Following the successful launch of The Scene by Simon Rimmer in Abu Dhabi ahead of Formula One race weekend, celebrity chef Simon Rimmer has told Caterer Middle East that he is considering more smaller The Scenes in Dubai.
The Scene at Yas Marina is only a third of The Scene that has taken up the fourth floor of Pier 7 at Dubai Marina for the last three and a half years, and Rimmer believes that these smaller locations could be the future of the brand.
He said: “If this little Scene in Abu Dhabi is successful then it maybe gives us the opportunity to do more in the suburbs with different expectations, so wait and see.”
Rimmer admitted that opening more would bring different challenges, especially with the chef having another 10 restaurants to oversee back in the UK.
“Doing one is always more straightforward as it’s your baby,” he said. “When you have your second child it’s about making sure you keep attention on that and that nobody feels that site number two is a poor imitation. It has to be the same but different. It has to have its own identity. If that works then you can do three and four and five, and it just means that the brand works.”
Speaking ahead of the launch of the Abu Dhabi concept, Rimmer told Caterer Middle East that he felt Abu Dhabi “has an awful lot of catching up to do” to match Dubai, but he didn’t feel it would be too much of an obstacle to success.
“I think you have to go into Abu Dhabi with different mindset in terms of expectations. It’s never going to do the turnover that [The Scene in Pier 7] does. I don’t think it’s ever going to have that tremendous football and tourists coming to the same level, but I think if you go in with that knowledge you can have a really successful business.”
You can read more from our interview with Simon Rimmer in the January issue of Caterer Middle East.