Limited-Service Restaurants in Saudi Arabia

PROSPECTS

Burger limited-service restaurants maintain their popularity

After bakery products, burger is the largest food type in limited-service restaurants, with burgers continuing to be a favourite food type and a strong seller in Saudi Arabia, with meat generally eaten by most consumers and burgers served to meet a variety of consumer groups. With burgers having a high level of calories, some players are now offering low-calorie burgers served on brown bread, while other players such as McDonald’s are offering customers the option to create their own sandwich to best meet their tastes at reasonable prices.

Fish limited-service restaurants are emerging in Saudi Arabia

While competition in limited-service restaurants is increasing in a number of channels, fish limited-service restaurants remains an emerging category and until recently has been neglected by food investors. The increase in health and wellness awareness has been a driver behind fish limited-service restaurants.

Women, youth and pilgrims are the main drivers of foodservice

With the increasing scope of Saudization across the country in 2019, the percentage of women joining the workforce is increasing. Much of this stems from the lifting of the ban on women drivers – one of the most significant signs of liberation in the country, which is also helping to encourage many women to go out to work.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

McDonald’s retains category lead

McDonald’s, which is operated by various franchisees, remained the leading brand in limited-service restaurants in value sales terms in 2019. It was also the leading brand in terms of number of outlets and transactions.

Maestro Pizza drives pizza limited-service restaurants

Maestro Pizza, which is operated by Daily Food Co, was the fastest-growing brand in Saudi Arabia among pizza operators during the review period, overtaking Domino’s Pizza as the best-selling pizza brand in the country. The company has the largest network across many cities of the Kingdom, and continues to expand, attracting locals for its taste, competitive pricing and delivery services.

Food aggregators are boosting sales of limited-service restaurants

Due to the difficult economic situation experienced in the Kingdom, restaurants have been trying to find strategies to boost their sales, as many food brands lost customers and e-commerce orders declined, especially after the departure of a huge number of expatriates since 2018. Restaurants had to partially depend on food aggregators, such as Talabat, HungerStation, Jahez, Uber Eats and Carriage, to make up for these lost customers and orders, with new food aggregators seemingly being launched every month in Saudi Arabia.

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