Seems like everybody’s talking about restaurant sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Globally, the pandemic has hit the sector hard and many are turning to the Kingdom as one of the few likely growth markets in the next few years.
There were clear signs of this growth before the pandemic; driven by population growth, urban/mixed-use developments and social change.
I’ve spent twenty years in the Gulf and one thing is for sure, the restaurant market that is developing in the Kingdom will be unique. Dubai’s extraordinary restaurant growth in the mid 00’s was driven by the real estate sector and tourism growth. The Kingdom will have elements of this but, will be distinctly different. At the sharp end of this surge forward won’t be the expat community; it will be the Saudi nationals; young, aspirational, ambitious and increasingly eager to try new food experiences and cuisines.
We are KEANE, are honored to be involved in this sea-change in the Kingdom. Our clients are large mixed-use developers, international hotel groups and owners and free-standing operators. In the past, we have played our part in developing the UAE restaurant scene and are great believers that to build for the future in the Kingdom, we need a close understanding of Saudi eating out behaviour.
For this reason, we commissioned the international market research company, YouGov on a wide range of ‘hot topics’ in eating out. We interviewed 1000 Saudi nationals across the nation and the findings were;
SAUDI ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
A striking 53% of the 1000 Saudis polled said they were likely to invest in a café or restaurant in the Kingdom. This is streets ahead of other countries; we have never seen this figure higher than 10% internationally!
Interestingly, this entrepreneurialism was matched by 1 in 5 Saudi nationals saying that they would consider a career in the restaurant sector.
HEALTHY EATING
The survey also found a move towards more healthy eating with over 60% saying that media reports on healthy eating would influence the way they eat out, a notable 61% said they would eat less burgers and 41% will eat less meat.
COFFEE SHOPS AND THE DAWN OF LOCAL BRANDS
The growth of the ‘third place’ coffee shop culture continues. The survey revealed that international brands such as Starbucks and Costa were still universally popular but that notably, local/regional brands, such as 12Cups, Draft and Dose were also listed as preferred brands. The list of local brands was lengthy and a signal of Saudi-owned concepts breaking ground.
We are looking to further explore this at the upcoming Future Hospitality Summit in Riyadh on October 26th, which is part of the G20 calendar of events, when I will be joined by local experts on the subject of the exciting development of Saudi’s culinary scene. https://www.futurehospitalitysummit.com/.
Stefan Breg is KSA & Group Strategy Director at Keane who have 25 years of experience and award-winning projects, people and client partners across the globe. Keane provide developers, hoteliers and restaurateurs with strategic and conceptual visioning through to brilliant creative design and lasting experiences from their base in the UK and studios in Dubai, Bangkok and Jeddah. www.keanebrands.com