EP Business in Hospitality Issue 49 - April 2014

A Lebanese
MISSION
Tony Kitous arrived to London aged 18 with less than £70 in his pocket.
Now, 26 years later, his situation is very different. The founder of
Comptoir Libanais, a chain of Lebanese fast-casual restaurants, Tony
has a very clear vision and strongly believes that Lebanese cuisine will
one day be as popular as Italian food in the UK
Born and raised in Algeria,
Tony chose Lebanese cuisine
for his restaurants because
of the healthy dishes with
vibrant ingredients. When
the first Comptoir Libanais opened in
Westfield Shopping Centre in 2008, Tony
had already put his dent into the London
restaurant market with his fine-dining
Middle Eastern establishments Pasha,
Levant and Kenza. The motivation
behind opening Comptoir, though,
was grander than its sister restaurants
– through the restaurant he wanted
to make Lebanese food as accessible
as Italian cuisine is to British people.
Six years later, the chain has grown to
six outlets in London and three in South
East England; Bluewater, Gatwick and
Heathrow. These openings will continue
throughout the year with a total of five
more planned to open in 2014.
“I never set out to do what I have
accomplished; I went along with what
I knew best. My experience with selling
food started at an early age as a young
boy selling sandwiches and lemonade
outside the stadium of the most popular
soccer team in my city. The summer
I turned 18 I decided to visit London.
I arrived with less than £70 and had
told my family I would be staying for
a couple weeks, but I fell in love with
the city. I took a job washing up, falling
back on my previous experience with
food, and later when I started helping
out as a waiter was reminded how much
I enjoyed interacting with customers.
One of the gaps that I saw in the
restaurant scene here in those early
years was a Middle Eastern restaurant
that catered to non-Middle Easterners.”
At the early age of 22, Tony opened
his first fine-dining Middle Eastern
restaurant called Baboon. It was a
brave attempt that didn’t last long but
taught Tony life-long lessons in being a
restaurateur. Success followed through
taking over Pasha from Caprice Holdings.
He explains: “Here was an experienced
team of operators that was trying to
replicate a North African meal without
having much understanding for the finer
details and ambiance. I took over and
gave it the Middle Eastern touch through
different décor, menu offering, music and
atmosphere. Later on, when I established
Levant, it was the first restaurant where
I could see my vision of Middle Eastern
food in London come to life. Yet I wasn’t
sharing the cuisine with the wide range
of people that I wanted.”
He recalls one day thinking about the
traditional Middle Eastern food available
on Edgware Road but how the location
and usual clientele made it inaccessible
26 | April 14 | EP