Boom or bust? Dubai’s chefpreneurs tell their inside stories
“Dubai is rapidly becoming a global culinary city with a growing, vibrant restaurant scene.” It’s a familiar litany that anyone in the industry – and indeed, anyone who eats out in the emirate – will have heard repeated innumerable times. As someone who has worked closely with the F&B industry for several years, I myself have said as much on various occasions. However, what I have also always maintained is that for far too long, style had superseded substance, with a proclivity for borrowed concepts and celebrity names leading to an over-supply of glitzy restaurants offering forgettable food.
L to R – top: Scott Price & Nick Alvis; Akmal Anuar; Alex Stumpf
L to R – bottom: Reif Othman; John Buenaventura; Tom Arnel
A true coming of age can only happen when an authentic local culinary identity exists, and happily, in recent years, a new breed of independent ‘made-in-Dubai’ restaurants is helping to create just that. Not least among these are restaurants owned and helmed by prominent Dubai-based chefs turned entrepreneurs who are putting their money where their mouths are, and bringing innovation and quality into the mix.
So far, so delicious.
What isn’t common knowledge however, is the grit behind the glamour of operating in this market. For every successful (or not so successful) restaurant dreamed up by a talented chef, there’s been some extreme hard graft that has been put in, and some unique challenges faced.
Chef Akmal Anuar is today lauded around Dubai for his little restaurant that could, 3 Fils. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing. For the former World’s 50 Best rated Iggy chef, quitting the safety of a management role at a leading hotel chain in Dubai to start his own venture involved downsizing his home, taking his kids out of school – and even taking his staff uniforms home each night to launder and iron them himself!
“In the early days, we ran out of money all the time. We had no money to print menus, to have dimmers on the lights; potatoes came from the supplier and we had to return them as we couldn’t pay, it was tough,” laughs Akmal, with a toss of his signature ponytail.
He had put all his life’s savings into the restaurant, to have an equal three-way partnership with his Emirati investors who were his loyal customers from Zengo, where he was previously head chef (therefore the name of the restaurant, get it?).
Even though it was an unambitious project by Dubai standards, construction delays and lack of a marketing budget meant it was painfully slow going at first. Akmal’s persistence in offering the highest quality of seafood – a passion he acquired during his time working in Australia and on the Pacific islands earlier in his career – paid off however, and through word of mouth, the restaurant gained popularity. Things really exploded however – in a good way – when it landed a couple of unexpected awards. The rest is history – still in the making.
Another chef with a similarly tough pre-opening experience is John Buenaventura who, after years of working with leading hotel groups, decided to take the entrepreneurial leap. His financial troubles started right at the beginning though, when the investment company he was working with, did a runner with the money his investors (including his own mother) had put in. John was stuck with signed contracts for the space and with construction companies, but displaying steely resolve and ingenuity, he managed to get the restaurant crowd-funded. Finances proved to be a constant struggle however.
“It was literally hand to mouth. There were times when me and the guys were buying and mixing cement, painting the walls, changing the light bulbs, laying out the plumbing, breaking walls with a hammer… we all just did what we had to, to get things going,” John says, his positive smile still intact though, even when recounting the difficult times.
“As a chef, you just think about menus, but as a restaurant owner, I had to learn about Dubai Civil Defence requirements, power requirements, emergency procedures. It’s a whole different ballgame,” he continues.
All the hard work did pay off, as Cuisinero Uno opened to a very positive reception. However, getting a return on investment on such a large venue in Dubai’s competitive environment was never going to be easy or quick, and sadly, the restaurant had to shutter its doors just over a year later, due to lack of funding.
John is now working as cluster head of culinary with the Meraas Group, looking after the F&B offerings for Zabeel House, Zabeel Mini and Al Seef Heritage Hotel.
But the biggest lessons John learned through this experience was to partner with the right people, have a proper business plan and make sure to have a Plan A, B, and C.
Another chef who did get most of these things right is Alex Stumpf, who partnered with his wife Shabnum Stumpf and long-time associate Spero Panagakis to open BB Social Dining to great acclaim. While the combined pedigree of these three seasoned restaurant professionals (they all worked at Zuma together, among other leading restaurants) certainly paved the way for a slightly smoother journey, it wasn’t without its fair share of sleepless nights.
“The biggest stress was finding the investors, that was the toughest part of the whole scenario,” reveals Alex. “We had a few people who showed interest, then backed out – one at the very last minute, the day we were about to sign the lease! With just three months to open, we had to go back out to look for investors.”
A common lament between all three chefs are the challenges particular to Dubai – that of inevitable delays with construction and paperwork (opening dates are like a standard in-joke amongst industry insiders; you just know that it will never open as planned) and the high costs of operations (from prohibitive rents to employment costs, which can go up to AED10,000 per person with visa costs etc.,).
It’s enough to deter anyone from making this bold move, even though it is probably every chef’s dream to own their own restaurant someday.
Luckily, it didn’t stop the likes of chef Tom Arnel – who burst onto the scene with Dubai’s first hipster café Tom and Serg in 2014, and hasn’t looked back since, growing his business Bull & Roo into a small empire (even though his partnership with Sergio Lopez ended up being collateral damage, with the duo parting ways in 2018).
Bull & Roo now own multiple brands across different locations, including The Sum of Us at Trade Centre; Common Grounds at Mall of the Emirates and newly-opened in DIFC; Brunwsick Eatery also at MoE, plus a couple more pop-up concepts.
Neither have the hardships of setting up on their own stopped Nick Alvis and Scott Price, Dubai’s very own star chefs. Folly by Nick & Scott, from the former Gordon Ramsay protégés, is a success story. The duo, who also head up gastropub, The Lion by Nick & Scott, have just launched a new concept, Verve, at the Grand Plaza Mövenpick Media City. They do, however, have the might of an established hospitality company, Gates Hospitality, behind them, which certainly helps.
Corporate backing doesn’t always ensure longevity though. Reif Othman, easily one of Dubai’s best known chefs, has walked away from his partnership at Play and sister concept The Experience, as well as a short-lived stint with Billionaire Mansion and Sumosan Twiga due to creative differences. He is now busy with pop-ups and creative collaborations, whilst he preps to open his own concept (which he plans to keep independent and mostly self-financed).
3 Fils terrace & food; BB Social Dining interior & food; Tom & Serg interior; Folly dessert
Whichever route one takes in the end, the process is undoubtedly stressful and fraught with uncertainty, with many lessons that need to be learnt along the way.
For any other chef with big dreams of opening their own restaurant in Dubai, John has this to say: “I think you need to be very seasoned, crazy, not require sleep, and be ready to deal with all the b***s**t – then you’re the perfect guy to open a restaurant here.”
But when asked if they would do it again, all the chefs I spoke to had the same answer. “In a heartbeat.”
Sudeshna Ghosh is a seasoned journalist covering the food, travel and lifestyle sectors. She recently relocated to Sydney after over a decade in Dubai as an editor (formerly of BBC Good Food Middle East), restaurant critic and food writer. She blogs (rarely and reluctantly) at Travel Now! and posts slightly more frequently on Instagram @travelnow_world. This thought piece is Sudeshna’s Dubai swan song, paying homage to an industry whose evolution she has loved being a part of.
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