Ex-exec proves his chops in eatery biz

LONDON — Ahmass Fakahany ended a 20-year career at Merrill Lynch & Co. in 2008 as co-president and chief operating officer, responsible for 63,000 employees in 40 countries.

Fakahany quit banking and became a restaurateur, opening establishments across New York. This month, he added Chop Shop, a casual venue on Haymarket in London. It’s the latest outpost of the Altamarea Group, the company he created with chef Michael White.

So what is more difficult: restaurants or banking?

“I have to say restaurants,” Fakahany says. “I never thought I’d think so, but margins are so tight in this business. You really have to think through. These are long leases. You have a lot of people issues and there’s a lot of process. And if you don’t like people or process and don’t want to take time with it, it’s a recipe for difficulty.”

Doe he miss banking? “I miss some of the people,” says Fakahany, 55. “There are certain aspects of the complexity or the intricacy of a deal that you miss a little bit. Merrill Lynch was a formative part of my life and taught me a lot, frankly, that I’m using in this new business sector, food and beverage.

“This business is very targets, metrics, results-oriented. You have to measure yourself the whole time. It is very client-focused. These are very big similarities in terms of how you run the business and, frankly, being very disciplined.

“Being efficient, leveraging your scale, having purchasing power, all of these kinds of things are highly important in making some savings, so that you can spend on the client. You have to look at the whole vertical chain.”

Altamarea has quickly established itself in New York, with popular and respected restaurants such as Marea, Ai Fiori, Osteria Morini and the new Costata. The group is now expanding internationally, with a stake in Al Molo, in Hong Kong, and an establishment opening in Istanbul in coming weeks.