Restrocast

 In this podcast episode, Ashish Tulsian sits down with chef, author, and longevity educator Silvena Rowe for a candid conversation that goes beyond food trends and into the philosophy behind modern dining. Silvena reflects on her global culinary journey, the realities of scaling a values-led restaurant brand like Dose by Silvena, and why ingredient integrity sits at the core of her work today.  

The discussion explores what she calls “biohacking food”, viewing ingredients as functional inputs that support energy, resilience, and long-term health. She also shares her perspective on cost control in restaurants, reducing food waste without compromising quality, and navigating the pressures and biases of professional kitchens.  

From teaching longevity nutrition to experimenting with regenerative medicine and disciplined lifestyle practices, Silvena offers a holistic lens on performance, both in hospitality and in life. This episode brings together insights on nutrition, business operations, and personal longevity, revealing how respect for ingredients and data-led decisions can shape a more sustainable future for chefs and restaurant operators alike.

#longevity #Biohacking #nutrition 

Find us online: 

Ashish Tulsian- LinkedIn 

Silvena Rowe- LinkedIn 

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In this episode, Ashish Tulsian sits down with Samer Nasrallah, F&B Country Manager for Patchi Café in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, to unpack what it really takes to build a career in hospitality from the ground up. 

Samer shares how he unexpectedly entered F&B, the chaos of running in-house delivery and catering in Egypt before the era of aggregators, and the habits that helped him rise fast, including relentless organization and attention to detail.

The conversation moves through his experiences across markets, from large-scale event catering in Doha to leadership lessons earned under pressure. Samer breaks down his approach to quality-first operations, team protection, and workplace diplomacy, and reflects on launching Ladurée during COVID, where central kitchen setup and cold chain readiness became the real work behind the brand. He also talks about starting and exiting his Soho food truck venture, and what is different about building a café experience within a chocolate-led brand at Patchi.

Find us online: 

Ashish Tulsian- LinkedIn 

Samer Nasrallah- LinkedIn 

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Ashish Tulsian, Co-founder and CEO of Restroworks, welcomes Sudhin Siva, Chief Asset Management Officer at Shamal Holding, to Restrocast to discuss how Shamal manages a diversified multi-brand hospitality portfolio and scales F&B brands like Five Guys (UAE franchise), Sushi Samba, Duck & Waffle, Espresso Lab, and Zero Gravity. Sudhin reflects on his start at Jumeirah in quality management, planning, and strategy, and shares the principles he still applies: lead through collaboration, protect the fundamentals, and build a culture that empowers teams to create real guest moments.

He explains the tension between brand equity and unit-level performance when owners and management companies partner, why reinvestment matters, and how to optimize an asset without over-extracting it. The conversation also covers piloting innovation with global brands in airport formats and delivery, scaling without diluting what made a concept special, and his personal shift from perfectionism to delegation and listening.


Find us online: 
Ashish Tulsian- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishtulsian/ 
Sudhin Siva- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudhin-siva-2903139/?originalSubdomain=ae

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Restrocast host Ashish Tulsian, Co-founder and CEO of Restroworks, talks with Joseph Chartouni, CEO of Al Sayer Franchising in Kuwait, the enterprise operator behind Caribou Coffee and Five Guys in the market. Joseph shares how resilience shaped him early, growing up between Lebanon and Kuwait during the civil war, and how those experiences influenced his leadership across large-scale restaurant and franchise operations.

The conversation challenges the common view of marketing as "messaging." For Joseph, marketing starts with product, innovation, and understanding what customers are becoming, but it's only real when it's fulfilled through operations, store experience, SOPs, training, quality assurance, and food safety. He explains "marketing as a life benefit".
Joseph also reflects on values learned from his father, lessons from bringing restaurant concepts to life, the shift from marketing to operations at Americana, and why leadership, focus, and partnerships drove key results. He closes with a practical reminder: strong culture is built in small details, and strategy only works when backed by P&L discipline and relentless execution.


Find us online: 
Ashish Tulsian- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishtulsian/ 
Joseph Chartouni- https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-chartouni-ceo-restaurants-retail/

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Mubarak Jaffar, Co-Founder and CEO of KLC Virtual Restaurants, stops by Restrocast for a conversation with host Ashish Tulsian, Co-founder and CEO of Restroworks, about building One Eatery into a scaled, delivery-first multi-brand restaurant operation across the GCC. Mubarak shares why he moved from traditional dine-in and franchise operations to a model designed for pure kitchen efficiency, and what it takes to make unit economics work in a 24-hour setup.

They unpack the "virtual food hall" approach, in which multiple brands operate from a single kitchen per zone to avoid demand fragmentation, and how menu and packaging standardization helped the business stay lean while expanding into new markets. 

Mubarak also reveals how he thinks about building and deploying brands based on demand, naming brands for search, and capturing cuisines without over-relying on a single brand's lifecycle. The conversation closes with his founder mindset on control, resilience, and the value of having the right co-founder as you scale through uncertainty.


