GRIF 2026 PROGRAMME
Venues, speakers and timings remain subject to confirmation.
THRIVE
Three days of market insight, investment discussion, founder-led exchange and hospitality experiences across Dubai.
Day One - Monday 19th October 2026
Welcome Lunch Study Tours and Opening Reception
Josette | ICD Brookfield Place | Dubai study tour destinations | Kapitol
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11:45 - 14:00
GRIF 2026 Opening Lunch hosted by Orange Holding
Josette, ICD Brookfield Place
Conversation with Omar Saideh, Founder, Orange Holding.
14:00 - 14:15
Departure from Josette
14:15 - 18:00
Study Tours
Please note that tours are subject to change and have a maximum capacity.
All tours finish at the opening reception
RECEPTION
GRIF Opening Reception hosted by Sunset Hospitality
Kapitol, Rixos Premium Dubai JBR
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Day Two - Tuesday 20th October 2026
Markets Investment Growth and Working Forums
A day at ICD Brookfield Place
Hosted by EatX & ICD Brookfield Place
08:00 – 09:00
Registration Coffee & Chats at the Guild hosted by EatX
The Guild, ICD Brookfield Place
09:00 to 09:10
Welcome to Thrive
Onwards and Upwards
Jennifer Pettinger-Haines, Founder, The GRIF Collective, opens GRIF 2026 and sets out the questions the industry needs to solve now.
09:10 - 09:40
The Middle East Restaurant Reset
What has changed, what has stayed the same, what are operators doing differently and where are they looking next?
Nadine Benchaffai, Co-Founder, Project People, in conversation with:
Tony Habre, Founder and CEO, AlphaMind
Rizwan Kassim, Founder and CEO, RIKAS Hospitality Group and CEO, Paris Society
09:40 to 10:10
From the UAE to the World
What does it take to build brands that travel and platforms that thrive internationally?
Where are operators finding white space, how do they choose the right markets, partners and structures to support growth, and what must adapt as they expand? How has Dubai become a launchpad for global expansion—and what does success here equip a business to do next?
Panchali Mahendra, Global CEO, Atelier House Hospitality
Lorenzo Marras, President, Dining, Sunset Hospitality Group
10:10 to 10:35
The New Investment Playbook
What is capital buying now, what are investors avoiding and what makes a business genuinely investable? Where are new opportunities emerging, how are investment strategies shifting and what does it take to build a portfolio with natural synergies?
Nadine Benchaffai, Co-Founder, Project People, with:
Mathew D. Focht, Founding Managing Partner, EMERGING
Sanjay Nandi, Group CEO, ADMO Lifestyle Holding.
10:35 to 10:50
The Guild and Beyond
From Chef to CEO: Thriving Through Uncertainty
Tom Arnel, Founder, EatX, in conversation with, Dan Clayton, Vice President of Food and Beverage and Hospitality, Kempinski Hotels. Reflects on the conviction, risks and decisions behind his evolution from chef to CEO of a multi-brand business, and the deep understanding of residential communities that has shaped EatX from the outset. What has enabled The Guild to thrive through 2026, and how are those lessons shaping EatX's next stage of growth and expansion into new markets?
10:50 to 11:20
Coffee and networking
11:20 - 11:35
Permission to Grow
What has your brand earned the right to become next?
Natasha Sideris, Founder and CEO, Tashas Group, in conversation, explores how a founder decides what should grow, what must be protected and which opportunities are distractions. The conversation considers founder instinct, organisational readiness, portfolio choices and maintaining identity as a business enters new markets and stages of development.
11:35 to 12:00
The Power of Place: Creating Thriving Destinations
How hospitality done well can create community, demand and long-term asset value
CREATE | Developer and asset-owner conversation
How can hospitality move from being an amenity or leasing category to a driver of community, repeat demand and long-term asset value? How are developers looking at working with operators? What do operators need from developers, and what do developers need in return?
