Interview: Daniel Parry

Malls are changing. A decade ago, people would come for the retail, get hungry during the shopping experience and stay for the food. Now, people tend to choose a mall based on the dining options available.

“It’s a different experience,” says Gulf Related managing director and general counsel, Daniel Parry. “They’re not necessarily coming to shop. We set up our business model for people to come three or four times a week for different experiences and for different attractions. One night it might be a great dinner at La Petite Maison or Zuma, another day it might be a quick breakfast with a friend or a lunch experience or a shopping experience.”

The business model Parry is referring to is The Dining Collection at The Galleria. Set in the UAE capital’s central business district on Al Marayah Island, The Galleria has more than 130 retail outlets and is home to renowned fashion brands including Celine, Diane von Furstenberg, Jimmy Choo and Alexander McQueen. However, its roster of restaurants is what makes this project remarkable. More than 25 home-grown and international brands, both casual and elevated have made a home in this hub. The likes of Zuma and Roberto’s were joined by La Petite Maison, Coya, Nusr-Et, and Spanish/Japanese concept 99 Sushi towards the end of 2017.

Parry’s role at Gulf Related is all-encompassing. On a commercial level, it includes managing the leasing team, overseeing the marketing team and taking a leading role in the day-to-day corporate office and project operations. Coming from a legal background, it’s safe to say that F&B curation wasn’t initially part of Parry’s role. Less than a year after coming to the UAE from New York as legal counsel, his role began to change: “I actually negotiated most of the leasing deals with all of our tenants, both retail and F&B. Over time, I got more and more into commercial and less into legal and when it came to the F&B, I really took over curating and creating relationships with people. The whole industry is based on personalities and working with great people.”

When Gulf Related came to the region eight-and-a-half years ago, choosing Abu Dhabi and more specifically, Al Maryah Island, was an easy decision. Parry explains: “We worked with Mubadala to fine-tune what is now The Galleria and The Dining Collection. One of the key things that we fell in love with was the location. It was up-and-coming and not just a central business district of Abu Dhabi, but the downtown of Abu Dhabi. To us, downtown is all about lifestyle, living, business, community and it’s about a sense of place.”

Al Maryah Island houses, and is within close proximity to, an impressive number of both commercial and residential tenants: “It’s in the heart of the population of Abu Dhabi. The statistic that we often use is that we’ve got about 400,000 of Abu Dhabi’s residents living within five kilometres of our project. We’ve got two million ft2 of office space which translates to about 12,000 people every day working within the project.”

Much like its Dubai counterpart, Dubai International Financial Centre, Al Maryah Island is an ode to modern architecture. Impossible structures converge to create a dramatic landscape that has succeeded in attracting the biggest names in commerce, retail and F&B. Parry says: “I have had meetings with the best retailer groups in the world and everyone says this is an iconic location and we agree.”

“One of the things that you need to have as a developer is vision. Fortunately, Related, founded by Stephen Ross and our boss Kenneth Himmel have had incredible vison on how to create a mixed-use project.”

With the right location and infrastructure in place, Parry set about selecting restaurants that would stand the test of time. The first F&B tenant that Parry and his team approached was Zuma. Parry explains: “Eight years ago, Zuma had only been in Dubai for two years. Related approached Zuma and worked with them to convince them that we were a tremendous opportunity for them. To Zuma’s credit, they had the vision and foresight to buy into what we were developing.”

As the first F&B tenant, the stylish London-founded Japanese concepts set the tone for what was to come. Parry recounts: “I was in Zuma this week for lunch and it just so happened that Rainer Becker (Zuma’s co-founder) was there. I couldn’t help but compliment him because four years later, that restaurant is as timeless and as fresh today as it was when we first opened. It really embodies what we’re trying to achieve here at Gulf Related. It’s not going after the short-term, it’s the long-term vision and long-term partners.”

Now, more than eight years in, the project is still evolving. The end of last year saw a slew of new openings as The Four Seasons section of The Dining Collection reached completion: “Last year was incredibly rewarding for us because we had the opening of a number of signature restaurants. That included Coya, Nusr-Et, and La Petite Maison which are all fantastic restaurants, and 99 Sushi which is a fabulous little sushi joint.”

