The CEO of the UK’s largest Middle Eastern restaurant group on his reopening and expansion strategy, the benefits of mobile ordering and how customer behaviour has changed.
On 17 May Lebanese restaurant group Comptoir Libanais reopened fully its company-owned estate, some 21 sites. “But we didn’t call it a reopening,” explains CEO Chaker Hanna. “For us it was about rebuilding our restaurant group from the ground floor up.” Determined to reopen better, Hanna and the business’s founder Tony Kitous spent each lockdown reassessing their group and striving to improve its foundations.
“We started life as a family business, but we’ve now reached a size that requires a change of approach,” says Hanna. “For example, our financial systems were inadequate. Everything has now been fully digitised, which gives us an overview of how the business is performing. We’ve also refitted all of our sites. It’s very important that we reopen looking fresh and relevant.”