Find us online: 
Ashish Tulsian- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishtulsian/
Mubarak Jaffar- https://www.linkedin.com/in/mubarak-jaffar-0114661b4/

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On Restrocast, Ashish Tulsian (Co-founder and CEO, Restroworks) is joined by Kamran Khan, a veteran restaurant operator in Saudi Arabia, for a candid conversation on what it really takes to build and scale an enterprise restaurant brand. Kamran breaks down the operator reality: restaurants are a daily problem-solving business where execution, not intent, decides outcomes. He shares lessons on why the second and third outlets are the true test of scalability, and why brands win when they deliver consistency customers can predict.

The discussion goes deep into the economics of running restaurants in thin margins, the "cash in today, cash out today" cycle, and how small leaks across supply chain, rent, and operations can quietly destroy profitability. Kamran also explores franchising versus independent growth, highlighting the power of SOPs and local market intelligence.

From post-COVID shifts to leadership habits rooted in empathy and ground-level understanding, this episode is a practical playbook for founders, operators, and multi-unit teams focused on building brands that last.

Find us online: 
Ashish Tulsian- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishtulsian/ 
Kamran Khan- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamrankhan1/?originalSubdomain=sa

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In this episode, Khaled Naga, CEO of Al-Thiqa Group Division, joins Ashish Tulsian for a grounded conversation on what it really takes to scale restaurant brands in Kuwait and the wider GCC. Khaled shares Al-Thiqa’s journey of operating 57+ locations across Kuwait, expanding into markets like London and Qatar, and explains the operational shift from running global franchises to building homegrown brands from scratch.

They unpack how external forces shape unit economics, from sudden labor and regulatory changes to post-COVID demand swings and intense price competition. Khaled also highlights how Gen Z is changing both customer behavior and hiring, and why operators need teams that can adapt quickly as trends and platforms evolve.

The discussion shifts to practical leadership lessons, including building a culture where teams bring solutions, earning trust through consistency, and staying focused on execution while navigating constant volatility.

Find us online: 

Ashish Tulsian- LinkedIn 

Khaled Naga- LinkedIn 

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In this episode, Ashish Tulsian speaks with Nasser Al Messabi, CEO of Low Calories, a fast-growing healthy restaurant brand from the UAE. Nasser shares how he went from 18 years in the UAE Police to launching a health-food concept at a time when almost no one was doing it, the failures and land deals that taught him hard lessons, and why he ultimately resigned seven years before a secure government pension to go “all in” on his brand. He also discusses scaling to multiple countries through franchising, navigating trends like Ozempic and Mounjaro, and why treating employees like family sits at the core of his success. 

Nasser opens up about how police life shaped his discipline and decision-making and what he had to unlearn to become a flexible, people-first entrepreneur. He talks candidly about money, responsibility, and why he believes God tests founders by what they do with success.

Find us online: 

Ashish Tulsian- LinkedIn 

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In this episode of Restrocast, Ashish Tulsian, Co-founder and CEO of Restroworks, sits down with Mohammad Al Madani, Chairman of the Al Madani Group, to explore his path from his father's tailoring shop in the 1940s to building a 50+ store enterprise restaurant portfolio in the GCC with Charley's Philly Steaks. Growing up watching his father stitch kanduras for Dubai's earliest rulers and business families, Al Madani learned customer service the traditional way, and those lessons in humility, discipline, and hospitality shaped the foundation of his business.

From running one of the UAE's most iconic tailoring brands to opening 40 retail stores and eventually building a 50+ store restaurant portfolio with Charley's Philly Steaks, his career reflects constant reinvention. In this conversation, he shares the realities of entering F&B without prior experience, why his first standalone restaurant failed, what most franchisees get wrong, and how to choose locations that actually work.

He also talks about staying relevant for Gen Z, bringing new global concepts into the GCC, and why people, not systems, drive long-term success. Packed with practical lessons and timeless wisdom, this episode is a must-listen for anyone in restaurants, franchising, or entrepreneurship.


Find us online: 
Ashish Tulsian- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishtulsian/
Mohammad Al Madani- https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-almadani-5a932930/?originalSubdomain=ae

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In this episode, Ashish Tulsian sits down with CEO Pauline Ibrahim to explore her remarkable journey from a finance analyst in Lebanon to leading some of the most respected F&B brands in the Middle East. Pauline shares how moving to Dubai ignited her passion for the restaurant industry, why Azadea became her “F&B school,” and how jumping into the startup world with iKcon became her real-life PhD in growth, risk, and resilience, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She breaks down what a healthy restaurant P&L truly looks like, why cloud kitchens struggle with sustainable profitability, and the real economics behind food cost, rent, labor, and delivery commissions. 

From cautionary advice for anyone planning to open a restaurant in Dubai to her views on authenticity and women in leadership, this conversation is packed with hard truths every operator should hear.

Find us online: 

Ashish Tulsian- LinkedIn 

Pauline Ibrahim- LinkedIn 

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