A love for people, food and interiors: How Tashas' Natasha Sideris built a global restaurant group

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

That quote from Aristotle features on the Tashas Group website, and the philosophy has served founder and CEO Natasha Sideris well.

From opening her first Tashas in Johannesburg in 2005 and growing it into a beloved South African brand, Sideris has built a global restaurant group with 45 locations in 5 countries.

They entered the Middle East market in 2014 with a base in the UAE where Sideris now lives and oversees the operations of the group.

It encompasses a number of hospitality concepts also including: Flamingo Room by tashas, Avli by tashas, GALAXY BAR, Bungalo34, Le Parc by tashas, African Lounge, Perlage, NALA and others.

Sideris says each of these brands is guided by three core principles: beautiful food, stunning environments and engaging service.

The restaurant maverick virtually grew up in the hosptitality business, with a father who was a chef and restaurateur.

She tells Stephen Grootes that she's been in the game now for over 30 years despite vowing it wasn't the career for her because of the tough environment with so many variables and long hours.

"I went to help my father out with a few shifts while I was studying pyschology at Wits. I fell in love and here we are today, 45 venues later - and we call them venues because I have 40 restaurants and five retail stores, opening another 16 this year."

The passion that drives her comes down to her three big loves: people, food and interirors.

"People are my first love and in this business you get to work with them at very different levels; whether that's with your staff, your customers, investors, or your business partners. I also love interiors and I work with that every day, whether it's stylists or interiro designers. Then I also absolutely love food... I have the privilege of having all of that in my daily life."

Of course this lifestyle does not come without stress, and right now there is the  impact as well of the ongoing Middle East conflict.

But adrenalin is another driver for Sideris; in fact she says it's the hook.

"I have been blessed and lucky enough to have always worked in very busy restaurants, and I think just that adrenalin of being on the floor and being in the kitchen is a big factor."

She also talks about the balancing act of sustaining what people have come to love about the Tashas brand, while keeping up with trends. The restaurants have to be the same quality, but at the same time all slightly different.

"We've got a signature menu which anchors the brand, but we thought it's really important not to have a cookie cutter model of the franchise and we've done that in Dubai as well. We call it an inspired menu - inspired by the various suburbs and business centres, by Spain and by Greece."

"A brand like ours needs a level of finesse and  'bespokeness' where each establishment feels different especially where you've got them in relatively close proximity." 

While they do push boundaries and innovate, not buckling to every trend is equally important though, Sideris says.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to this in-depth interview with Natasha Sideris