Dubai: Caramel Group is cranking up the pace of expansion of Caramel, its contemporary American restaurant and lounge brand.
The Dubai-based hospitality development and management company is planning to open two Caramel outlets next year, one each in London, England and Cape Town, South Africa, according to its founder, Mohammad Al Hashimi. The brand is currently present in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Nairobi, Kenya.
“London is an important market because it’s a cosmopolitan city; people living there have high disposable incomes, and they are looking for quality brands,” Al Hashimi said.
The company also operates Mo’s, the company’s family-oriented casual dining restaurant brand, which debuted at CityWalk in 2013.
With all the new entrants in the food and beverage market, Al Hashimi believes it to be oversaturated.
“I think there will be a lot of people that will be hurt. Many people don’t have management experience,” he said.
To beat competition, Caramel Group “focuses on quality of service and food” and develops its menu, according to Al Hashimi.
Boutique hotels
In the next five years, the company aims to expand beyond restaurants, and do what other companies have done: open boutique hotels.
“That is our main aim — to get into the boutique hotel business where the focus is food and beverage, and replicate what is in our restaurants there,” Al Hashimi said.
Another Dubai-based company, The Crystal Group, is reportedly planning to open boutique hotels in Dubai, Beirut, Lebanon and Istanbul, Turkey. It operates 10 restaurants, beach clubs and lounges in the UAE, Lebanon and Morocco.
Colin Beaton, managing director of Limelight Creative Services, a retail consultancy in Dubai, said that restaurant-chains expanding into hotels is a trend.
“Brands vertically integrating is popular because you are able to control the brand effectively if you own the environment it is in,” Beaton said. Such brands have control over their visibility, marketing and location, he added.
According to Euromonitor International, a research firm, full-service restaurants’ sales in the UAE are expected to reach around Dh10 billion this year.
