Major food and beverage groups from across the world are lining up to open branches of their iconic high-end restaurant chains in Saudi Arabia, with a particular focus on Riyadh and NEOM’s Sindalah Island, industry insiders told Arabian Business.
Globally renowned Latino restaurant Central, popular Peruvian-Japanese fusion restaurant Maido and Zuma London, a Japanese Izakaya-style restaurant chain are among a growing list of international majors gearing up to open branches soon, while Gymkhana, London – inspired by the elite clubs of India – just opened a branch, modelled on its flagship London restaurant, in Via Riyadh, industry insiders told Arabian Business.
Some of the regional top-end luxury F&B players such as Dubai-based hospitality major Atelier Group are meanwhile eyeing the newly coming up ultra-modern and sensational locations in the Kingdom such as NEOM’s Sindalah Island for opening their new, high-end luxury restaurants.
Expanding hospitality footprint in Saudi Arabia
London-headquartered Pastor & Co, a niche player catering to the globally rich and famous and celebrity sportspersons with exclusive and rare luxury items and services, will join hands with well-known chefs Virgilio Martínez and Mitsuharu ‘Micha’ Tsumura to bring the Lima-based Central and Maido to Saudi Arabia.
“We plan to bring two of the world’s most renowned chefs to Saudi Arabia in the form of luxury pop-up restaurants, with the world’s best restaurant of 2023 Central, and the world’s current 5th best restaurant Maido, both Peruvian cuisines from Lima,” Solomon Pastor, Director of Pastor & Co., told Arabian Business.
Though the two restaurants are learnt to be opened in Riyadh, Pastor declined to confirm their locations.
He said Pastor & Co. will stage the events but the chefs will very much be in the driving seat.
“Virgilio and Micha are culinary artists. It is not a case of them just lending their names as is so often with restaurants that have become somewhat of a ‘chain’.
“Pastor & Co. will be on hand to execute their visions and the plan is to stage a unique and exclusive luxury pop-up culinary experience in the Kingdom,” Pastor said.
On choosing Riyadh for its hospitality sector expansion, Pasto said: “Dubai perhaps would be the obvious choice because the stage is already set as it were.
“But we are really excited by Saudi’s Vision 2030 and as a young pioneering company Saudi Arabia is a relatively new frontier which is really appealing to us.”
He said Riyadh – as well as other cities across the country – will see more luxury hotel brands coming into the 5+ star arena amidst the increase in the number of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) travelling to the country.
He said the two restaurants will just be a beginning for the company as it plans an ambitious expansion into the hospitality sector, beyond its current tie-ups with top-end international hotel and hospitality chains to arrange a range of services for their rich and celebrity clients from around the world.
“We are in contact with some wonderful chefs and mixologists, so have many doors open [for more restaurants], Pastor said, adding that “[we believe] there is no bigger luxury in life than food and drink and no one is immune to craving a particularly good burger and milkshake!”
The top executive of Pastor & Co., which recently expanded into the UAE – as well as Middle East, revealed that the company is also gearing up to bring London-based gourmet fried chicken restaurant Cluck Yeah! to Dubai.
Industry insiders said Zuma, the London-based Japanese Izakaya-style restaurant chain, is expected to open a new restaurant in Saudi Arabia, most likely in Riyadh.
Co-founded by Divia Lalvani, Rainer Becker and Arjun Waney in 2002, Zuma has 14 venues globally and 8 seasonal locations currently.
Gymkhana London, inspired by the colonial era elite clubs of India where members of high society socialise, eat, drink, and play sports and was awarded two Michelin stars for its classic Indian cuisine this year, is among the popular international brands which recently opened their restaurants in Riyadh in the recent past.
Atelier Group’s Saudi expansion plans
Meanwhile, Dubai-based hospitality major Atelier Group is among a set of regional and international players who are eyeing the ultra-modern and much talked about new locations in Saudi Arabia such as NEOM for opening their super-luxury restaurants.
“Our group is planning further expansion in Saudi Arabia, with an opening in the NEOM’s Sindalah Island.
“That is where we will be concentrating a lot more [from now],” Panchali Mahendra, CEO of Atelier House Hospitality, told Arabian Business.
Mahendra said after opening three restaurants in Riyadh in the last two years, the group is now tweaking its strategy as it tries to understand the Saudi market a little bit more.
“Though the number of [restaurant] seats increased in Riyadh significantly in the recent past, Saudi Arabia will always be a good market to enter.
“But we observe that the growth there is a bit more organic because even though the population is there, the spending power and the demographics is a bit more limited. So, we need to understand both perspectives in order to inundate the market with the heavy seating capacity,” the hospitality sector veteran, who brought several international restaurant brands to Dubai, Turkey, India and now to Saudi Arabia, said.
Mahendra said Riyadh and Jeddah will see an influx of a lot more restaurants coming in.
“But I think more than Luxury, they will be more in the mid and casual market segments.
“Openings for the high-end and the fine dining restaurants will have a little slower movement,” she said.
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