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Dubai’s homegrown restaurants are ready to go international, says Issam Kazim

With Akiba Dori signing a 30 venue deal in India, Issam Kazim says Dubai’s restaurant scene is primed to go global

For years, Dubai was stamped as an ‘import city’. Food was flown in, international brands would copy and paste into the emirate, and growth trumped innovation. Now, things are changing. In the city’s flourishing restaurant scene, concepts are now born in Dubai and ready to take on the world.

That’s according to Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism’s CEO HE Issam Kazim. On the back of local hits such as The Maine and Il Borro moving into London and Gaia sailing into Europe, the tourism chief says the city’s restaurants are entering a new era.

It comes as Akiba Dori signed a 30-location franchise deal to take on India. The deal is with Franchise India & FranGlobal.

Speaking about the super-deal, Kazim shared: “Seeing homegrown brands like Akiba Dori, a successful and affordable eatery that started out at the heart of Dubai Design District going global is a testament to the strength of Dubai’s gastronomy scene and I would like to share my sincere congratulations on Akiba Dori’s expansion.”

Locations are set to open across major cosmopolitan locations within India over the next five years, bringing modern Japanese street food and Tokyo-style pizza that customers of the brand have enjoyed for years in the UAE and most recently, Saudi Arabia.

Issam Kazim Akiba Dori

Issam Kazim on what makes Dubai F&B work

On Dubai’s F&B scene in general, Kazim added: “What makes Dubai’s culinary landscape so distinctive is its reflection of the more than 200 nationalities that call the city home, delivering an epicurean kaleidoscope that is both incredibly rich and varied but also fresh and energising.  Dubai’s many restaurateurs and culinary pioneers draw from inspiration that is truly global in nature, yet nuanced and infused in so many novel ways.”

Akiba Dori’s founder, Samer S. Hamadeh concurred, if it can work in Dubai, it can work anywhere.

He said: “Launching an original F&B brand in Dubai is as close as you can get to testing your concept on an international audience.

“Dubai has incomparable PR power; if you can make your brand work here, you can take it almost anywhere on the planet, and I can’t think of more than a handful of cities that can make that claim. Taking Akiba Dori from our home base in Dubai to one of the world’s most powerful markets is a dream for us. We can’t wait to support our franchisees there with the help of our development partners led by India’s franchising legend Gaurav Marya.”

Source: Caterer Middle East

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