What are the impacts of closing for the summer on customers; staff; and revenue?
We have been thinking about this refresh for a very long time and questioned ourselves over a thousand times on whether it was required to close the restaurant for this long. However, the restaurant has been open for 13 long years and it needed some TLC from a technical point of view (plumbing, kitchen, A/C, and more). The design of LPM Dubai was still beautiful, but we decided it was time to give back to the market and ensure that the venue’s guests are able to enjoy it for many more years to come. A refresh was also not only important to those dining at LPM but also for our team members, to ensure they have a better working environment.
The summer months are our slowest in terms of revenue, and we knew many people would most likely leave this year as the last two seasons were interrupted by covid. It was logical to do it at this time to ensure the least disruption possible to our operations.
We have taken advantage of closing for a few months by providing our staff either a very long holiday opportunity or by offering the option to support and discover some of our other locations globally (Abu Dhabi, London, Hong Kong, Miami, and most recently opened, Limassol). This has been a fantastic moment for them to travel with the brand and develop their skills, so they come back to LPM Dubai when it reopens in Autumn with new ideas and fresh ways of thinking. For example, we are paying special attention to staff scheduling, ensuring that our team has a better work/life balance. This is now a major benefit to young professionals, and we are adamant on creating a healthy working environment for all our employees. We are currently trialing out a few options to tackle this in our Abu Dhabi brand, before implementing it in Dubai for the reopening.
Customers were extremely sad, indeed, when they discovered that we were temporarily closing however, they are very excited to see what is coming! We promised them that we have some surprises, but we will not do something that goes against what the LPM brand stands for.
What can you tell us about the upgrades being done during the “summer refresh”
LPM Dubai has been open for 13 years, and the venue has been through a lot! Amongst general refreshes, guests can expect a semi-private dining room for those who want to experience LPM in a completely new way. A state-of-the-art drinks lab is another addition we are excited to welcome to the venue to complement our famous bar. We are committed to continuously improving our drinks offering and believe that this will really help us do just that. We have improved our wine storage in order to extend our current wine list and improve the wine service, both of which are key at LPM. We are also possibly adding new cocktails to our Jean Cocteau menu.
Is closing during the summer necessary?
We want to offer our guests an even brighter, more spontaneous space with an even better LPM experience than ever before, so closing for summer was completely necessary. Although we are very lucky to always be busy in our restaurant, the summer months are definitely some of our quieter times. We wanted to give as little disturbance to the friends of our brand, while still ensuring that they can enjoy LPM Dubai for many years to come. Although we have added the glamorous additions of a semi-private dining room and drinks lab, it was also imperative that we updated our air conditioning, lighting, and music sound systems to really improve the acoustics of the venue.
What are you hoping the summer refresh adds to LPM?
As a team, we had many ideas, meetings, and arguments on what we should do. However, throughout all this our mission stayed the same, to keep the brand ethos intact, while still heightening the guest’s experience. With this being said, the general public should not expect a revolution in the look of the venue but instead should anticipate the feel of the venue to be a much better environment for diners to enjoy the LPM journey.
Among many things, we have worked on a better flow around the bar area, adding something very interesting for large tables and groups and improving the lighting as well as previously mentioned, enhancing the sound systems. All of this work was done in order to make guests rediscover LPM as the restaurant they once fell in love with for the first time, and spend more time with us, more often.
In regards to the look, of course, there will be some additions and changes, but again, there will not be a brand new concept. People still need to feel as though they are stepping into LPM, but a youthful one! We are updating our famous collection of artworks that grace the walls of our Dubai venue, so get ready to see some exciting pieces!
We have obviously worked on our menu too and new dishes are to be expected, as this is the true reason that people visit LPM. In a nutshell, we simply want to bring some new excitement to our existing, future, and new guests of the brand.
