Mahjong Meets Hospitality: Creating a Destination for Repeat Visits

Exclusive interview with Ruchita Pardiwala, Founder, One Forty Fourz Café

What inspired you to develop this concept, and what gap did you want to address?

The idea started with my personal love of Mahjong, but what really fascinated me was everything that happened around the table. You can sit down with people you barely know and, a few games later, you’re talking, laughing and connecting. In a city as multicultural and fast-moving as Dubai, I felt there was something very relevant about creating a space that encourages people to slow down and actually spend time together.

Mahjong has also been experiencing a real resurgence globally, particularly among a younger generation that is rediscovering social games and looking for experiences that go beyond simply going out for coffee or dinner. In Dubai, however, there wasn’t a permanent, premium destination built around it. Players were organising games privately or through occasional meet-ups, while people interested in learning often didn’t know where to start.

That was the opportunity behind One Forty Fourz: to give Mahjong a home in Dubai, but also to introduce it to a much wider audience. We wanted to rethink what a café could be. You can come for great coffee and food, but you can also learn something new, meet people, spend an afternoon playing with friends or turn a casual coffee into a three-hour experience. For me, that is where hospitality is heading. People are increasingly looking for places that give them a reason to stay, interact and come back—not simply somewhere beautiful to take a picture.

What were the key challenges in turning your vision into a viable business, and what have you learned?

The biggest challenge was that we weren’t opening a conventional café. We were effectively building a new hospitality category, so there wasn’t an existing formula we could simply follow.

Every element had to work both as a café and as a gaming environment. Mahjong tables require specific dimensions; lighting has to be positioned correctly; chairs need to remain comfortable for long sessions; acoustics matter when several games and conversations are happening simultaneously. At the same time, the space still has to feel sophisticated and work for someone who may simply be coming in for coffee or lunch.

Another challenge was making Mahjong accessible without taking away from its heritage or complexity. We want experienced players to take the offering seriously, while ensuring someone who has never touched a Mahjong tile feels completely comfortable walking in and learning.

Dubai is also an incredibly competitive hospitality market. A beautiful interior or good menu alone isn’t enough anymore. Guests have an enormous amount of choice, so you need to create a genuine reason for them to return.

The biggest lesson has been that a strong concept isn’t just about having a great idea. It’s about obsessing over how that idea translates into hundreds of small decisions and, ultimately, how the guest feels when they walk through the door.

How did you translate your vision into the brand identity and guest experience?

I wanted One Forty Fourz to feel unexpected. Mahjong has such a rich visual and cultural identity, but I didn’t want to create something overly traditional or themed. The goal was to take that heritage and reinterpret it through a contemporary Dubai lens.

The result is warm, rich and elevated, but still playful. There are layers of colour, texture and detail throughout the space, and everything has been considered around the idea that guests will actually spend time here.

But for me, luxury isn’t only about how a space looks. It’s about how effortless the experience feels.

Someone who has played Mahjong for years should be able to arrive, sit down and immediately feel that the details have been properly considered. At the same time, someone who has never played before should never feel intimidated.

That’s why we have dedicated game masters available to guide guests, teach beginners and help people understand the game at their own pace. You can come with three friends and play independently, book a beginner experience, join a workshop, enjoy the food and coffee, or simply come because you’re curious.

We want the experience to evolve naturally depending on the guest. There isn’t one prescribed way to enjoy One Forty Fourz.

How do you position One Forty Fourz in Dubai’s café market, and what sets it apart?

I don’t really see One Forty Fourz as competing purely within Dubai’s café market. We sit somewhere between hospitality, entertainment and community.

Dubai already has exceptional cafés, restaurants and beautifully designed spaces. To stand out today, I think you need to offer more than a product—you need to create participation.

At One Forty Fourz, the coffee and food are an important part of the experience, but Mahjong gives the space its heartbeat.

We’re Dubai’s first premium dedicated Mahjong destination, offering both manual and automatic Mahjong tables, dedicated game masters, beginner sessions, workshops and community events, alongside our café offering and other board games.

What makes the concept particularly exciting in Dubai is the city’s multiculturalism. Mahjong may have deep roots in Chinese culture, but today it is played by communities around the world. Dubai is one of the few cities where you can genuinely bring all of those audiences together around one table.

We want to see experienced players sitting alongside people learning their first game, different generations playing together, friends replacing another conventional coffee catch-up with Mahjong, and eventually new communities forming through the café.

The ambition is for One Forty Fourz to become synonymous with Mahjong in Dubai, the place people immediately think of when they want to play, learn or simply experience it.

How did your personal interests and experiences shape the brand?

One Forty Fourz is very personal to me because it brings together several things I genuinely love: Mahjong, hospitality, design and bringing people together.

I’ve always been interested in the energy of a table—not just what is being served on it, but the conversations and relationships that happen around it. Mahjong naturally creates that. It requires concentration and strategy, but there’s also laughter, competition, conversation and this wonderful sense of ritual.

I also felt there was something very timely about creating a space centred around being present.

We’re constantly connected digitally, yet people are increasingly looking for meaningful ways to connect in real life. When you’re playing Mahjong, you’re engaged. You’re looking at the tiles, thinking about your next move, watching the other players and talking to the people sitting opposite you. You’re not just sitting next to each other scrolling through your phones.

That feeling became central to the brand.

I don’t want One Forty Fourz to be somewhere people visit once because it’s new. I want it to become part of their routine—the place where they have their weekly game, bring visiting friends, learn with their children or parents, meet new people, or simply spend an afternoon.

Ultimately, we’re not just serving coffee or providing Mahjong tables. We’re creating a reason for people to sit around a table together again.