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29 March 2024

Watch out Tim Hortons! UAE’s coffee scene ‘perks up’ more

Founders of All the Perks: Pete and Karen Lambros sitting in All the Perks Dubai. (MvL)

Published
By Majorie van Leijen

Since Monday March 12 coffee dwellers have one more place to choose from.

On Sheikh Zayed Road, next to the Financial Center Metro station All the Perks opened its doors to their first branch in Dubai.

The American coffee shop is located in the business center of Dubai, in close proximity to competitors like Starbucks, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and the recently opened Tim Hortons.

But that does not seem to hold back the ambitious team of ‘perkers’ to have confidence in the potential success of a branch in Dubai, where coffee shops are springing up.

“The concept of the coffee shop as a place to sit, eat and socialise was only invented in 1973,” says Pete Lambros, founder of All the Perks.

“With the invention of the coffee shop the revenue of coffee enlarged. Whereas people used to buy a simple cup of coffee, they are now willing to complement this with a sandwich or desert.”

The Egyptian Wael Mhgoub will be running the branch in Dubai and believes it is a concept that definitely suits the city. “People in Dubai like to spend money on food,” he says. “Especially Arabs!”

Karen Lambros, co-founder and wife of Pete says that it is the multi-cultural aspect that attracted her to the Dubai market. “We have a huge exposure here to people from everywhere around the world.”

“We very much try to create a living room atmosphere; a place where you feel at home and like to spend some time, or even work. I think that is attractive to people all over the world,” Karen says.

Asked whether they have noticed different approaches to the consumption of coffee when it comes to nationality, the three indicate it is more a matter of age.

“Younger people tend to go for the latte and cappuccino, whereas older people prefer the espresso,” says Pete who prefers the espresso himself.

“There might be a difference in approach when entering the place, he adds. Not everybody is used to the self-service concept. In Russia, we bring the order to the table, for example.

The idea of drinking coffee while resting is well-established in Dubai, believes Wael.

“Some people associate coffee with a smoke, others with stress. There are people who only drink coffee in the morning. But in Dubai we have noticed a trend of having coffee and supplements while resting, especially in this business district. We have a customer right now who has been here for 4 hours!

Although the motto of the newly established coffee shop is ‘Perk up!’ and they welcome each customer to feel at home and stay as long as they want, the focus is on quality.

“We intentionally did not settle down in the mall. We do not want people to sit down in our shop because they are tired from hours of shopping. We want them to be able to distinguish our brand,” explains Wael.

“Quality control and fresh products is what differentiates our place from other shops, says Pete.

“We find quality very important and our customers are loyal to us because they appreciate this quality.”

Although the place is brand new and still needs to be discovered by the Dubai coffee audience, Wael is looking at a bright future with possible expansion in the UAE.

“People here are going to perk up, I am sure of that.”