Dubai and Beirut nightclub brand White will open as a high-end café and lounge in Jeddah, according to the CEO of Addmind Hospitality Group.
The company has offices in both cities, and runs concepts including Indie restaurant and lounge in DIFC, Italian restaurant Matto, rooftop lounge Iris in Dubai and Beirut, and Drai’s beach club.
Speaking to Arabian Business, Tony Habre said the firm is currently in talks to open White café in the kingdom, but hasn’t signed a partnership yet.
“We haven’t signed yet. We’re talking to some people… White café will be more high-end… with high end decoration,” he said.
Addmind is also finalising a café version of its Iris brand in Jeddah too, Habre said, adding that the rooftop venue will play music and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“We’re finalising the Iris café for Jeddah. It will be a café and lounge with music and breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s also a rooftop, outdoor and indoor, and a very interesting concept for the Jeddah market, which is growing, and they have great concepts opening there too,” he said.
“The Saudi market will be great, because the local community goes out a lot. You have people in the country who go out a lot,” he added.
New DIFC restaurant
Last week, the group revealed it acquired Argentinian-themed restaurant Gaucho in DIFC for an undisclosed sum and will entirely change the Gaucho brand in the near future.
Gaucho is located underneath Addmind’s restaurant and lounge concept Indie. It opened in Dubai in 2011 and was part of the UK-based Gaucho Group that filed for bankruptcy last year, before its lenders Investec Bank and debt specialist SC Lowy – who were owed £50m by Gaucho’s parent company Gioma – said they would buy the business via a credit bid.
However, the Gaucho Group said last year that the Dubai venue was unaffected by the administration of the UK business as it does not come under the same legal structure.
Habre said he will spend between $2-$3 million to refurbish and rebrand the concept.
“With time, we will change the Gaucho name, but not directly. The whole brand will be changed…We’ve already started the changes, [but] we’re going to do a huge refurbishment for the whole place later,” he said.
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