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Two establishments are putting their money where their ideas are

FRANCHISE
The business of food

It is noon on a hot Thursday and the faithful are already parking outside and heading upstairs, where you dine against the backdrop of the Shatti beachfront below and the ocean ahead. Welcome to Second Avenue, where the food is good but the idea even better.

That’s where Nabeel Dhaher comes in. A veteran of decades in the industry, he has built up the no-nonsense Lebanese Tarboosh for over ten years: first opposite Sabco Centre, then at Ghubra and soon towards Ghala. “But the third,” says Nabeel, “will be the last Tarboosh.” A decade of fast food later, it is time to move on. To Second Avenue.

Moving up a few notches isn’t about status, though, it’s about the business. Even if that means selling for lower than your competitors. “Do you want to know my secret? Big plates, low prices. I filled an Excel sheet with the rates of all my potential competitors, and sell my food, on average, 15 per cent lower than the others. Take my steak, for example: best quality Richmond. Others typically offer you 120g, I serve 220g. And for five rials – that’s just an 800bz profit.” But Nabeel would rather have people in than out, to dine and soak up his idea of what he calls his ‘creation franchise.’ A franchise which will, in time, spill over across Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai – just like Tarboosh did across Muscat.

The idea is devastatingly simple: create a good business idea and then duplicate it. The first step? Remove the cook out of the equation. “At Tarboosh, we hired local people who knew nothing about restaurants. I fixed the recipe and gave them flip cards, so all they had to do was twirl through it and follow instructions. That means every shawarma and drop of hummous is the same, across our branches, and remains as good no matter who is cooking. I don’t believe in chefs.”

Which might be the reason why, while others have risen and fallen, Tarboosh has survived and thrived, delivering a standard that you can bank on, even to this day. But a venture like Second Avenue, where the tag line reads ‘Something for everyone,’ also offers Nabeel a lot more elbowroom. Tarboosh is static, while the new place opens up a whole new dynamic. Already, it has started a special Friday menu, offering Chinese and seafood on this one day. There will be Continental and Eastern buffets during Ramadan, but the big plans will come after: breakfasts and, when the weather is cooler, outdoor dining.

And then, after the restaurant is running on its own steam, the next venture: a teriyaki place, where diners can walk into the open kitchen and prepare their own food. The chefs will just be there to help. And maybe this is the way forward. Tarboosh is good, but it never did manage to stick its head high enough above the crowd, and was inevitably drowned out by the din from a countless number of similar restaurants, each offering the same menu. So far, Second Avenue sticks out like a sore thumb on the Shatti seafront, just infinitely better looking. Try it. Food never made so much business sense.

BOUTIQUE
How Midan is reinventing the hotel

Franchising might work for some, but it sends shudders through another. Valéria Thomson of Midan Hotel Suites creates the opposite: a one-of-a-kind product that has enough individuality and character to stand on its own.

“We have to think like the customer,” explains Valéria. “What do we want to receive when we travel?” Midan seeks to fulfil wishes by being the anti-chain hotel, where service is personal, the interiors edgy chic, the art on the wall real, the Internet free.
She pushes across an article published by an F&B industry magazine that debates the widespread misuse of the term ‘boutique’ that is now a badge for any new hotel with a sprinkling of fresh design. True boutiques are, by industry definition, small, have staff react personally to guests rather than by formula, are contemporary and stylish and are independently owned and not part of a larger chain.

Such insight is most accessible to residents through the restaurant that spills out into the lobby. Thai Basil is so open you’re not quite sure when you have left the lobby and entered it. Either that or the lobby – which also doubles up as the Casa de Café coffee lounge – is so chic it looks more like a destination than a place to sit down and wait.

Thai Basil is so good you will find yourself drifting into it anyway. So good, in fact, that it might just be one of the best Thai restaurants in the sultanate. Or perhaps the only one. Don’t miss the excellent tamarind-flavoured fish, the exquisitely subtle jasmine rice and the fantastic beef and potato curry. Start with the soup with mushrooms and, whatever you do, don’t miss the cheesecake made by Shilashil Bakery (that also supplies Second Avenue). Around you, reds and blacks clash in studied compositions.

It gets better looking. The café might already be surrounded by art on the walls, but in time Midan will get its own art gallery. Many of the oils up on the walls have been painted by Valéria herself, but she hopes to attract resident artists who will display – and sell – their work.

Don’t get too carried away by the decor, though. Such calculated positioning is as much about finding a market niche as it is about aesthetics. “As a business, we look for gaps in the market. Most of our guests are corporate clients who want something contemporary and comfortable with all the facilities of a four-star hotel at competitive rates. We have 37 suites in which you can work, cook and live.” That includes a couple of studios, 14 single-bedroom suites, 20 two-bedroom suites and a single three-bedroom space. The fifth floor has a health centre and its Thai masseuse and a little gymnasium, open 24 hours.

The next big thing? A boutique hotel in Sohar. But that’s another idea, and another story. With Valéria, nothing is ever the same.