Kad Che, Arabic slang for ‘bite’, was created with three main factors in mind: vibe, fun and love. What makes this new, hip Dubai spot a total winner?
Tell us a bit more about the concept behind Kad Che.
Kad Che means “bite” in Levant Arabic slang, because I consider the first bite of a dish the most important one as that’s what is gonna determine whether you like it or not, and our overall tastedbuds. The concept is simple: good clean food, good coffee, good vibes, good people. Just come as you are, there’s always something for you.
When I first opened Kad Che, I had the idea of a homie restaurant. A place where people would come for any reason: work, meetings, meet up with friends, after workout or simply when you want to have a peaceful moment by yourself.
I wanted a place that people could call their second home. And that’s why I have a different approach than other restaurants; I spend most of my time in Kad Che to make sure that everything is perfect, from the food to the experience. But also I like to meet my customers and a lot of them became very good friends.
If you know me well, you would also know that I love food and I take it to heart. A lot of places focus on the design of their venture, as nowadays the Instagramable became one of the most important factor for a successful business.
As a restaurant, to me the most important factor is the food you serve because that’s your end product at the end of the day and that’s what people should come for. In Dubai, it’s very difficult to find organic food that has a homemade feel so that’s what I wanted to add to the F&B market.
As a sandwich lover, we started with sandwiches and slowly extended our menu. We made it easy for people to choose from super healthy food to comfort food, but always with good quality ingredients.
And last but not least, SUSTAINABILITY. The environment is suffering from our daily consumption so I wanted to be responsible – not only through my personal life, but also my business and I make sure Kad Che sends a positive message when it comes to it. And I can proudly say that we’re among trendsetters in regards to being conscious about the environment.
What were some changes and ideas you implemented during the change of the F&B landscape over the last months?
Coronavirus made a lot of changes in everyone’s life. In order for my business to survive, I decided to invest more in it. I kept it open as long as I could with the different curfews, took all safety measures into account, continued to do some marketing and, of course, we had to implement offers to try to support the economy.
Your focus is on healthy organic food, what sets Kad Che apart from other healthy concepts?
The difference between us and healthy restaurants is that, for us, healthy is far from diet. Most healthy restaurants will give you “diet” food with calorie counts which includes lower carbs, small portions, etc. And that is good.
But to us, healthy is eating clean balanced food. If your food is full of bad stuff, eating a salad might harm you more than eating a burger. Healthy doesn’t mean diet, it’s just preserving your health and, yes weight is important, but you need vitamins and micronutrients that you simply can’t get if you’re not eating the right way.
At Kad Che, you can have your daily weekly meals, light and healthy, and as much as you can have your “cheat” meals, but all of them would be healthy. We make sure to only use organic ingredients, as for us that’s what would make the difference for your health.
You’re a big advocate of sustainability; how do you implement this ethos in your restaurant?
We’re trying as much as we can to be sustainable, but unfortunately we’re not perfect as some things are still difficult to avoid, but we constantly work on finding new ways.
All our takeaway packaging is recyclable or biodegradable, from the coffee cups, boxes, paper or even the bags. We also filter our water to avoid using bottled water and we ask our staff to be conscious with the overuse of water.
Additionally, we try to send a message by promoting as much as we can zero-plastic use. We’re working hard on completely banning any use of plastic for things that we still haven’t replaced due to lack of alternatives.
What advice would you give for other budding F&B entrepreneurs looking to break into this market?
My biggest would be: be yourself, be different and don’t follow trends just because they seem successful as eventually a trend dies.
My second one would: wishing other businesses good as competition is a healthy way for you to always try to improve yourself, and if you support others you would get support back.
Last but not least, get to know your audience as they are the ones you’re looking to satisfy
