Ahmass Fakahany Brought Wall Street’s Rules to the Restaurant Business
Observer · · g5128581
The Altamarea Group founder talks about what Wall Street taught him, his alliance with Major Food Group and why opening in New York is harder than anywhere else he operates.
Ahmass Fakahany, the former Merrill Lynch president and founder of Altamarea Group, now runs 20 restaurants across five countries. This year he opened Piccolo Morini in SoHo, a younger, more casual take on his Morini brand. In 2025, he brought Marea , his Central Park South flagship, to Beverly Hills. He ran a seasonal Marea residency at The Snow Lodge in Aspen from December 2025 through August 2026, and he is the operating partner for Crazy Pizza in New York and East Hampton.
Through Atelier House Hospitality, his international operator, Fakahany added another Mohalla location and Tezukuri in Dubai, where his 11 Woodfire holds a Michelin star. He also opened SoBo 20, a New Orleans-inspired restaurant in Mumbai, to join Camillo’s and INJA in New Delhi. He is opening Scarpa next in Gurgaon, India, and he licenses Morini in Istanbul and Riyadh. Back home, Marea New York remains the group’s hardest table. Prime 6:30-to-8:30 p.m. reservations often book weeks out, according to the company, and seats are also sold through Dorsia at a $185-per-person minimum.
Fakahany, a 2026 Nightlife & Dining Power List honoree, talked to Observer about what Wall Street taught him, what happened with Major Food Group and why New York is the hardest place he does business.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Wall Street teaches you immense survival instincts and to look ahead constantly, for both dangers and opportunity. It also comes with a healthy dose of paranoia about what can go wrong that keeps you grounded, and there are a lot of pitfalls in the hospitality business. More specifically, it teaches you the importance of solid analytical skills and technology acumen to keep recalibrating. It teaches you that different parts of the business can hurt you that may not be so obvious: The food is great, the clients are great, but getting the real estate piece wrong can kill you. And it teaches you the critical importance of retention and talent as your bloodline.
There is a tremendous human capital arbitrage in the restaurant business. People are mistreated, and there is huge turnover, and that creates a real opportunity to build a culture of shared performance and empowerment. At Altamarea, we have one of the highest retention rates, and that breeds consistency. Our theme is “Winning Together.”
The hospitality world has increasingly crossed borders and boundaries over the past five years. A few brands from Dubai and Europe are finding U.S. shores, and the opposite has been true for some time. We first looked at Altamarea and Atelier House Hospitality as two verticals, but now we see them as a collection of global brands that are not defined by boundaries and regions. We have had Michelin star recognition in Dubai with 11 Woodfire for a few years and are in the Pellegrino Top 50 in the Middle East and North Africa, and we are in the Pellegrino Top 50 in Asia for our restaurant InJa in New Delhi. This is unknown to many.
We are now sharing resources and ideas more holistically and bringing them together into a more powerful platform, a win for the client. As a result, we have more product range and more culinary creativity and techniques on offer. It has come about very naturally as the market and the client evolved.
We have been evolving all our brands toward lifestyle and a commitment to multisensory experiences, so this is the next step rather than a huge leap. Our clients are looking for places to enjoy their evenings more holistically in one place, from dining to after-dinner venues, or places with cocktails and small plates done very well. We are adding spark to our game on top of our strong core.
I believe we live in a world of partnerships, collaborations and joint ventures more than ever. With that in mind, working with NEXWRK brings a complementary mindset to our path ahead. We get to learn from each other, play to our strengths and develop new ones together. No one has all the answers all the time in this fast-paced industry.
Marea is often described as an “elegant and fun dinner party.” We call it “Relaxed Glamour.” A lot of the dining room knows each other and gets up to greet each other. You feel like a member and that you belong, and we make sure you feel this way with customized service and attention. The social membership step is the cousin of this feeling and extends to curating a room and an experience with some embodiment of scarcity. It is a clear response to client demand.
We both kept growing and evolving on our own and determined the best path was to create more of a preferred relationship and alliance than a commercial partnership. We take care of their clients and vice versa, and we have a strong relationship with and admiration for their partner leadership and organization. Anything we need, we call each other.
The hardest market we operate in is New York City. The regulatory structure and licensing process are very fragmented. To open in New York, you need to deal with the community boards, the State Liquor Authority, the Department of Buildings, the Fire Department with the FDR, separate outdoor seating regulations, varied and disparate leasing structures and on and on. In many other jurisdictions, these elements are integrated and coordinated, facilitating openings and operations. Whether in Dubai, India or New York, in the end, good leadership, great employees and culture are boundaryless.
Proven leadership and work ethic, a high commitment to consistency, and creativity. Chef Tim has been with and linked to Altamarea for more than 10 years. He knows the Marea brand and its culinary standards intimately and links with the rest of the organization in all locations with fluidity. We put one of our strongest there, to Beverly Hills’ benefit.
See all of Observer’s 2026 Nightlife & Dining Power List honorees.