Hakkasan, the upmarket Chinese restaurant company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government's Tasameem, expects to open its first restaurant in the capital tomorrow at the Emirates Palace. Hakkasan is pushing ahead with its growth ambitions despite suffering a loss last year and has identified other sites in the Middle East as part of a global expansion.
"Next year we want to open in Shanghai, Paris, New York and other sites in the Middle East," said Niall Howard, the chief executive of Hakkasan. Its flagship outlet is its Michelin-starred restaurant in London's West End. It also opened a branch in Miami last year. "Abu Dhabi became our first preference partly because of the owner and partly because the Emirates Palace is a perfect match for us in terms of our global luxury brand," Mr Howard said.
Tasameem became Hakkasan's parent company in December 2007 when it bought 90 per cent of the business for US$60 million (Dh220.3m). The remaining 10 per cent is owned by a family trust. ADIA bought the shares from Alan Yau, the Hong Kong-born restaurateur who also founded the Wagamama chain. Hakkasan has a management agreement for the Abu Dhabi restaurant, but the company is looking at developing properties in Dubai, Shanghai and New York.
"The owner is now investing in new restaurants," Mr Howard said. "They're very excited about the growth prospects of the company. We'll have a mixture of management agreements and wholly owned restaurants," he said. The company is planning to open another restaurant in Mayfair in London in November and one in Mumbai by the end of the year, Mr Howard said. A restaurant Hakkasan had in Istanbul closed because it was in the wrong location and performed poorly, he added.
Hakkasan lost £6.3m (Dh33.4m) in the 12 months to May last year, as its turnover fell 7.25 per cent and it cancelled a project it had planned for Berkeley Street, London, opting instead for a £12.1m project elsewhere in the city. The company added that Tasameem had lent £2.7m for the development of the new restaurant in Bruton Street, Mayfair. Hakkasan wrote off more than £4.2m in provisions and cancelled project expenditure after it decided not to go ahead with the Berkeley Street restaurant.
"The company will be reliant on the provision of continuing financial support from Tasameem to fund its operations and development plans," Hakkasan said, and added that Tasameem had committed to provide financial support for the next year. Locations Hakkasan is considering in the region are Dubai, Doha and Beirut, as well as other sites in Abu Dhabi. "We're probably not in a hurry in Dubai because we want to give Emirates Palace time to establish itself," said Mr Howard. "We've visited sites in these other locations and we're just in discussions with various partners and developers."
Hakkasan also owns another Michelin-starred London restaurant, Yauatcha. "The underlying restaurants are trading profitably," said Mr Howard. @Email:rbundhun@thenational.ae This article has been altered to correct the statement that Tasameem was 'a property arm of the government-owned Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.