Extreme freshness

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Ex Freshies restaurant in Times Square.

Marvin Shire, CEO of Retail Corp, was looking for a new project, something different, when the idea of Ex Freshies came up."We wanted to combine F&B with theatre. We were already speaking to Al [Gosling, CEO of Extreme Media Group] on other projects and he suggested combining Extreme with a café that would appeal to youth culture."

Extreme Media Group was founded by Gosling in 1998. It began with a TV channel dedicated to extreme sports and have since launched more than 20 brands in areas as diverse as clothing, hotels, travel, publishing, medicine and now restaurants.

"What I love [about Dubai] is the receptiveness to new ideas," explains Gosling, when asked why he chose Dubai for Extreme's first foray into F&B. "The region is moving so fast. Drinks, hotel, retail-all these areas are moving in Dubai and the region. It's very, very cool ultimately. We move quickly, Retailcorp moves quickly."

Shire explains that they were looking to develop a concept that was different from what is currently available in coffee shops. "We wanted a fresh food concept-not health food, but fresh food-as opposed to the croissants and cakes you find in other coffee shops."

More than that, both Shire and Gosling wanted a concept that would appeal to the youth market. "The youth market is underpotentialised, we want them to think of this as their hangout." Shire adds that the culture in Dubai lends itself to café culture, but there are no places geared to the youth market.

A young attitude is also a large part of the Ex Freshies appeal. "We were sensible with staff," says Shire, "we want people with attitude, people that can interact and engage with the customer."

However, although Ex Freshies was designed to appeal to the under 25s, they have found that many, if not most, of the customers are actually older. But they are staying and enjoying the café - around 85% of customers come back more than once. "Everyone is very positive that there is something new," Shire enthuses.

Gosling echoes that the goal of Ex Freshies is to appeal to a wider market, "Anybody who is into the lifestyle of beach, music, sports-anybody who is looking for a restaurant experience that is new and different."

One important feature of Ex Freshies are the ubiquitous TV screens showing sports-both extreme and conventional, and this may be another reason for the shops' appeal to the over-25s.

"We want to run a non-alcoholic place where you can watch sports-this is another hook to bring locals into the concept. There are a lot of people who are into sports, so hopefully it will appeal to the mass market," says Shire, who believes there is a market in the Middle East for a non-alcoholic sports bar.

Ex Freshies is located in the relatively low-key Times Square Mall. Shire explains that the mall was chosen based partly on availability and price, and partly on deliberation. Retailcorp wanted the first Ex Freshies to test the waters, something that is more difficult to do when you have to pay the high key money required by the bigger malls.

"Our margins are much lower," explains Shire adding, "90% of the [food] products are delivered daily, because it's all fresh."

Retailcorp plans to open at least 30 Ex Freshies throughout the GCC in the next five years, including stand alone outlets. If successful here, Gosling plans to launch Ex Freshies in the UK.

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