5 Minutes With… Phil Broad, MD, Jumeirah Restaurants

Name: Phil Broad

Job title: Managing director

Company: Jumeirah Restaurants

Years in company: Four

What will your company be focusing on this year?
We are really excited to be continually focusing on and building the noodle house brand both in Dubai and globally.

Before the end of the year we will be opening the noodle house in Dubai Mall, Karachi, Islamabad, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Russia and Lebanon.

We are also working on the openings for noodle house in Great Britain next year. We are excited that we have now franchised the Urabno Italian brand and will be opening in Istanbul and Bahrain this year.

Are you concerned that the current volatile global economic climate will affect your strategy?
I think everyone is concerned about the global economy but, in all honesty, the franchise model really works for investors because it’s tried and tested, so there is a higher chance of building a successful business. Franchising is also a tangible investment and the F&B industry is always going to grow, if you are good!

What are the growth areas currently for your industry?
The noodle house is our biggest growth opportunity but we are also seeing great opportunity in the delivery business, particularly in Dubai as customers want restaurant quality food at home.

What new products will your company launch this year?
We continually innovate with our menu as you always need to keep it fresh to keep customers coming back.

When the noodle house Dubai Mall opens in September you will also see a fresh and exciting new look, watch this space. We also hope to launch some noodle house products into retail.

Will you be expanding into new territories?
We have recently signed an agreement to open 27 noodle house restaurants in Great Britain, we have also just signed Turkey, Kenya and Morocco. Our focus going forward is to enter The United States, China, Australia and mainland Europe markets.

We will also build the Urbano business as a franchise model and have already signed 4 territories, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Turkey.

What will be the biggest challenges for UAE businesses in your sector in 2012?
I still think the biggest challenge is finding the best people to work for you from all around the world to deliver individual experiences for our customers. Our people make the difference to everything we do.

Will you be hiring this year?
We certainly will and so will our franchise partners around the world. With our openings this year we will be creating some 300 jobs.

What’s your leadership style?
I would say that I have a pretty relaxed style. I think my team would say that I always have my foot on the accelerator, but use the brake to make sure we are heading in the right direction.

I treat the business as my own and every customer and dirham matters.

What makes the perfect employee?
We need to make sure that our employees (in Jumeirah we call them colleagues) love what they do so that they give exceptional experiences to our customers.

If we train them well and treat them with respect and integrity then they have every opportunity to grow within our organisation.

They should be passionate about the job and be driven to look for ways to make our customers become loyal.

Define success in five words…
Surround yourself with great people.

Three tips for becoming the boss…

1. Treat people as you like to be treated, love what you do and share it with others.
2. Treat the business as your own and the customers as your family.
3. When things are going well look out the window, when they are going badly look in the mirror.

When I’m not at work I like to…
If you love what you do you never work a day in your life anyway!