Launching a restaurant concept in Dubai: a marketing checklist

Launching a restaurant concept in Dubai takes a marketing plan that starts about 12 weeks before opening and keeps going for 90 days after, because a new venue opens into a crowded field. According to Dubai Municipality figures reported by Gulf News, 1,898 new food establishments opened in the emirate in the first half of 2026. Opening night is the middle of the launch, not the start.

This guide is for owners, operators and marketing leads opening a new restaurant or café concept in Dubai. At the end you will have a dated checklist from week 12 to day 90, an owner for each task, and the rules and dates that should shape the plan.

When should a Dubai restaurant start marketing?

Twelve weeks is a working minimum. It leaves time to finish the name, identity and menu before anyone photographs them, get listed on Google and the booking apps, and brief creators and press with something real to show. Start later and the press tasting happens in a half-finished room.

The 90 days after opening matter just as much. Google shows a "Recently opened" tag for that period, the first reviews set the star rating new guests see, and delivery data shows which dishes travel. The plan below covers both halves.

How do Ramadan 2027 and the seasons shape a Dubai restaurant opening?

The opening date is a marketing decision before it is a construction one. An opening that lands in the wrong weeks spends its launch budget on people who are out of the city or eating at different hours.

Ramadan 2027 is expected around 8 February, according to astronomical projections reported by The National, with Eid Al Fitr expected around 9 or 10 March. The holy month moves dining to iftar and suhoor, so a January opening should plan its Ramadan menu and creative as part of the launch, and confirm daytime service rules with the licensing authority closer to the date.

Summer is the other fixed point. HiDubai Focus, an initiative of Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism and Dubai SME, notes that a large share of residents travel abroad in June, July and August. Dubai Summer Surprises 2026, organised by Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, ran from 2 July to 30 August, with a Summer Restaurant Week from 13 July to 2 August.

In spring, the date to watch is Dubai Restaurant Week. It ran from 9 to 25 May in 2025 and, after an extension, for the whole of May in 2026, with more than 100 restaurants offering set menus at AED 125 for lunch and AED 250 for dinner. If it returns in May 2027, an autumn opening has the winter to settle first.

Do not build the plan on visitors alone. Dubai welcomed 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, yet hotel occupancy fell to 36% in March 2026 during regional travel disruption before recovering to 66% in August. Gulf News reported residents sustaining footfall at neighbourhood venues in the meantime, so aim the launch at residents first.

What this means for operators: fix the opening date against Ramadan and the summer before you fix the launch budget, because the same spend reaches very different crowds in February, May and August.

What should be ready 12 weeks before opening?

The first four weeks produce the assets every later channel reuses: the menu a creator films, the photos a journalist pulls from the website, the grid a guest checks before booking. Anything unfinished when outreach starts shows in every post.

The name comes first. Check that it is free as a trade name and as a trademark before it goes on signage or a domain, and check how it reads and sounds in Arabic as well as English. The identity then has to work at the sizes it will live at: a delivery-app tile, a profile picture, the door.

The menu is a marketing document. Dish names are what guests type into delivery-app search and what creators put in captions, so write them to be found and said out loud. Fix prices, allergens and the Arabic version before photography.

The website can be small: menu, hours, a map pin, a booking button and a page for press. The Instagram grid needs enough posts before the account goes public that first visitors see a finished place, not a single logo. If these assets come from different suppliers, give one person the final say on the brand and website design, menu included, so they look like the same restaurant.

• Name checked as a trade name and a trademark, in Arabic and English
• Identity tested at app-tile and profile-picture size
• Menu final, with prices, allergens and an Arabic version
• Photography of hero dishes, the room and the team
• Website and Instagram grid ready before anything is announced

How do you get a restaurant found before it opens?

Weeks eight to five are about being easy to find on the day someone first hears your name. In Dubai that means Google, Instagram, the booking apps and the delivery apps.

Set a Google Business Profile opening date

Start with Google Business Profile. Google lets you enter an opening date up to a year ahead, and once the business is verified the profile appears on Google 90 days before that date. Until you open, guests cannot leave reviews or photos, but you can post updates, including opening offers and photos from the build. After opening, the profile carries a "Recently opened" tag for 90 days.

Instagram, booking and delivery apps

Instagram is the other front door. DataReportal reported 8.05 million Instagram users in the UAE in late 2025. Teasers from week eight can show the room taking shape, the chef and the first dishes, all pointing to one booking link.

Then the booking apps. In 2026, Dubai Restaurant Week took bookings only through Careem's DineOut, and Deliveroo launched in-app reservations in Dubai, powered by SevenRooms. Choose one platform for tables and connect it to the website.

Delivery deserves a decision, not a default. According to a Syrve MENA report covered by Khaleej Times, delivery orders at UAE restaurants on Syrve's network rose 15.2% year on year in the first half of 2026, while their total orders fell 4% and dine-in orders fell 10.5%. Delivery's share of their revenue rose from 18.6% to 22.5%.

15.2%

Rise in delivery orders at UAE restaurants on Syrve's network, first half of 2026, year on year

22.5%

Delivery's share of those restaurants' revenue, up from 18.6%

10.5%

Fall in their dine-in orders over the same period

Source: UAE food delivery boom: Orders rise 15% despite weaker restaurant demand

The main apps are talabat, Deliveroo (now part of DoorDash), Careem Food, noon Food and Keeta, which Meituan launched in Dubai in September 2025. Terms differ by platform and by deal, so compare the structure before you sign: the commission on each order, the cost of featured placement, and who pays for launch discounts. A dining-room concept can add delivery a month later with a shorter menu; a delivery-led one should be live on day one.

