The Dubai restaurant scene has become more competitive than ever with the opening of so many new restaurants recently like Cle last October in the Dubai International Financial Centre, pictured left.
But the participants at the second Global Restaurant Investment Forum today believe there may be room for more. Has the market not become rather saturated?
Restaurant promoters and consultants are perhaps not the best people to ask but they do know their business better than most. Hodema Consulting Services managing partner Nagi Morkos said the top regional trend is currently the burger joint, followed by Lebanese cuisine and then coffee shops. He thought Dubai would mainly follow US trends over the next five years.
Elevated fast casual dining
Founder of The Culinary Edge Aaron Noveshen rattled off the key American trends to watch. Sit-down restaurant dining is in sharp decline, particularly fine dining.
The wonderfully sounding ‘elevated fast casual’ section of the market is the fastest growing segment right now. This mixes a casual relaxed environment with social media and iPhone technology. Waiters are considered a nuisance.
Americans are always keen to mix technology with just about anything. There is a company in San Francisco called Rocketfood that guarantees delivery within 10 minutes of ordering online or via mobile, and managed it in three minutes, 15 seconds when Mr. Noveshen first tried it. Defying immediate classification perhaps it should be known as ‘terrifically fast food’.
MacDonald’s still comes top for restaurant sales in both the US and Europe but its once exponential growth is a thing of the past, especially in China and Russia. The rising star of the burger joint is a gourmet product by comparison and in Arabia camel burgers have made it to the menu in these establishments.
No doubt Dubai restaurant chains will be keen to embrace some of these concepts. Indeed, I met conference attendees from the Abdullah Al Futtaim and Jumeirah groups there to learn about them. However, you have to wonder just how many more restaurants Dubai can swallow.
Hungry population
On the plus side the population of the city has grown 20-30 per cent by some esimates in the past few years, local salary levels are high and working hours long for most people.
From the negative viewpoint the upper end of the market is saturated with restaurant charging prices that most delegates to the GRIF thought were among the highest in the world, maybe a better reason to invest in a restaurant than eat at one.
Some predicted a shake-out in the local food and beverage sector in a much harder trading environment over the next couple of years with tourism hit by a strong dollar and global economic slowdown, and the local population more interested in saving for a rainy day than spending $350 for a lunch for two at Dubai’s newest sensation Coya, the first Peruvian restaurant in the Middle East (review here). Still it was almost full when we visited.
More optimistically the new F&B SVP for the Jumeirah Group, Jean-Luc Naret, formerly publisher of the iconic Michelin Guide, forecast that within five years Dubai would be one of the top culinary destinations of the world. If that is to happen then indeed there will have to be even more restaurant openings. and not just burger joints either.
