Hospitality Development Company, a subsidiary of The Pearl-Qatar’s developers UDC, says it is going to be rolling out brands it manages across the Middle East, starting with Megu and Pampano restaurants opening in Dubai.

The Dubai restaurants deal is nearly finalized, HDC General Manger Walid Maalouf is quoted by Hotelier Middle East as saying, while negotions are under way on two Istanbul boutique hotels.

HDC manages around 10 restaurant brands at The Pearl, including Liza, Burj Al Hamam and Alison Nelson’s Chocolate Bar. Two of its restaurants, Tse Yang and Megu, were shut down in February after alcohol was banned on The Pearl last December. 

Maalouf says the brand expansion was planned before the ban, but admits the resulting slump in sales may have been “an encouragement to speed up that [expansion] process.”

Credit: Photo by Omar Chatriwala