Tasty idea is food for thought

The Life: From Mirabel-branded lunch boxes for students to an entirely new restaurant concept, the managing director of Federal Restaurant Corporation in Abu Dhabi has ambitious expansion ideas for his business.

Alexander Clavel is expanding Mirabel's presence by launching "express" kiosks in office buildings. Lee Hoagland / The National

Over the past couple of weeks some students at Al Muna Primary School in Abu Dhabi have been opening their lunch boxes to find mini cakes, fruit and juice waiting inside.

But these are not your typical boxed lunches for kids.

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They come prepared by Mirabel cafe in Abu Dhabi and feature sandwiches made from fresh bread that takes 12 hours to prepare with ingredients such as mineral water and slow-rising yeast.

And if Alexander Clavel, Mirabel's managing director, gets his way, children in schools throughout Aldar Academies will soon be ordering his speciality lunches - at a cost of Dh100 (US$27.22) a week to parents.

The pilot project is just one of the many tactics Mr Clavel is using to expand the business he founded, Federal Restaurant Corporation, which oversees Mirabel. The Swiss entrepreneur is also in the process of creating a completely new restaurant called Jopp!, plus expanding Mirabel's presence by launching "express" kiosks in office buildings that would sell the cafe's sandwiches and snacks to hungry staffers throughout the capital.

"The concept of being an entrepreneur - particularly in this part of the world, where entrepreneurial spirit is so much at its infancy - is the quest, it seems, to bring the best ideas from overseas," says Mr Clavel.

"I wanted to create something that was unique to the region and if in the future we were to franchise it out to the rest of the world, we could say this franchise originates in the UAE," he adds.

But experts warn that Mr Clavel, who has previously worked as a restaurant consultant in London, New York and Miami, faces obstacles in the UAE to his ambitious expansion plans.

The kiosk concept has proven to be a successful business model within the restaurant industry, as it can help boost an eatery's sales without increasing certain costs, experts say. There is no need for Mirabel to invest in new kitchens, since its original location would still source its offerings.

Yet, kiosks tend to have less direct supervision, and the quality of food delivered from one could suffer in comparison to what diners experience when they sit down and order.

"The most important point is quality," says Ron Ribeiro, the chief executive of Aryan Business Consulting, an advisory firm based in Dubai.

"In kiosks, things happen where you can lose market share - or your brand," adds Mr Ribeiro. "If someone says I went there and I had the sandwich, and it was cold or [otherwise substandard], you will find that's it - and word of mouth just spreads."

The launching of Jopp!, a "health-conscious" sandwich and juice bar also under the Federal Restaurant Corporation umbrella, will present a different kind of challenge.

Its first location is set to open in February at a cost of less than Dh1 million, just one floor below Mirabel in the capital's Fotouh Al Khair shopping complex.

Mr Clavel then plans to expand both restaurants together by placing them side-by-side in future locations. Some big brands have already tried this approach to try to garner a larger share of the fast food market.

KFC and Pizza Hut are controlled by Yum! Brands and can sometimes be found within the same building. And Tim Hortons and Cold Stone Creamery started a co-branding partnership in North America two years ago. They now sell coffee and ice-cream side by side in various locations.

Property and marketing costs may be reduced by sharing the same space, although one concern with this tactic is the "cannibalisation" of customer spending, warns Daniel During, the managing director of Thomas Klein International, a hospitality consultancy based in Dubai. He says there may also be "customer confusion if the two concepts are not clearly separated and branded separately".

Mr Clavel says he plans to position the grab-and-go concept of Jopp! very differently from the relaxed ambiance of Mirabel.

Although other restaurant franchises have successfully implemented the side-by-side model elsewhere, Mr Clavel has no plans to import an established brand during his expansion.

"The thought of taking someone else's idea, and their playbook, and executing it is completely banal and dull," says Mr Clavel.

"I'm much more interested in the conceptualisation of creating something new, and taking a higher risk."

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