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Foodics UAE launches inaugural edition of ‘The F&B Circle' & reveals new business intelligence tool for restaurant management
The exclusive industry gathering explored key insights on business scaling, behind-the-scenes industry journeys and a live demo of Foodics' latest AI-powered solution
Dubai, UAE: Foodics, the leading restaurant operations and payment technology company in the MENA region, recently launched its first-ever event in the UAE - "The F&B Circle" under the theme 'The Control Room' in collaboration with the Fast Food & Cafe Convention (FFCC) on June 25th 2025 at Warehouse Four in Al Quoz. The inaugural edition explored how data, systems and leadership could build scalable brands in the region while shaping the future of the F&B ecosystem. It also officially launched 'Foodics BI' (Business Intelligence) - an advanced AI-powered solution enabling faster and smarter data-driven decision-making for restaurant management.
The F&B Circle is an invite-only assembly of key regional F&B thought leaders that uncovers bold ideas and builds meaningful connections aimed at driving the future of the regional industry. Its debut edition convened respectable founders, creators, investors, innovators and influential voices from across the F&B industry to network and engage in insightful conversations on scaling businesses, harnessing the power of data and persevering through challenging times.
Belal Zahran, Foodics International Managing Director (Egypt & UAE) opened the event by highlighting its aim to unite F&B professionals to exchange ideas, challenges and address industry challenges. He comments, 'We are proud to host the first edition of the F&B Circle in partnership with FFCC. The idea was to bring together impactful voices from the industry – to connect and exchange real experiences to learn from each other. This reflects our commitment to the UAE market, supporting restaurants and F&B businesses and continuing to drive the industry forward with Foodics' future-ready tech solutions.'
Soon after, a thought-provoking panel discussion commenced involving participation from a diverse array of industry professionals such as Saleh Al Samadi, Owner of Al Samadi Group, Santosh D'Souza, International Director of Development of Tigrus Restaurant Holding, and Karim Chaanine, Chief Marketing Officer of PJP Investment Group (UAE, KSA, Jordan). The session was moderated by Akhilesh Bahl, Founder and CEO of Malt & Salt Hospitality and explored how leading restaurants scale through smart systems and empowered teams while maintaining an authentic, consistent and human-centric brand experience.
When discussing challenges during scaling business, Karim noted that rapid growth often brings pressure – from finding the right locations and strong staff to maintaining quality. While these are common challenges, he highlighted the need to address this with effective solutions in order to maintain the brand's promise to customers. Saleh added that beyond logistics and recruitment, building outdoor kiosks comes with unique challenges, especially in high-traffic public areas where quality must never slip. As for advice to F&B entrepreneurs looking to scale their business, Santosh stressed consistency, Saleh pointed to the importance of structure and Karim highlighted passion as the key to creating a positive brand impact.
Furthermore, the platform featured an exciting presentation and interactive live demo of the newly launched Foodics BI by George Henin, Head of Foodics BI at Foodics. As an advanced AI-powered business intelligence solution integrated into the Foodics product ecosystem, Foodics BI enables restaurateurs to harness real-time data and cutting-edge AI for informed decision-making and efficient restaurant management, facilitating smarter operations and faster scaling. Notable features of Foodics BI include AI-powered inventory and sales forecasts and algorithms that analyze data, live dashboards, alerts, natural language queries, all accessible via the web or mobile app.
'We're excited to officially launch Foodics BI, our AI-powered analytics tool designed to give F&B entrepreneurs the flexibility and engagement they want with their own data.', says George. 'It transforms raw POS and inventory data into actionable insights, perfect for multi-location operations aiming to streamline workflows, reduce costs, and grow strategically. The best part is you don't need to be a data scientist to use this - we've built this tool to make daily data access simple and impactful for everyone.'
An engaging fireside chat was also held before concluding with a networking session. The discussion featured Celebrity Chef Ali Yazdi who is also the Founder of Aleez Hospitality as well as Hayder Nashie, Chief Executive Officer of Dash Hospitality Group and was moderated by Belal Zahran. The discussion explored the realities of building from scratch, the challenging truths behind-the-scenes and success stories. Key takeaways included how launching a concept can be either a leap of faith or a strategic process with no guarantees but the hope that it all comes together eventually for success.
When asked for advice for F&B entrepreneurs entering the industry, Hayder urged them to be patient while Chef Ali Yazdi emphasized consistency saying, 'You don't need to be the first, but you can be the best so be consistent and never sacrifice quality for quantity.'
'This event was a great opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and discuss opportunities and challenges in the F&B industry. Technology is at the core of transformation across different sectors including F&B. At Papa Johns, where delivery plays a major role, it's essential that our app provides a customized experience as well. With AI tools, we can analyze order history and preferences to deliver a more conversational, tailored journey. While tech is the foundation, recent AI tools allow us to build on it and create more meaningful interactions.', comments Karim Chaanine, Chief Marketing Officer of PJP Investment Group (UAE, KSA, Jordan).
As a prime cloud-based restaurant tech and management company, Foodics aims to host further editions of The F&B Circle uncovering innovative ideas and discussions that shape the industry's future. With the launch of its advanced AI-powered business intelligence solution, it hopes to continue empowering restaurants and F&B stakeholders in the UAE and MENA region with novel data-driven insights that optimize their overall operations and pave the way for robust F&B industry growth.
About Foodics
Founded in 2014, Foodics is the leading restaurant operations and payment tech company in the MENA region, powering the operations of more than 30,000 restaurants with an all-in-one software and hardware ecosystem to manage. The Saudi-born company offers cloud-based all-in-one Restaurant Management System (RMS), Point of Sale solution (POS) and payment systems that are developed in-house with hands-on industry intel and caters to F&B establishments. Foodics offers various tools and solutions including Foodics Online, Foodics Pay, Foodics Marketplace, and Foodics Accounting, equipping restaurateurs with innovative technology tools to establish resilience, foster customer connections and sustain growth.
