Elie Khoury, managing partner of Life & Food Hospitality, gives us the lowdown on his company, the KSA’s booming hospitality sector and the road to success.

What can you tell us about Life & Food Hospitality?
We work to fully understand your thoughts and objectives, whether developing a scalable concept for growth or a single unit operation. Life & Food Hospitality is a company that provides a 360-degree consultation and solution approach for restaurants, featuring unique health and lifestyle concepts. We ensure the success of a complete health and lifestyle solution for clients involved in dining services. At the same time, we provide leading restaurant and hospitality companies with solid solutions to complex problems.
We have over a decade’s experience in searching and securing the right location for brands and can advise what rates to target for investments.
We can provide expert guidance in dealing with different developers. We offer a range of recruitment services to meet the specific needs of employers. Our strength is providing recruitment solutions within talent short emerging recruitment markets.
With a knowledgeable food menu developer, trained in food science and all aspects of restaurant operations, from costing and design to recipes and equipment technology, our team brings years of experience and success to the table.

How do you evaluate the F&B market in the GCC and in Saudi Arabia in particular?
With a population of 32.1 million inhabitants, which is expected to reach 40 million by 2025, Saudi Arabia is the largest importer of food and agricultural products in the GCC. A high wealth society with increasing disposable income to satisfy changing lifestyles and diets, it relies on imports for 80 percent of its consumption needs.
The Saudis are always searching for new ideas and concepts in the F&B sector. We are seeing growing demand for local brands compared to international names and to the franchisee concepts. This is a reliable indicator for the potential, the professionalism and the standards that the market needs.

What is the secret behind launching a successful new concept?
You need the right product, market, positioning and timing for success. These elements are not always necessary for a successful launch, but they will definitely help in getting your product off the ground.

If you were to offer a restaurateur one piece of advice, what it be?
Don’t forget to interact with your staff regularly. These are the people who can make and break your business. So, keep them motivated to perform well through training and offering incentives to best performers.
Don’t go overboard with your menu. Start small and try new items. Leave them out if they don’t work and introduce them fully if they do. Have standard recipes to retain constancy.
Unhappy guests can cost you dearly. In fact, 95 percent of unhappy customers don’t complain. However, 90 percent of those will simply leave and never come back. A dissatisfied guest will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. Around 15 percent of dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people.

lifefoodhospitality.com