• Google Business Profile verified, with the opening date and photos from the build
• Instagram teasers scheduled, with one booking link in the profile
• Booking platform chosen and connected to the website
• Delivery decision made: apps, menu, packaging, start date
• The same name, address and hours on every listing

How should a new restaurant work with creators and press?

Weeks four to one are when the outside world arrives. The order matters: friends and family first, then a press tasting, then creators, so the kitchen has served the full menu more than once before the cameras come.

Food influencers need a permit

As of October 2026, individuals who advertise on social media in the UAE need an Advertiser Permit, whether they are paid or not. The UAE Media Council introduced the permit in 2025, the National Media Authority (NMA) now issues it, and it has been mandatory since 1 February 2026. Organisations must check that any advertiser they work with holds a valid permit, and holders must display the permit number on their accounts. Treat a hosted dinner in return for a post as advertising and ask for the number before you invite anyone.

The NMA's Advertiser Permit page exempts individuals who advertise their own products or services, or those of a company they own, on their personal accounts. That covers the founder's account, not a hosted creator. This is a summary, not legal advice; the detail, fines included, is in our guide to UAE advertising and influencer rules.

Creators, press and the soft opening

Pick creators for the audience they reach in Dubai, in the languages your guests speak, and brief them on the hero dishes and one story. A small first wave around opening day and a second around day 30 gives you content from a full room. A creator programme with permits checked and posts tracked is easier to judge at day 90 than a string of one-off visits.

Press works on a longer clock. A tasting before opening gives food editors the story while it is still news, and the press kit gives them the concept, the chef, the menu, photography and the date, in English and Arabic. If you hire help for press and media relations, that kit and a list of the titles your guests read are the brief.

Our closest parallel is a gallery opening rather than a restaurant. When TUD TOY opened its first physical gallery in Dubai, we applied one narrative across the invitations, press communication and influencer messaging, and curated a guest list of Dubai lifestyle and luxury influencers, media and collectors. The brief asked for content that could live beyond the event, so photography, video and guest content were captured around the launch.

Expect the guides to arrive unannounced. The Michelin Guide Dubai 2026, its fifth edition, lists 122 restaurants, up from 69 in the first edition in 2022, and its inspectors work anonymously. The dish served on an ordinary weeknight is the pitch.

Filming guests needs their consent

Opening-week content is full of guests. Article 44 of the UAE's cybercrime law, Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021, punishes using a network or device to invade someone's privacy without consent, including by photographing them in any public or private place or by sharing or keeping those images. The penalty is at least six months in prison and/or a fine of AED 150,000 to AED 500,000.

In practice, film the food, the room and your own team, and shoot guests from behind or out of focus. If a recognisable guest is the shot, ask first and keep a record of the yes. Brief creators the same way.

• Permit number checked for every creator before the invitation
• Creator brief written: hero dishes, story, booking link
• Press kit ready in English and Arabic
• Press tasting booked after the kitchen has run the full menu
• Photo and consent policy agreed with the floor team

What should happen in the first 90 days after opening?

Opening day starts the part you can measure. For 90 days Google labels you as recently opened, and the first reviews, delivery ratings and repeat bookings set the pattern for the year.

The launch is not the opening night: it is the 90 days in which reviews, regulars and delivery data either arrive or do not.

Ask for reviews the right way. Google's policy does not allow merchants to offer discounts, free items or payment in exchange for reviews, to ask only happy guests, or to pressure guests into reviewing while they are on the premises. The same follow-up message to every guest who booked is within the rules; a free dessert for five stars is not. Reply to every review in the first weeks, including the bad ones, in the language it was written in.

Use the first month to fix what guests tell you. Watch which dishes appear in photos and reviews, which come back half-eaten, and which travel badly on delivery, and change the menu while the "Recently opened" tag still brings curious guests in.

Months two and three are for the second wave: creators who come once the room is full, a follow-up to the journalists from the tasting, and an offer tied to the next date in the calendar, such as the run-up to Ramadan for an autumn opening. For the brand side of the same period, our 90-day launch playbook sets out the weeks in more detail.

• The same review request sent to every guest who booked, with no incentive
• Every review answered in the first weeks
• Menu adjusted by day 30 from reviews, photos and delivery feedback
• Second creator wave and press follow-up between days 31 and 60
• Day-90 review of bookings, delivery orders, reviews and followers by source, to set the next quarter's budget

What to do this week

If your opening is more than 12 weeks away, make a dated plan now with an owner against every row of the table above. If it is closer, cut the plan rather than squeeze it: brand assets and the Google profile first, creators and press second, the rest after the doors open.

1. 1Check the date

   Set the opening date against Ramadan 2027, expected around 8 February, and the June to August summer months.

2. 2Audit the assets

   List what is missing: name, identity, menu, photos, website, Instagram grid.

3. 3Claim the listings

   Set up Google Business Profile once the date is firm, and choose booking and delivery platforms before announcing anything.

4. 4Prepare the outreach

   Draw up creator and press lists, collect permit numbers, and agree the photo policy with the floor team.

Encore's teams cover the creator, press and design parts of this list. If a plan already exists and something is not landing, a Marketing First Aid review looks at it in three to five days and returns a short-term action plan.