Why Luxury Dining Is Moving to Memberships

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

It's the Morning Drive, the business of exclusivity and luxury dining next for high net worth consumers going out to eat is no longer just the white tablecloths and the expensive ingredients. It's more about access and privilege and curated experiences, which means new opportunities for businesses that can connect consumers with more premium experiences and perhaps exclusive dining benefits as well.

The question, and there are many actually, one or two now, how are partnerships with premium hospitality brands reshaping the experience of the customer, and how also do you build a sustainable business model around getting people the city's best tables?

I'm going to talk to Mira Omar, who is the co-founder of the dining and lifestyle platform SupperClub Global, to maybe find out how this all works. Good to meet you.

Mehreen Omar (0:54)

Same here. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_1 (0:56)

You're very welcome. It's good to have you here. So I was going to start with this. For the modern kind of luxury consumer, particularly in a market like Dubai, let's say it's hyper competitive, that's a reasonable statement, I think. How's the definition of a luxury dining experience changed in the last few years? What is it that access that trumps kind of the extravagance now?

Mehreen Omar (1:23)

Tough question to start with.

SPEAKER_1 (1:24)

Well, you know, might as well jump in somewhere.

Mehreen Omar (1:27)

So you see, I think over the years, what has happened is there are a lot of platforms out there.

But now people look for exclusive offers. They look for access. That's a very good term that you use. It's not always about getting the best deal or the cheapest dinner out there. It's about feeling special. Going to a restaurant could be a favorite or trying out a new restaurant. Having the chef come out, making you feel super special. Having the chef prepare a particular dish for you, have complimentary drinks on the house. It's all about making the consumer feel special and important. So I think that is what has driven, for us at least, for SupperClub Global, the growth that we've seen not only in Dubai, in the Middle East, but now we've expanded globally. So it's all about exclusive offers, and having access to places that they might not have otherwise, and just feeling special all around.

SPEAKER_1 (2:27)

Well, you'll get leered into that. I went to a dinner, I went to a place, it was Heston Blumenthal's place. I don't go to big restaurants a lot, but I went in, I was there with a few of us, and they said, would you like to go to the kitchen?

Mehreen Omar (2:39)

Okay.

SPEAKER_1 (2:40)

So I was like, yeah. They wouldn't let me touch any of the pans, understandably. But I thought, I'm not going to be fooled by this. This is just something you do. But it was great. It was just one of those moments. So access is, I think, the word.

SupperClub Global, how do you bridge the gap between discerning diners that want kind of unique culinary perks and the high-end kind of, I suppose, hospitality brands that are looking to curate a clientele?

Mehreen Omar (3:13)

So it's very important to actually understand the three segments. What are the three segments? You've got the consumers who want exclusive offers. Not necessarily deals, but they want exclusive offers, something that the normal person can't get. Then you have the hospitality brands, especially the five-star hotels, the five-star Michelin-star restaurants. They also want new consumers, but repeat customers. They don't want someone who's just coming in, oh, I have an exclusive offer here, and that person's gonna come once and go away. And then you have us, which is a platform for dining and lifestyle benefits, curated and working together with the hospitality brands to showcase them to new consumers and for the new consumers to become repeat customers.

And in order for us to curate all of that and to create the magic that we do, we work very, very closely with both segments.

We make sure that the brand equity of hospitality brands is not diluted. We are not a discount platform. We have exclusive offers at over 1200 venues across the globe. In the last 12 months, we've just expanded in so many countries right now. But it's also about maintaining the brand equity of the hospitality brands, making consumers understand, you know what, these are fabulous places. They might be able to find a place that they would have not gone to otherwise. So it's a hand in hand kind of collaboration. We work in a very collaborative way with them.

SPEAKER_1 (4:46)

Okay. I mean, I was going to ask you about that, because the membership model is kind of, that's where you are. But you're in a market where there are loads and loads of loyalty programs and promotions and dining deals. I mean, the competition must be pretty stiff.