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.
