Launch

Lease to first service,
without the expensive lessons.

We've opened multiple venues in Dubai from scratch — dine-in stores and delivery kitchens: site, the licence path, kitchen build, POS, hiring, opening week. Launch is that path, run for you.

Talk about your concept

typical timeline

Launch timeline — opening a restaurantSigned lease → opening · approx. 12–24 weeks

Wk 1–2
Sales target, opening budget and staffing cost setThe plan has to work on paper before any money is spent.
Wk 2–4
Menu, prices and recipe costs fixedEvery dish costed first. It decides the kitchen, the crew and the margin.
Wk 3–5
Kitchen layout frozen, equipment orderedLong lead. Ordered early so it lands before opening.
Wk 3–10
Fit-out and approvalsLicences and municipality sign-offs done by specialists, tracked weekly. These and the fit-out are what stretch 12 weeks towards 24.
Wk 5–10
Hiring and visasKey staff first. Visas start early because they take longer than anyone plans for.
Wk 8–10
Suppliers and POS set upSupplier accounts opened. POS loaded with real recipes so food cost shows from day one.
Wk 10–12
Training, tasting, trial service, openingThe crew cooks and serves the real menu before the first paying guest.
Wk 16
First month-end stocktake and P&LFood and drink counted separately. Every gap gets a cause.

A dining room set for first service. The timeline on the left is the order we run an opening in, with the long-lead items flagged. Most openings land between 12 and 24 weeks.

What's in a launch

Feasibility & site

Concept-to-location fit, rent-to-sales test, footfall reality check, landlord and fit-out negotiations. A go/no-go with the numbers behind it.

Licence path & specialists

Mainland or free-zone choice, the order the paperwork has to go in, and who does what. Trade licence, food-safety and municipality filings are specialist work — we brief the PRO and the food-safety consultant, track their sign-offs, and keep the opening date honest.

Systems built right, once

POS configured with real recipes and yields, inventory and purchasing set up so food cost is measurable from week one, aggregator onboarding, delivery ops.

People & SOPs

Hiring plan, visa and onboarding sequence, one-page SOPs (multilingual where the crew needs it), opening checklists, first-30-days rhythm.

Launch is scoped and priced per project under a Statement of Work. Plan on roughly 12–24 weeks from signed lease to opening; the licence path and the fit-out decide where in that range you land.

Read next

After opening, the hard part starts

Most launches lose money in months two to six because nobody is watching food cost and payouts. Launch clients move into Run for the first year at a reduced rate, so the systems we built keep telling the truth.

Lease to first service,without the expensive lessons.