A bright new face is set to make its mark on Dubai’s F&B sector. The Dutch-inspired concept Gourmet Stop is the region’s first fresh, gourmet, food-dispensing machine and has burst on to the scene with two new branches in Dubai Outsource City and Dubai Production City.
The innovative thinker behind this venture is entrepreneur Stephanie Khouri, Founder & Managing Partner of Nomadic Capital Limited - a company specialized in importing the latest inventions from around the world to the UAE. The AUTOMAT is designed to store freshly prepared hot and cold dishes in temperature-controlled compartments and, as a result, allows hungry customers to have healthy, nutritious meals prepared by popular gourmet brand chefs at affordable prices in a few short seconds.
Invented in 1902 by Horn and Hardart, the state-of-the-art AUTOMAT has a sealed food display which maintains the highest hygiene standards. Moreover, all the meals are freshly prepared and delivered fully-sealed to the Gourmet Stop staff who follow very stringent food safety procedures.
According to Khouri, her company has implemented rigorous processes to ensure all their materials and procedures are environmentally friendly, “We also have a zero-waste policy and have partnered with the Ro’yati Family Society, a Dubai-based charity that provides leftover food to thousands of needy residents in Dubai.” she added.
Khouri intends to roll out the concept across the UAE in multiple phases with current plans to expand Gourmet Stop’s network of culturally varied dishes to include Bay Square, DIFC and JAFZA and, eventually, universities, hospitals, petrol stations and shopping malls.  
“Dubai is a fast-paced, multi-cultural city with a prevalent culture of eating out,” she says. “But, especially in business districts, people don’t always have the time to wait for a table at a restaurant. I don’t believe that speed and quality are mutually exclusive so my aim is to make sure that my fellow hard-working residents can have good food on the go without having to compromise on quality or taste.”
Gourmet Stop will start operation in Business Bay soon.