2026 Marketing Predictions from Black Sheep Restaurants’ Founder Syed Asim Hussain
- As brands prepare for another year of shifting consumer expectations, Hussain urges a focus on stories, people and the “lived experience”
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Kevin Huang, chief operating officer, SCMP and Syed Asim Hussain, founder, Black Sheep Restaurants
As global brands prepare for another year of economic uncertainty and shifting consumer expectations, some of the clearest clues about where marketing is heading may be emerging from the hospitality world. Black Sheep Restaurants founder Syed Asim Hussain, who has built one of Asia’s most prolific hospitality groups, believes the playbook for 2026 will centre on storytelling, community, clarity and long-term conviction.
“Our restaurants are living, breathing things,” he explains. “We look at our restaurants as an extension of who we are as people –our beliefs, the things that inspire us, things that we’ve experienced on our travels, things that we want to share with our community.” For Hussain, that emotional grounding is not just a philosophy but a strategy for the future, one he believes will define how brands communicate in 2026.
Intentionality
Hussain is deeply sceptical of trend-chasing. “Our concept development happens in a vacuum,” he says. “We’re not looking at trends; we’re not looking at what consumers are asking for – that’s fickle.”
He points out, as an example, that the success of his team’s Parisian-style bistro, Jean-Pierre, resulted from instinct rather than data. “There was no market data suggesting we should open a 100-seat French bistro – but it’s been our biggest commercial hit this year.”
The lesson, he suggests, extends far beyond restaurants: the next era of marketing will belong to brands that operate from intention rather than anxiety. “Good restaurants evoke a positive human emotion,” he says. “And that’s what the power of storytelling helps us do.”
Community
Hussain’s approach also feels increasingly prescient as brands enter 2026. “Everything we do is for the community,” he says. “This notion of being good custodians is so integral to the process of Black Sheep.” His “first and last responsibility,” as he frames it, is to the 1,500 people in his charge. “It’s their responsibility then to look after the 6,000 guests that we’re welcoming.”
He is unapologetic about the values underpinning that approach. “We’re a value-driven business,” he says. “I’m very clear on what hills I’m going to die on, and looking after our people is a hill we’re going to die on.” That conviction shaped the group’s now well-known decision to make no redundancies due to business performance during years of upheaval. “If, at the first sign of danger, we betray our values,” he says, “the story of Black Sheep would be over.”
Clarity
That clarity of story, purpose and proposition is another signal he believes defines marketing. Internally, every new concept must be articulable “in one sentence”, and guests should feel that promise immediately.
“If I can say it clearly, and then you come in and experience that clearly, that’s what a successful restaurant is,” he says. “We can’t pull wool over people’s eyes here.” His perspective on demographics points to another 2026 reality: brands will need to continually reintroduce themselves.
“The Hong Kong of 2024 looked very different from the Hong Kong of this year,” he says. “And I wonder if this year will look very different from next year.” With more mainland visitors, a new cohort of expatriates and shifts in urban culture, Black Sheep had to “do a lot of running this year to stand still.”
Expansions into Singapore and Dubai came with no reputation to lean on. “No one played the bugles as we marched into town,” he says. “We had to sing for our supper again.”
Optimism
Through it all, Hussain’s most contrarian prediction may be his optimism. “Hopelessness is a sin. It’s not on the menu.” Black Sheep is continuing to invest heavily – another HK$30 million across its markets and an additional ~HK$16 million for the first half of 2026 alone on people and renovations. “Whatever happens next year doesn’t matter,” he says. “We’re playing the long game. We want to be here for the next 100 years.”
For marketers navigating 2026, Hussain’s voice cuts through the noise: focus on stories, focus on people, focus on the lived experience – and above all, hold your nerve.