For 58 years between 1946 and 2004, journalist Alistair Cooke penned his ‘Letter from America’ on the BBC World Service. His reports covered milestone events such as Vietnam, the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King, Nixon’s exile, Reagan’s election and many more. Listening to Cooke as a young, impressionable Londoner, I was fascinated by his stories of a world that was so different to mine and the insights he shared with us.

Moving to live in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has prompted me to draw on Alistair Cooke for inspiration. Mine is a much more modest task, and I’m not a professional journalist but, I hope my ‘letters’ will provide some insight into the Kingdom’s changing restaurant scene as we play our modest part in shaping the restaurants of tomorrow.

The Kingdom is changing fast. For those of us who witnessed the changes that happened in Dubai and Abu Dhabi over the years, it is maybe easier to see the possibility of fundamental changes taking place in short timeframes. I recall running the numbers on the 20 times growth in the UAE branded casual dining sector in the 6 years leading up to 2010; showing that extraordinary change is possible with vision and will.

Plan 2030 produced by the Saudi Council of Economic and Development Affairs is one of those visions: comprehensive and inspiring, a plan to project the Kingdom into leading the world in many fields. It is a ‘bold yet achievable blueprint for an ambitious nation’.

Plan 2030 describes many aspects of everyday life in the Kingdom and how it will change in the next 10 years. The sections on the restaurant market are particularly striking with a vision for extensive growth in the number of restaurants and quality too, with aspirational targets set for the number of Michelin-standard restaurants.

If Plan 2030 is a blueprint for the future, then it is notable what has changed in recent years to set the foundation for this change. We are seeing new concepts pop up driven by Saudi entrepreneurs. Examples include Hamsa Wa Taghmisa and coffee concept 12Cups. Hamsa Wa Taghmisa in Riyadh is an excellent breakfast concept that has had queues out the door since it opened. In recent years, we at Keane have been lucky to be involved in a number of mixed-use developments across the Kingdom and we will be sharing our experiences on the Red Sea with you in future letters.

So, what will make the development of the Saudi dining scene different from the UAE and the rest of the Gulf? In essence, there are a comparatively low number of expats living in the Kingdom meaning that we, in the industry, have to be 100% aware of what Saudi nationals want from their future restaurant and café scene. This won’t be a cut and paste of international brands; the industry will have to create bespoke solutions to meet the aspirations of this fast-changing nation. Technology, sustainability, community engagement and entertainment will all play a part in meeting the needs of Saudi nationals; young, aspirational, ambitious and increasingly eager to try new food experiences and cuisines.

In the next post, I will be sharing with you the results of our research done in the Kingdom with a sample of 1000 respondents in collaboration with YouGov, which includes some striking data on Saudi eating out behaviour.

I hope you enjoyed this first letter and drop me a line on Stefan.Breg@keanebrands.com if you have any comments or want me to focus on any particular aspect of the Saudi restaurant scene.

Stefan Breg is KSA & group strategy director at Keane which has 25 years of experience and award-winning projects with developers, hoteliers and restaurateurs across the globe.