Parry explains what goes in to creating the ideal mix of restaurants: “What we had to do is make sure that we curate it in a way to have all the different brands and all the different personalities and cuisine types all mixed together in a seamless way. If you go too heavy in one category, you’re going to miss out on another category or you’re going to end up cannibalising the category.”

In addition to a diverse portfolio, The Dining Collection’s convenience has been key to its success: “Our vision was always to create a dining destination, somewhere for the population of Abu Dhabi to congregate. It’s fine dining but it’s also casual. Whether you want to catch up with someone and have breakfast at Leopold’s or lunch at Café Bateel we’ve made sure that we’ve catered to all of those different tastes, whims and lifestyle choices.”

It would be natural to assume that there would be drawbacks to having too much choice but Parry affirms that the increased number of restaurants has resulted in improved performances from The Dining Collection’s existing concepts:  “I am delighted to say that since we opened all of the restaurants last year, our F&B has gone up. Zuma’s sales were up last year. We haven’t cannibalised and it just goes to show that the population of Abu Dhabi is waiting for someone to deliver spectacular restaurants and, as a result, they’re all coming to the project.”

Are the restaurateurs concerned that there are so many brands vying for a finite number of diners? No, according to Parry: “When you talk to the restaurateurs they say ‘we like the competition. It keeps us on our toes and makes us work harder every day to make sure that we’re delivering the best offering that we can deliver’. You can talk to any of our restaurants and the chefs will tell you the same thing.”

From Parry’s point of view, the business model has been tried and tested: “As a developer, while it seems to be a relatively new thing to create dining destinations, The Related Companies have been doing it for the last 25 years. You can look at their projects, whether it’s Chicago or New York City with Time Warner Center.”

When asked about comparisons with Dubai’s dining destinations, Parry doesn’t shy away from saying: “We got the best out of DIFC and the best out of Four Seasons Jumeirah. That’s not a coincidence. We look at Dubai, see what works there, and we bring it to Abu Dhabi.”

“The Dining Collection is a game-changer. We’ve shown the people of Abu Dhabi that they don’t need to go to Dubai to have an incredible fine dining experience or a casual experience. When we opened Magnolia, people came to The Galleria just to have the banana pudding. I love it, it’s just not good for the waist,” he laughs.

Though Parry remains tight-lipped about future plans at The Dining Collection, he does reveal one of its new launches: “I’ll give you a scoop. We’ve just signed the lease for L’Eto. That’ll open after summer. We have some more restaurants opening in The Dining Collection towards the end of the year and early next year.”

Also on the cards is a massive new project just across the road from The Galleria called Al Maryah Central which is five times the size of The Galleria. Once completed, the new project will comprise 75 new F&B experiences. Parry says: “The differentiator is that our fine dining is staying with The Galleria. We won’t have licensed restaurants in Al Maryah Central but we will increase the number of cafés and the larger, mass market brands. That’s really what we’re focusing on because we have always been a big believer in food.”

Parry admits that The Galleria has a disproportionately high percentage of food for a retail project. This is completely intentional: “I know retail these days is going towards entertainment and food. We’ve been doing that since we first came to Abu Dhabi and Al Maryah Central really is an extension because now we’re bringing in incredible entertainment. We’re going to have one of the largest Vox cinemas with regards to the number of screens in the region and the food that goes with that.” 

According to Parry, the new additions to The Dining Collection will also be famil- friendly: “I often take umbrage with my own team when they say families over the road and adults at the waterfront. Eat Greek is fantastic and I challenge anyone to get a better kids’ meal than Bentleys. I take my four-year-old there. He loves it.”

The encroachment of restaurants in retail spaces shows no signs of slowing down. Talking about the evolving ratio, Parry says: “One of the F&B leaders has always been Singapore. When we, here in the region were 9% they were 18%. Singapore is now getting closer to 40%. To get to 30% is possible but I don’t think this region will go much above that just yet. For 40% and 30% to happen you really need people coming for breakfast, lunch and dinner experiences.”

Ultimately, for the Australian native, who grew up socialising with his friends in malls, the aim is to create spaces where people can connect: “The way retail has shifted over the years is that malls are places where people congregate. People in retail use the word ‘place-making’ but what does that really mean? It’s a place where people come together to talk and interact with each other. People have WhatsApp and text messages and everything else but at some point you actually want human interaction and really, the mall is that meeting place.”