It was the most talked about opening of the year; a new restaurant had arrived in Abu Dhabi.
Its name and the taste of its secret blend of 11 herbs and spices was on everyone’s lips: Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The arrival of Colonel Sanders and KFC in 1975 was part of the dawn of fast food in the Emirates and, as with all successful food establishments, location was key.
A circular building was built, strategically placed in a new park and over the road from the then international airport.
October 1975 even saw Abu Dhabi’s KFC represent the emirate in a feature on the Middle East for National Geographic magazine. An famous photo by Winfield Parks portrayed the restaurant and its customers in a brightly lit interior dramatically framed against the night in a style that recalled Edward Hopper's famous Nighthawks painting.
A key part of a wider trend
Half a century on, the Old Airport Park branch is still serving customers. But it has been joined by many others across the UAE.
There are now more than 150 branches of KFC in the UAE and the brand, according to a YouGov survey this year, is the one people consider above all others when ordering fast food, beating the likes of Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway and even McDonald's.
Kentucky Fried Chicken was not quite the first fast food chain to arrive in the UAE. In the early days it shared the Airport Park location with Wimpy, an American burger chain that had already started a downtown location in Abu Dhabi and another branch in Dubai.
The franchise, owned by a Kuwaiti company, was operating by 1973, offering a distinctively non-fast food environment in which burgers were served at a table and eaten with a knife and fork.
Wimpy – named after a character from the Popeye cartoons – eventually disappeared from the UAE but was revived three years ago, with its Dubai Mall outlet showcasing a robot chef called Flippy.
The YouGov report, which collected data from the end of last year, focuses on fast food outlets in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
It examines the eating habits of “frequenters” or those who visit fast food outlets, varying between several times a week to several times a day. They represent around a third of the population and, in the UAE, are overwhelmingly male – nearly 80 per cent.
A changing environment
The number of different brands operating in the UAE is constantly changing.
McDonald's arrived in 1994, at Al Ghurair Centre in Dubai, and now operates 210 restaurants across the Emirates, according to company data.
Other leaders include Subway and Hardee's, along with local brands such as Salt, Drip Burger, and BonBird. Albaik, a Saudi Arabian chain focusing on chicken, arrived in 2021 and now has 23 branches.
Fast food offerings also mirror the diversity of the UAE population. Jollibee is from the Philippines, while Nando’s is originally South African, as is Debonairs Pizza and Steers. Oporto, despite its Portuguese theme, originates from Australia.
The market, which operates on a franchise system with local ownership, is dominated by US brands. Shake Shack, Five Guys, Denny’s, Applebee’s, and Johnny Rockets are just a few.
When it comes to who is eating what, the YouGov survey found that Millennials and Generation Z preferred KFC while the older Generation X went for McDonald's. Almost a third were driven to try new tastes by social media and a much smaller per cent by a desire to eat healthier.
Indeed, whether fast food is good for you is a very low priority for its “frequenters”.
According to YouGov’s findings, 52 per cent have “learnt to accept that healthy eating and running just aren't for them”. Nearly half admit they don’t look after their health as much as they could and, as for sleep, 55 per cent say they can survive on very little.
Al Jazira's foreign quartet for 2017/18
Romarinho, Brazil
Lassana Diarra, France
Sardor Rashidov, Uzbekistan
Mbark Boussoufa, Morocco
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
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Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
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The Sky Is Pink
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim, Rohit Saraf
Three stars
Day 2, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Pakistan’s effort in the field had hints of shambles about it. The wheels were officially off when Wahab Riaz lost his run up and aborted the delivery four times in a row. He re-measured his run, jogged in for two practice goes. Then, when he was finally ready to go, he bailed out again. It was a total cringefest.
Stat of the day – 139.5 Yasir Shah has bowled 139.5 overs in three innings so far in this Test series. Judged by his returns, the workload has not withered him. He has 14 wickets so far, and became history’s first spinner to take five-wickets in an innings in five consecutive Tests. Not bad for someone whose fitness was in question before the series.
The verdict Stranger things have happened, but it is going to take something extraordinary for Pakistan to keep their undefeated record in Test series in the UAE in tact from this position. At least Shan Masood and Sami Aslam have made a positive start to the salvage effort.
The specs: 2019 Infiniti QX50
Price, base: Dh138,000 (estimate)
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 268hp @ 5,600rpm
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Fuel economy: 6.7L / 100km (estimate)
