marina a point of difference: “We’ve done a 360° look at that and looked at what we need to put in. So we’re going to uplift all the venues that are down there at the moment.”
Starting with the hotel’s lobby, a new coffee-driven concept called Hello Café will be introduced.
Essence, the all-day dining venue will also undergo a facelift with capacity going up from 76 to 200 covers and a new direction. Fraser-Smith explains: “We’re re-branding that as Alora ristorante so it’s going be about big bowls of pasta, salads, pizzas and carafes of wine. It’s going to be fun and approachable, not standoffish. A fun, engaged, exciting place.”
Finally, Range the steakhouse located on the hotel’s first floor will be rebranded to The Blacksmith. Fraser-Smith says: “It’s newly built so we’re just uplifting to a Texas and New Orleans-style smoke house. We’re putting in a large custom-made smoker with three separate chambers. For the vegetarians we’re going to smoke eggplant in hickory and maple and really push the 36-hour slow cooked smoked meat and seafood. It’s exciting because once again, in that part of town, we don’t have that element.”
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