Gustavo de Hostos, Founder and Managing Partner, Forsite Creative in conversation with:
Spencer Ayers, Senior Vice President, F&B Strategy, Dubai Holding Hospitality
Marc Antoni Ledesma, Senior Director, F&B Design and Development, EMEA, Marriott International
Carolyn Turnbull, CEO, Nammos Hotels and Resorts
12:00 to 12:25
Rooted Here, Built to Thrive
Turning local identity into lasting hospitality businesses. How can Emirati identity, food culture and homegrown entrepreneurship become a genuine competitive advantage for the UAE? The session looks at how Emirati cuisine is evolving, how it can be interpreted for a new generation and how local flavours, stories and traditions can strengthen Dubai's positioning as a global culinary destination. It also considers what is needed to help Emirati chefs and homegrown concepts build commercially successful and sustainable businesses.
Chef Ali Yazdi, Founder, Fowli, Aleez and Yazdi Consultancy.
Faisal Nasar, Chef, Lento.
12:30 to 13:45
Lunch
Hosted by ICD Brookfield Place at La Niña
The GRIF Speakeasy Salon hosted by ICD Brookfield Place
Conversations on capital, culture and international growth.
14:00–15:05 | 1920, ICD Brookfield Place
14:00 - 14:20
Buying and Internationalising Icons
Building a global luxury hospitality platform
Ashley Saxton, Global COO, Food and Beverage, DIAFA Investment Holdings, explores the ambition behind DIAFA's growing portfolio and what it takes to back distinctive hospitality brands for the long term. What makes a brand worth investing in? How do you preserve creativity, founder influence and character while building the capability to grow internationally?
14:20 to 14:35
From Product to Place
Building a hospitality ecosystem that can travel
Thomas Douzis, Co-Founder and CEO, ERGON Foods shares the decisions behind ERGON's evolution from a Greek deli into a business connecting food products, production, markets, restaurants, retail and hotels. How do these different parts strengthen one another, where does integration create commercial advantage and what has he learnt about retaining control while entering new markets?
14:35 to 14:50
Same Brand, Different Playbook
What has to change when a restaurant brand crosses borders?
Benjamin Thouverez, Chief Development Officer, Big Mamma Group, in conversation with Heleri Rande, Partner, Think Hospitality explains how Big Mamma chooses whether and how to enter a market. What must remain unmistakably Big Mamma, what needs to change locally and what lessons has the group learnt as it has expanded across countries and cities?
14:50 – 15:05
China: The Two-Way Opportunity
Which Chinese hospitality brands are ready to go global—and is the GCC their next market? What are Chinese consumers looking for from brands and dining experiences at home and abroad?
China is increasingly becoming an exporter of restaurant and beverage concepts. Peggy Pui Ki Li, CEO, SPS Affinity, in conversation with Jonathan Leung, General Manager, K11 by AC, Middle East looks at which concepts have the greatest potential to travel, what international brands still misunderstand about entering China and why the GCC could become an important landing market for the next generation of Chinese hospitality brands.
15:05 to 15:15
Coffee and move to working rooms
Delegates move into the CREATE session or the Founder and SME workshop.
15:15 to 16:00
Parallel Session:
SME Workshop:
Round table discussion: What are developers, hotel operators and asset owners looking for in hospitality concepts?
How can both parties work together to create destinations and places people want to revisit?
CREATE session
Developers, hotel groups and asset owners set out what they look for when selecting an operator. How can both parties work together to create destinations and places people want to revisit?
Parallel Session:
SME Workshop:
Build It Right Before You Build It Big
What do you wish you had known at 25?
Hosted by:
David Singleton, Founder, Oraculi
Ziad Kamel, CEO and Co-Founder, Rosy Hospitality
Founders work through the early decisions that become difficult and expensive to change later: ownership, shareholder alignment, voting rights, governance, intellectual property, founder roles, advisers and engaging with investors without losing control. The group also asks what success is meant to deliver: lifestyle, independence or world domination.
Facilitated workshop | Maximum 24 founders | Closed door | No press | No recording
16:15 to 17:00
Parallel Session:
AI: Precision Tool or Panacea?
The power is yours
Sven Tietz, Co-Founder and CEO, HeadsUp and BENCHMARKET; EMERGING.
