The Middle East could be home to a Nobu Hotel according to Rockwell Group Middle East managing director Chuck Wood.
Responsible for designing the first Nobu Hotel in the US, inspired by the famous Japanese restaurant chain created by Robert DeNiro and Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, Wood said the company had had “some conversations with developers here in the Middle East”.
“We have one or two specific locations in the US. I know they have had some conversations with developers here in the Middle East; I believe they are probably interested in coming here at some point,” said Wood.
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He said that the development of the first Nobu Hotel followed a new trend for links between entrepreneurial brands and the hotel industry.
“We are seeing entrepreneurial brands outside of the hospitality industry or hotel industry that already have strong emotive connections with their customers, moving into hospitality,” said Wood.
“We have developed a hospitality concept for Nobu, which everyone knows is a high-end chain of Japanese cuisine. Nobu himself has a very strong personality that’s very tightly bound to the restaurant brand and people look to him as a kind of concierge; every meal is a handcrafted deep experience for people and we found that those attributes map very well to a hospitality offering,” he added.
“It’s a different game altogether from taking a celebrity’s name and slapping it on a building,” said Wood.
Rockwell Group designed the Nobu restaurant at Atlantis, The Palm Jumeirah and is currently working on the first Nobu restaurant for Doha, to be located at Four Seasons Doha.
According to media reports, the first Nobu hotel from is planned for New York’s Financial District.
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