Dubai: Kitchen-free homes soon as food delivery industry grows, billionaire predicts

The boom of online food delivery businesses in the UAE has been particularly pronounced in the post-pandemic period

Waheed Abbas

Published: Mon 2 Dec 2024, 3:52 PM

Last updated: Mon 2 Dec 2024, 6:41 PM

Dubai could soon be the first city in the world to feature buildings without kitchens, as food delivery and e-commerce businesses are flourishing at an exponential pace in the emirate.

Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the founder of Noon, a leading e-commerce platform, revealed that plans for kitchenless buildings in Dubai are already underway. "We have designed a few, actually," he said.

Alabbar explained that the rapid rise of online food delivery has reshaped dining habits. “I believe we will selling apartments without kitchens. Our growth of food order is going so high. Nowadays, one family member feels like Chinese, another cheeseburger or another Mexican,” the Dubai-based billionaire said on Monday.

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Mohamed Ali Alabbar. Photo: KT File

The growth of online food delivery businesses in the UAE has been particularly pronounced in the post-pandemic period. Noon, which launched in 2017 with a $1-billion investment, has emerged as one of the UAE’s leading digital platforms, challenging global giants like Amazon.

Alabbar predicts that Noon Food will become the dominant player in the UAE within the next three to six months, taking “market share from anyone".

“Whoever is there in competition, they will lose out. We do business completely differently than others. We are obsessed with every business we do. We are always on the offensive,” said Alabbar, who is also the founder of Emaar Properties.

“We do business very simple – with all guns on the table,” he said on a lighter note, adding that “Dubai is our home town and we don’t take it lightly. In every business we do, we keep our country in mind first. There is a deep nationalist feeling. We are answerable to our ruler and society.”

“We owe it to our people and our country that Emaar should be a shining example in the world. Same with the Noon.”

He advised foreign companies to focus on their core markets in the US or Europe.

‘We do everything with excessive love’

Alabbar emphasised that Dubai's open market structure makes it inherently competitive.

He also commended the UAE and Dubai governments for their forward-thinking policies that foster rapid business growth.

According to him, these policies are crucial to the success of businesses, stating, “The UAE and Dubai governments' policies make all of us heroes. Government policies make businesses succeed easily… The Dubai and UAE governments...know what is happening globally and they make policies accordingly. We do everything with excessive love.”

He went on to highlight that large companies bear significant responsibility to the nation, stressing that their success, including that of Emaar, Noon, and others, stems from adhering to regulations, particularly anti-competition laws.

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