The spread of casual restaurants continues apace as the world’s largest casual dining chain, Applebee’s, has announced its intention to add more than 20 restaurants in the region by 2017.
Applebee’s already has 34 outlets in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE.
“With the increasing appetite for out-of-home dining and growing discretionary wealth in the Middle East, there is plenty of room for restaurant brands to expand their business,” said Gary Moore, the company’s regional vice president and general manager for the Middle East and North Africa.
According to the chain, UAE residents are the region’s biggest spenders on dining out, spending an average of Dh841 a month.
Mr Moore said Qatar is next at Dh774, followed by Kuwait at Dh719 and Lebanon at Dh385.
Overall, casual dining in the UAE is expected to generate yearly sales of Dh4.48 billion in 2018, up from the expected Dh3.56bn this year, according to Euromonitor.
Only last month, the hypermarket chain Lulu signed a deal to open its first casual dining franchise. Its food company Tablez will invest Dh55 million to open 15 Galito’s chicken restaurants in the UAE. The country’s first outlet is expected to open in Abu Dhabi’s Al Wahda Mall in October.
Abu Dhabi will also soon be home to a branch of Burger Joint NY, a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin diner. This follows the opening in March of its first restaurant in Dubai.
Management says the outlet in Dubai’s City Walk has had impressive footfall, and the company harbours ambitions to grow across the region.
“We have done better than most other restaurants in City Walk and we are having a soft opening in Abu Dhabi in mid-Ramadan in Nation Towers next to Etihad Towers,” said Jessica Queitsch, a Burger Joint NY representative.
“Our ambience says it all, we want people to come in, eat, hang out, spend time here. We are a casual dining restaurant and you shouldn’t feel rushed. ”
ascott@thenational.ae
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