Most consultancies in Dubai sell concepts, interiors and launch PR. Backhouse does the part that decides whether the restaurant survives month six: the opening sequence, the POS and inventory set-up, the food cost, the aggregator payouts and the monthly close. Run by an operator who is inside a working Dubai kitchen every week.
From signed lease to first service in roughly twelve to twenty-four weeks: what gates each step, which specialists do the licensing, municipality and layout approvals, and who holds the budget so the equipment list and the kitchen drawing agree in week three, not week nine.
The 10-day Number Audit puts three gaps in dirhams: theoretical vs invoiced food cost, POS sales vs aggregator payouts vs bank deposits, and registered recipes vs what the kitchen really plates. Fixed fee, quoted before we start.
A weekly one-page P&L, the monthly close within three working days, stock counts that actually happen, supplier invoices in a ledger, and every Talabat, Deliveroo and Careem statement reconciled to the bank. Someone who is not the owner does it, on a fixed day.
| Typical F&B consultancy | Backhouse |
|---|---|
| Concept, brand, interiors, launch PR | Opening sequence, budget control, POS and inventory set-up, the first weekly P&L |
| A report and a deck | One page per gap, in AED, with a cause your manager can act on Monday |
| Ends at opening night | Stays for the first year: the systems built in weeks four to eight only pay off if someone keeps them true |
| Asks you to change POS or add software | Works on the POS you have — Revel, Foodics, Syrve and others — with read-only access |
| Hourly or retainer, scope on request | Fixed fees quoted before we start; monthly terms of three months, renewed quarterly |
Food safety, Dubai Municipality applications and kitchen-layout approvals are the work of specialist consultants and your PRO. We sequence them and hold the timeline; we do not replace them.
You are the person checking the numbers at night. You want one weekly page that tells the truth, and someone who noticed the problem before you did.
International and Japanese founders. We have walked the lease-to-licence path in Dubai ourselves, more than once. Consultations in English or Japanese.
Commission rates that differ from the contract, refunds, unpaid periods, recipes that were never updated. The Number Audit finds where it went.
It depends on what is bought. Backhouse quotes fixed fees before starting: the Number Audit is one fixed fee for ten working days; Monthly Ops is a monthly fee on three-month terms; opening projects are scoped per venue. You are told the number on the first call, not after a proposal.
Neither. Your accountant keeps the statutory books, VAT and corporate tax. Your POS stays — Revel, Foodics, Syrve and others — and we only need read-only access. We make the numbers they both rely on true.
Launch is the opening: sequence, budget, set-up, first service. Fix is the 10-day Number Audit that puts three gaps in dirhams. Run is Monthly Ops: the weekly P&L, the monthly close, stock counts, invoice ledger and aggregator reconciliation, every month.
Dubai first. Number Audits and Monthly Ops run across the UAE — Sharjah and Abu Dhabi included — because the work is done on your POS, aggregator and bank data. Opening projects are Dubai and the northern emirates.
Yes. Japanese founders opening a first venue in the UAE are a core client group. The first call, the scope of work and the NDA can all be in Japanese.
Send last month's POS summary and one aggregator statement. On a 30-minute call we tell you whether an audit is worth it — and if it is not, we say so.
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