Emke plans to roll out range of restaurants at its hypermarkets

Dubai : The Emke Group will soon enter the restaurant business by introducing a mix of its own food and beverage concepts, as well as international chains. By locating these restaurants in their malls and hypermarkets, the Group intends to capitalise on the captive visitor base of people who regularly shop there.

Going forward, the new business line is expected to emerge as a major revenue earner in its own right. This will be the second new business the Group has launched in recent months. Earlier, it introduced the Lulu International Exchange, another business that caters to shoppers who visit its retail outlets.

"I see this business line as being complementary to our hypermarkets and shopping malls," said Yousuf Ali, managing director of Emke Group. "I don't want our loyal customer base, who frequent our hypermarkets, to go to any other exchange for their transactions."

"We have 84 locations for retail, and that's already quite a significant base to build on. We are getting 425,000 customers every day, and potentially all of them can be clients for our exchange house. It's a nice thought … and doable."

"The same business model should work for the restaurant business, which will have a launch in the near future itself."