Even by the standards of a city where you can dine at the tables of multi-Michelin-starred chefs one night (Yazhou, S.T.A.Y.) and be seen eating out at global trendsetters the next (Momo at the Souks, Gaucho), Zaitunay Bay is piquing interest. Pitching as it does a complex of 17 new restaurants, five retail outlets and a public promenade into the heart of the commercial district at a cost of $160 million, the brainchild of Beirut Waterfront Development (BWD) is a bold attempt to recreate the area’s pre-war sense of glamour and community. But what is it like for the local businesses whose hopes are riding on the project’s success?
Two concepts, Cro Magnon Steakhouse & Bar and St Elmo’s Seaside Brasserie, are the work of one set of five Lebanese investors, and for them, the location sealed the deal. Though rental prices in Hamra and Ashrafieh may have been anywhere from 10 to 20 per cent cheaper, “We wouldn’t have come on board if it wasn’t Zaitunay Bay,” says one of the investors, Mazen Fakhoury. Employing some 100 people between the two restaurants, Cro Magnon is a high-end, glamorous steak house, and St Elmo’s a more casual brasserie with a slew of theme nights. Putting together the $4.5 million initial investment required a special chemistry between the five shareholders, who came together through casual meetings and are mostly newcomers to the hospitality industry. Operations manager Joey Ghazal is the most experienced restaurateur of the group, with over 14 years in the restaurant industry in Montreal and London. He is joined by engineering and financial investment services CEO Houssam Batal, nightclub public relations and communications veteran Ramzi Traboulsi, oil and gas expert Mazen Fakhoury and finance professional Rami Batal.
Ghazal and Traboulsi first met with the BWD in February 2010, when they proposed a casual seaside brasserie. Learning that the landlord was also insisting on having a steakhouse in the project, they ended up signing the leases for two restaurants in December. “There are a lot of back office and operational expenses that you incur,” explains Ghazal, “and it’s obviously better to take those on over two profit centers.” On this day February, as the five settled into their distressed leather armchairs at Cro Magnon to sample their own menu of prime steaks and seafood, single malts and cigars, more than a desire to make a quick, high return on their investments ties them together. “You have to feel that there’s a measure of trust, a foundation of business understanding,” says Ghazal. All the investors contribute their business wherewithal; Rami Batal, for example, already has accounting and finance infrastructure in place for his other companies, so can manage the back office, while Traboulsi contributes PR expertise. “They’re their own number one clients,” winks Traboulsi. Established businessmen with a taste for the finer things in life, they came on board for the chance to bring a type of restaurant to Lebanon that they’ve admired abroad. “We are people who travel a lot and… appreciate the best class restaurants in the world,” says Houssam Batal. As such, he explains, they are long-term investors, not out to make a quick buck. They “hope to be able to pay back our investment in three years… you expect to double your money at least within the first five years maybe.”
Working with Zaitunay Bay ensured that there would be no competing concepts on the site; the most intense negotiations were over the specific concept briefs. After that, says Ghazal, apart from external design issues, the BWD was surprisingly hands-off — though citing problems with ventilation and delivery access, he notes wryly that the complex overall “could have been designed by someone who has some knowledge of the restaurant industry. It wasn’t.” Other niggles of opening a restaurant in Beirut — such as a lack of qualified staff and the terrible truism that political uncertainty hangs over everything — are a standard part of the deal. Just two months into operation, it is too early for Zaitunay Bay to release meaningful footfall and revenue figures, but Ghazal will say that “the landlord assured us they were going to do everything in their power to ensure a certain amount of footfall per week or per day, and the project has kept its promise.”
Like most restaurant businesses, the shareholders are open to including other investors and franchising the concepts to other territories in the future. As Zaitunay Bay looks ahead to spring, its many partners will be hoping to see their investments flourish. “It’s a high risk, high reward country,” concludes Houssam Batal, and one that is unlikely to lose its appetite.
