Food that leaves a memory: How Emirati entrepreneur Shihab Al Awadhi wants to take home-grown UAE brand SLAB to the world

Dubai: The restaurant he walked into was almost empty, but that didn’t make sense … because the food was exceptional.

Emirati businessman Shihab Al Awadhi still remembers the moment he realised he was going to venture into the food and beverages industry in 2018.

“We actually went back to the restaurant the same week with friends, and again, the place was empty,” he said.

“That didn't make sense to me,” the 43-year-old recalled. “The food was amazing, but people weren't coming. And as a group of friends, whenever we travel, we are always on the lookout for food that leaves a memory,” he said.

And while the food hit the sweet spot for the entire group of friends, the absence of customers was confusing.

That was the moment Al Awadhi decided, along with his friends, one of whom is also his brother-in-law, to buy out the restaurant.

Eight years later, SLAB has become one of the most recognisable home-grown eateries in the UAE, with sights on the international market.

Chef Omar Rodriguez, who has been with SLAB since it started in 2016, remains central to the restaurant's identity, as Al Awadhi brings in his own passion for ‘food that leaves a memory’.

After La Mer was closed, SLAB moved from its original location to its current one at Mercato Mall in 2022, and continues serving its Latin American-inspired menu that is constantly evolving.

“At SLAB, our main goal from the beginning was to always have a test menu. We call SLAB a test kitchen, because we are always testing a new dish for people to try,” he said.

Rather than building around the latest food trend or a few star dishes, SLAB is a chef-driven concept, where customers experience his distinct cooking.

While the seasonal menu continuously evolves, there are some classics that remain on the menu due to customer demand.

Commenting on why he chose to go with a chef-driven concept, Al Awadhi said: “It allows you to have that closeness to the kitchen, like a home. You know who's cooking for you, you know his taste in food and you know what exactly they offer at the table.”

But this spontaneous move into the F&B industry did not immediately become a success. Al Awadhi speaks about how he had to take a couple of years to learn the ins and outs of the business, before he took over as the managing partner.

When Al Awadhi and his two friends took over SLAB as partners, with Chef Omar joining as the Partner Chef, one of the first things he focused on was marketing - as the food quality was high but people were not aware of the eatery.

"We brought in a few marketing agencies and food influencers to spread the word, but a lot of our marketing has been organic as well, with people coming in to the restaurant out of curiosity and discovering the good food," he said.

He also quickly realised that owning a restaurant had little to do with what customers see.

“People notice the food, the waiting staff bringing the food, it being cooked in the kitchen. It seems simple enough. But the deeper you go, the more you realise how many details there are,” he said.

For two years, as a third-party company managed daily operations, Al Awadhi made it his mission to understand exactly how the business was run and how to make it profitable.

The main challenge? Food waste. That automatically led Al Awadhi to begin figuring out supplier management, food chain management and how the produce was being used in the kitchen.

“This is something that we worked on, and today, we have very low wastage – less than five per cent,” he said.

The daily supply of food ensures that dishes are freshly prepared and of the highest quality, with very little going into the bin.

"If you don't understand those details, the costs start building without you even realising."

Al Awadhi says he was able to figure out the completely new field because ever since he was a child, he was surrounded by the world of business.

He remembers as an eight-year-old accompanying his father to Deira’s ‘Murshid Bazaar’, which is now part of Deira's larger Al Souq Al Kabeer, where his father owned several businesses, from an exchange house to a photo studio and shops selling household appliances.

“I grew up cycling around the market, talking to my father’s business partners, and the shopkeepers there,” Al Awadhi said.

Over the years, he’s tried his hand at several smaller businesses, from selling mini mobile phones as a young man – earning a profit of AED 200 per piece – to reselling cars. While some businesses worked out, others, he says, taught him valuable lessons.

Learning skills, too, is a way of life for Al Awadhi, who says he’s always been keen on gaining hands-on experience.

Since he was 16, he made sure he worked all through the school summer breaks. After graduating, he moved into banking before joining the UAE military in 2002.

In 2016, he finally left the military to take on roles at Dubai Airports and eventually a UAE bank.

Each chapter, he says, taught him something different, and helped him build the mindset that enables him to take on challenges with a positive mindset.

“For example, this aggression by Iran, and even COVID-19, taught us how to manage our supply chain, and how to have different suppliers lined up and ready to supply. As a restaurant, you cannot stop serving people, so having business continuity built into your business is very good to have, whether you are running an F&B business or any other business,” he said.

Operating in a city like Dubai, Al Awadhi said, also pushes business owners to constantly evolve and adapt.

"Dubai has set a benchmark," he said. "You have to be living in this market to build that character in you – to become diverse, quick, adaptive to the market and always the first to bring something new. Otherwise, you just fall back."

A lesson he’s learnt over the years, watching his father run businesses, is that long-term resilience is only possible when you have a business built on strong foundations.

"In most cases, if you have set the right foundation for your business, then it is very hard for you to fall," he said. "Whatever your business is, if you build your foundation on unstable ground, it's very easy for you to fall."

That ‘Dubai-it’ spirit, he says, has shaped the way he operates as a business owner, especially during challenging times.

"Being in Dubai prepares you to face challenges," he said. "Even if you hit a small bump, you know it's always recoverable and you will come back from it, knowing a little bit more about how to sustain your business and deal better with challenges."

As the restaurant has built its reputation in the UAE’s market over the past eight years, Al Awadhi now plans to take the brand to an international market.

"Our main goal is to go international as a UAE brand," he said. "We have a few brands that have already succeeded internationally, and we are very proud of them. That's our plan, too – to make UAE brands, Dubai-made brands, go international."

But despite the growth and recognition, Al Awadhi’s core philosophy remains the same: to serve food that will leave an imprint, and you’ll remember long after you’ve left the restaurant.