Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Monday, Sep 29, 2025

Dubai’s iconic coffee shop founder Gerard Reymond is no more

Dubai’s iconic coffee shop founder Gerard Reymond is no more

The café culture in the UAE will not be the same anymore after it lost the most iconic coffee shop owner Gerard Reymond, who passed away on Wednesday.
The owner of the Café Gerard chain, founded in 1978, Reymond was known for his delectable pastries and cakes and signature cappuccinos that he served to people and created his own style of casual chit-chat with coffee.

Long before the cyber madness hit the world and internet cafes mushroomed, Café Gerard on Jumeira Beach Road opened in 1981, with its lacy window trimmings, canopied tables serving strong aromatic coffee with delicate pastries on the side.

It was a place that most Emiratis and expatriates loved to be at in the mornings. Time slowed down its pace at the coffee shop even as generations of residents thronged the place over the years.

Reymond’s only son Anthony, who manages the coffee shop chain, was not available for an immediate comment, but the grieving waiters told Gulf News that Reymond, 68, had been ailing for some time.

Born in Toulon, France, the youngest of five children, Reymond, decided to be a pastry chef at the age of 13, when his father, Roger Reymond, an engineer, gave him an ultimatum to choose a profession and become an apprentice along with his studies, as Reymond wasn’t doing too well at school.

He was given an array of four places to apprentice at - a bakery, a patisserie, a butchery and a charcuterie. Being artistic by temperament, he chose to apprentice at a bakery, rolling our pastries which he found pretty.

Four years later, he graduated with Certificat d’aptitude professionalle (CAP) to be a full-time pastry chef. Later at the age of 24, he bacame a qualified pastry chef and was working at St Tropez on the French Riviera. He came to Sharjah on the invitation of a friend to open a pastry shop in 1978 and fell in love with the place.

Passionate about baking he had, in a previous interview with Gulf News, said that he started the coffee shop because he loved meeting people. He talked about rising early at 4am to bake his pastries and cakes and be ready in time to welcome his customers, sit and chit chat with them.

“I haven’t made too much money, but I have enough to keep that smile on my face to keep going,” he had said.

Reymond endeared himself to people and was always found engaging with his very loyal customers. He had revealed in the previous interview: “I believe that in my business, 15 per cent people come for cakes, 15 per cent for coffee, 20 per cent for the ambience of the coffee shop and 50 per cent for the ambience of the owner!”

He was indeed someone who reserved a large portion of his day to chat up his customers and share a cup of coffee with them, because he loved his work.

Many a times, he had said, he had complete strangers walk up to him and hug him, telling him how they had visited the coffee shop as a child with their parents.

He once had a woman walk in with her little daughter, order the pastry she always used to have as a child and share it with her daughter.

Reymond played a huge role in building up the vibrant café culture in UAE and opened six branches across the country in the last four decades.

His presence will be sorely missed by his patrons.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
×