Pizzeta tarts, guacamole with tuna, and a chamoy-laced michelada coming out of the same evening give a fair picture of what a night at HungerHub Arjan looks like. The venue, housed at KitchenPark’s Arjan facility, is where two independent brands, El Carmelo Coastal Mexican Food and The Chimi, both operate from, and a recent tasting night there brought their menus together for guests to sample side by side. For many, it was a first introduction to either cuisine, and the flavours left an impression.
Two Brands, One Table
The spread that night moved between the two menus rather than keeping them apart. There were pizzeta tarts on a pizza dough base, one caprese-style with mozzarella and tomato, the other with spinach and feta, alongside a traditional vuelve a la vida, a mix of octopus, calamari, and prawns in a shrimp and tomato broth with lemon, avocado, cucumber, and pico de gallo. El Carmelo brought a guacamole with tuna, and The Chimi served a michelada made with chamoy, a blend of tamarind, hibiscus, and strawberry with a touch of chilli.
Guests arrived already familiar with the buzz around both brands. “They’re saying that it’s really good. The brands are getting popular very quick,” one attendee said. That anticipation held up once the tasting got underway. “I feel like the flavours are so fresh,” another guest shared, “and that’s actually really difficult to find, especially here in Dubai.”
The Challenge
Getting two growing brands to the point where a night like this is possible takes more than a good menu. Before either could focus on the food, both had to work through the same set of hurdles.
- Kitchen Setup: Finding and fitting out a kitchen space without the capital of a larger chain behind them
- Compliance Overhead: Handling licensing, documentation, and compliance on top of running the food side of the business
- Brand Identity: Building trust in a specific culinary identity, Mexican coastal food and Argentinian street food, in a market crowded with broader concepts
The Chimi’s founder put the pressure plainly: “For me, as a small business, they give us the opportunity to grow.” For El Carmelo, the priority was staying rooted in a distinct culinary identity while still getting the business off the ground.
The Solution
Both brands operate from the cloud kitchens of KitchenPark, which took the setup work off their hands and let them focus on the food itself. El Carmelo’s founder, Ivan Sanchez, describes it as more than a landlord relationship: “Being part of KitchenPark, I see it as an incubator of local talent. They facilitate the process to start a business, from A to Z.”
The Results
A single night at HungerHub Arjan pointed to something bigger than one good turnout.
- Strong First Impressions: Guests describing the evening as one of the best food experiences they have had in Dubai
- Organic Reach: Guests bringing friends along, extending the reach of both brands beyond the guest list
- Growing Anticipation: Genuine curiosity about what comes next, with one attendee “really excited to see what the future holds for it”
As both brands take on more collaborations, KitchenPark’s central processing kitchens give them room to scale production without moving away from the model that got them started.
Looking Ahead
For El Carmelo and The Chimi, HungerHub Arjan showed what two distinct, culturally rooted concepts can do when the setup work is already handled. With the facilities of KitchenPark behind them, both brands are free to keep building menus worth bringing friends back for.