A short panel conversation followed by a practical workshop on where AI is genuinely changing hospitality businesses—and where it is still being over-sold. The discussion moves beyond operations to consider customer insight, forecasting, purchasing, finance, marketing, internal knowledge and productivity. Participants identify one useful business problem and a practical first step with clear guardrails.
Parallel Session:
SME Workshop:
From Restaurant to Investor-Ready Company
Can the business grow without breaking?
Hosted by:
David Singleton, Founder, Oraculi
Jillian MacLean MBE, Founder and CEO, Drake and Morgan
Aku Patel, Founder & Director, Paperchase Accountancy Ltd
Founders test whether their businesses have the management information, leadership structure, operating systems and financial discipline required to expand or attract serious capital. The workshop covers quality of earnings, cash requirements, founder dependence, lease exposure, operating consistency, governance and what different forms of capital expect.
Diagnostic workshop | Registration required | Closed door | No press | No recording
17:00 to 18:00
Conversations on Community - Hosted by ICD Brookfield Place over drinks and bites at Lulu and The Beanstalk
Two short conversations accompanied by drinks, bites and chats
Community, Culture and Belonging: The Story of Lulu and The Beanstalk
Wafa Tajdin and Amirah Tajdin discuss the origins of Lulu and The Beanstalk, the challenges they have overcome and how they created a distinctive space rooted in storytelling and culture, with an unexpected community growing around it.
Better Together: Fostering a Culture of Collective Competition
Explore how independent operators can collaborate while continuing to compete, strengthening Dubai's homegrown hospitality community for everyone's benefit.
18:00 to 20:00
Drinks at 1920
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Day Three - Wednesday 21st October 2026
Intelligence, consumers, community and opportunity
25hours Hotel One Central | 25 Jump Street | Antika | Pepperoni Club
08:30 to 09:20 – registration required 25Hours One Central
Closed Door Operators Only Forum: The Reality Behind the Headlines
Original GRIF intelligence followed by a candid closed-door industry discussion
Greg Wright, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Food People and Project People, presents the findings of the GRIF x Project People Industry Sentiment Report, revealing what the industry is experiencing across trading conditions, business confidence, costs, talent and the decisions operators are making now, with comparisons to the 2025 findings. Flo Graham-Dixon, Founder, Juniper Strategy then exclusively presents the key findings from the second wave of the GRIF x Juniper Strategy UAE Hospitality Barometer. The presentations are followed by an open round-table discussion with invited industry leaders about the realities behind the data: what is improving, what remains difficult, which pressures may be temporary and where business models need to change.
Operators only | No press | No recording | Chatham House Rule
08:30 – 09:30
Coffee & Chats at The Pepperoni Comedy Club, 25 Jump Street,
One Central
09:30 to 10:00 – Antika, 25 Jump Street One Central
Follow the Spend: What Consumers Are Choosing Now
The economic, travel and spending signals shaping hospitality demand
Drawing on real consumer-spending data, Bashar Hlayhel, Economist, Mastercard Economics Institute, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. Opens with an evidence-led presentation on the forces shaping hospitality demand—from discretionary spending and travel patterns to resident and visitor demand, value-seeking and the occasions consumers continue to protect during uncertainty. Following the presentation, Bashar joins Tyrone Reid, Group CEO, MMI and Emirates Leisure Retail for a conversation translating the data into practical implications for hospitality operators, investors and destinations.
10:00 to 10:15
What We've Learnt from the UAE's Food Supply Chain
What purchasing data reveals about the real cost of doing business
Data presentation
Drawing on a six-month study of anonymised purchasing data, Sven Tietz, Co-Founder and CEO, HeadsUp and BENCHMARKET. shares what he has learnt—and identifies where operators have room to act.
10:15 to 10:45
The Operating Reality
What do the data and industry sentiment mean in practice?
Flo Graham-Dixon, Founder, Juniper Strategy.
Greg Wright, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Food People and Project People.
Nadim Majdalani, CEO, Eathos.
Najib Yaacoub, Chief Operating Officer, Lavoya Restaurants Group.
