True to his mantra of family over everything, Nick Comaty has managed to make Ennismore his second home. We sat with the accomplished F&B professional to learn more about the brand.
You have more than a decade of experience in running F&B venues. What have been your career highlights?
Meeting my wife at one of the venues I was running certainly tops the list! I have worked in many countries around the world and had some incredible highlights, including being part of a record revenue week at the SLS South Beach Miami during the Music Festival; organizing a meeting between Raul Castro and Bill Clinton at the Gramercy Park Hotel in NYC; working alongside celebrity and multiple award-winning chef Michael Mina at the Four Seasons DIFC; and opening Sky 2.0, one of the world’s best nightclubs, in Dubai Design District. As with everything we do in the hospitality industry, these could have only been achieved thanks to the incredible work put in by everyone involved in each project.
What is the secret to creating trendy and successful concepts?
The secret to a successful restaurant is to surround yourself with passionate professionals and create a successful venue. This includes music, sound, food, drinks and service, as well as marketing and PR. It is also important to be consistent, as the only metric of success is guest satisfaction and loyalty.
What can you tell us about the company and portfolio?
Ennismore is a global collective of entrepreneurial and founder-built hospitality brands with creativity and purpose at heart. We have an impressive range of lifestyle brands, each with its own unique positioning and narrative, and a strong F&B offering that attracts both locals and international travelers. We offer four unique studios, one of which is Carte Blanched, a fully integrated F&B studio and the driving force behind Ennismore’s most coveted culinary experiences. We use Carte Blanche to conceptualize the design, identity and innovation of our food and beverage brands, such as Tandoor Tina, Fi’Lia, Four Corners, Seabird and Bibo.
What can you tell us about your position and what it entails?
I am the vice president of food and beverage operation and development at Ennismore for the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and India. I oversee our existing properties, namely SLS Dubai, 25hours One Central, Hyde Dubai and Mondrian Doha, as well as help and guide the team, supporting major activations. On the development side, I am involved with the Carte Blanched team from the initial assessment and business plan right through to delivery.
What is your strategy?
I consider Ennismore to be an entertainment company rather than a hotel company, which translates into our restaurants and bars offerings.
For venues to be successful, they need to be aimed at the local community and offer great value. Too many restaurateurs don’t spend enough time in their venue and don’t speak to their guests to understand if their vision has been fully implemented.
What challenges and opportunities are you anticipating?
I try to focus on finding solutions to certain challenges, such as oversupply, lack of talent, short lifespan, low margins and seasonality, as well as creating opportunities by developing our internship programs with international hospitality schools and management programs to find great team members and develop future leaders. Whenever I brainstorm with my colleagues, I realize that there’s never a dull moment in the world of F&B.
Furthermore, to maintain a healthy number of clients per seat, we are establishing restaurants that are smaller than those we used to create a decade ago.
