What does it actually cost to open?
Full capex: fit-out, equipment, licences, approvals, deposits, pre-opening payroll, initial inventory, marketing, and the contingency that is always needed and rarely budgeted.
EXPANSION FEASIBILITY
Model it before you sign the lease.
Feasibility studies, new site appraisal and market entry analysis for UAE businesses — payback, IRR, funding requirement and the downside case, before the commitment is irreversible.
Fixed-fee project, typically AED 20,000–65,000 · Fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts
AT A GLANCE
Indicative scope. Final deliverables confirmed after the diagnostic.
AppraisalPayback, IRR, NPV
DownsideExplicitly modelled
FundingPeak requirement
AnswerSometimes no
THE PROBLEM
Expansion is where good businesses most often damage themselves. The logic feels sound — the first site works, so a second site should work — but that reasoning skips the things that do not repeat: the location advantage, the founder's daily presence, the favourable original lease, the customer base built over years, and the fact that the first site's overhead was absorbed by a business that had already stopped growing.
The specific failure mode is well documented. A new site consumes cash for its first six to twelve months, and if it opens before the existing business has the working capital depth to fund that, the new site pulls the profitable one down with it. In the UAE this is amplified by upfront lease structures, substantial fit-out capex and licence timelines that push revenue further from the point of cash outflow than owners typically model.
We build the case properly, including the downside, and we are willing to tell you not to do it.
IS THIS YOU?
What the study answers.
If two or more of these are true, the diagnostic is the cheapest place to start. It is a fixed fee and it ends in a written findings note you own.
When does it break even, in cash?
Not accounting breakeven. Cash breakeven — the month it stops consuming cash — and cumulative peak funding requirement before that point.
Does it survive the downside?
At 70% of expected revenue, does it still work? Every expansion case looks good at plan. The downside is the one that determines survival.
Can the existing business fund it?
Modelled against the group cash position and 13-week forecast, because the risk is rarely that the new site fails alone.
Does it cannibalise?
New sites near existing ones transfer revenue as well as create it. Cannibalisation is regularly ignored and materially changes the return.
Is this the best use of the capital?
Compared against the alternatives: improving existing sites, reducing debt, inventory depth, or marketing. Expansion competes for capital; it should not be assumed to win.
THE STUDY
Structured, and genuinely willing to say no.
Site and market assessment
Catchment, footfall, competitive density, accessibility and parking, and demographic fit against your actual customer profile rather than an assumed one. For F&B, delivery radius and aggregator coverage. We use available data and structured observation, and we are explicit about which assumptions are evidenced and which are judgement.
Revenue build
Bottom-up from capacity: covers by daypart and average spend for F&B, transactions and basket for retail, capacity and utilisation for services. Benchmarked against your existing sites with explicit adjustment for the differences, rather than copying site one's performance across.
Cost structure and lease analysis
Rent and the full occupancy cost including service charges, chiller and municipality fees; the payment structure, which in the UAE frequently means multiple cheques or annual upfront; escalation clauses; and the rent-to-sales ratio at base, upside and downside revenue. A lease signed at a rent-to-sales ratio that only works at optimistic revenue is the most common single cause of site failure.
Investment appraisal
Payback period, IRR, NPV and cash breakeven, with peak funding requirement and the month it occurs. Presented against a stated hurdle rate you have agreed, so the answer is a decision rather than a set of numbers.
The recommendation
A clear position: proceed, proceed with specified conditions, or do not proceed. We have told clients not to sign leases, and that has consistently been the most valuable work we have done for them.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Deliverables, listed — so scope is never a debate.
Everything below is included as standard at the scope agreed in your engagement letter. If something falls outside it, we tell you before we do it, not after.
Included as standard
- Site and market assessment
- Bottom-up revenue model by daypart or segment
- Full capex schedule with contingency
- Operating cost model including full occupancy cost
- Lease terms analysis and rent-to-sales at three revenue cases
- Payback, IRR, NPV and cash breakeven
- Peak funding requirement and timing
- Downside and stress scenarios
- Cannibalisation assessment
- Written recommendation with conditions
- Board or investor presentation pack
HOW WE START
Four stages. The first one is small on purpose.
Frame
Agree the opportunity, the hurdle rate and what would constitute a no.
Research
Site, market, competitive and cost data collection.
Model
Build the three-case appraisal with funding profile.
Recommend
Present findings, defend the assumptions, state a position.
QUESTIONS
Before you engage.
Clear scope is a feature. Where work requires a separately licensed professional — a registered tax agent, a licensed auditor, a lawyer — the engagement says so in writing.
How long does a feasibility study take?
Three to six weeks depending on how much market data collection is required. If you are under lease pressure we can produce a rapid assessment in ten days, with clearly stated limitations on what that shorter analysis can support.
Will you tell us not to expand?
Yes, when the numbers say so, and we have done it. A feasibility study that always concludes yes is a marketing document. You are paying for a position, not a validation.
Can you assess several sites at once?
Yes, and comparative appraisal is usually more useful than assessing one site in isolation — it forces the ranking conversation and often surfaces that the third option is better than the one you were emotionally committed to.
Do you cover new market entry as well as new sites?
Yes — entry into another emirate or another GCC market, covering licensing structure, cost base, regulatory and operational considerations. Where the assessment requires legal or regulatory advice specific to another jurisdiction, we work with local advisers rather than opining ourselves.
What if we have already signed the lease?
Then the study becomes a build and operating plan rather than a go/no-go: how to open at the lowest sensible capex, what the revenue has to be, and what the funding profile requires. Still useful, considerably less powerful than doing it two months earlier.
Do you help with franchise evaluation?
Yes — assessing franchise economics from either side, including fee structures, territory terms, capex obligations and realistic unit-level returns after royalty.
NEXT STEP
Start with the actual problem, not a proposal.
Tell us the current setup — entities, systems, transaction volume, what is going wrong. We aim to reply within one business day with a scoped next step and an indicative fee range.