D&D London, the owner of 35 mainly UK-based restaurants, is planning to open “several” high-end restaurants in Dubai.
The Times reported that the firm is actively looking for sites in the emirate to develop new and existing concepts that would possibly include a branch of one of London’s most famous restaurants, Quaglino’s.
Other restaurants owned by D&D London include City-based Coq d’Argent and Bluebird, in Chelsea.
The firm, formerly Conran Restaurants, also has outlets in Tokyo, Paris and New York.
D&D London’s chairman and chief executive, Des Gunewardena, told the Times that he had recently been on a three-day visit to Dubai where he had reviewed several possible developments, although no decision had yet been made.
“If we do go to Dubai, we wouldn’t have just one restaurant,” he said. “You need the scale to make it worthwhile, so if we do decide to do something we will try to do several restaurants.”
“We will manage and directly operate our own restaurants in Dubai, as we do in Paris and New York.”
The company is also looking at developing further sites in the UK, Gunewardena said, although plans for a $147 million initial public offering had been put on hold at the end of last year.
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