Flo Graham-Dixon and Greg Wright draw together the strongest signals from the closed-door discussion, the Barometer, the sentiment survey and Sven's supply-chain data. A short operator panel then tests those findings against the decisions businesses are making now: where they are investing, what they are restructuring, how they are protecting margins and what needs to change for the sector to move forward.
10:45 to 11:00
Built for Residents
How CQ tapped into the resident and community market
Case study
A practical look at how CQ built relevance with residents and repeat local customers: the proposition, location, programming and operating decisions that helped it become part of its community rather than relying on transient demand. The case study identifies how it tapped into new consumers without relying on discounting.
Ziad Kamel, CEO and Co-Founder, Rosy Hospitality and
Kevin Boublil, CEO and Co-Founder, Mezza, in conversation with:
Jennifer Pettinger-Haines, Founder, GRIF.
11:00 to 11:30
Coffee and networking
11:30 to 11:50
Hospitality 2030
Three shifts that will shape the next five years
Anna Sebastian, Founder, Anna Sebastian Hospitality offers a future-facing provocation on how people will live, travel, socialise, discover hospitality and spend by 2030—and what leaders should be building for today.
11:50 to 12:15
360 Degree Hospitality
What do consumers actually want?
Hospitality is increasingly expected to support more of how people live, work, eat, socialise and travel. This panel examines how customer expectations are changing across restaurants, hotels, residences and lifestyle environments—and what a genuinely joined-up experience looks like.
Heleri Rande, Partner, Think Hospitality in conversation with:
Anna Sebastian, Founder, Anna Sebastian Hospitality
Nazli Sonmez Vallee, Chief Brand Officer, Paris Society
Georgina Woollams-Edwards, Founder and Managing Director, Katch International
12:15 to 12:35
The Community Hotel
How hotels become neighbourhood hubs?
Tobias Schulz, Managing Director, Restaurant and Bar Partnerships, Hilton Worldwide Services Ltd. In conversation with Heleri Rande, Partner, Think Hospitality, explores how hotels can move beyond serving only overnight guests to become relevant, active places for the people who live and work around them. The conversation considers third-party restaurant partnerships, programming, dayparts, local customers and how a stronger community role can improve both F&B performance and the wider hotel proposition.
12:35 to 13:00
Unlocking a Destination Through Hospitality
A look inside Wynn Al Marjan and what else is in store for Marjan
As Wynn Al Marjan Island accelerates Ras Al Khaimah's transformation, what role should hospitality and F&B play in the destination's next stage of development? The session examines how demand, community, hotels, restaurants, entertainment and public realm can work together, where the opportunities lie for operators and what is planned for the destination.
Christopher Hewett, Executive Vice President, Marjan Hospitality
Max Tappeiner, President, Wynn Al Marjan Island
13:00 to 13:15
Backing the UAE
Where is the next hospitality opportunity?
Khaled AK Al Fahim, Executive Chairman / Chairman, RMAL Hospitality PJSC / Abu Dhabi Family Business Council shares an investor's perspective on the UAE hospitality market: where demand and value are emerging, what makes an opportunity credible and what founders and operators need to demonstrate to secure backing. He shares the lessons of being an early entrant, what makes a homegrown concept worth backing and how long-term family capital can support sustainable growth. With the next chapter of RMAL Hospitality taking shape, where would he invest today—and where would he be cautious?
13:20 to 13:35
Build. Exit. Build Again.
What do you do differently the second time around?
Closing fireside
Bradley Martin Michael began with R5,000 borrowed from his uncle and a hospital canteen. He went on to build restaurant brands across several continents, scale Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group into a multinational platform and sell its premium restaurant portfolio to Colowide Corporation in 2025. Now, through Blue Coral Concepts, he is building again—and has chosen the UAE for his next chapter. What makes a hospitality business valuable beyond its founder? How do you know when the time is right to sell? What do you do differently the second time around, and why does he believe the UAE is the right place to build again?
Bradley Martin Michael, Founder and Chairman, Blue Coral Concepts, in conversation with
Jennifer Pettinger-Haines, Founder, GRIF.
13:35 - 15:00
Closing lunch hosted by Paris Society
at The Pepperoni Comedy Club, 25 Jump Street, One Central
It's a wrap!