Glimpse into the number restaurants and cafes in Saudi Arabia

How many restaurants and cafes do we have in Saudi Arabia? Are we already overcrowded with restaurants and cafes? Do the economic outlook and population in Saudi allow and encourage accessing the F&B industry? All of these are questions that come to the entrepreneurs’ mind when they consider opening their restaurant or cafe. This article aims to provide a glimpse into the number of restaurants and cafes in Saudi Arabia and evaluate the attractiveness of the F&B industry as a whole.

The number of restaurants and cafes

According to Atlas report provided by Monshaat, the number of businesses in the Food and Beverages industry is currently over 52,000. The majority of those businesses are located in Makkah region (25%), followed by Riyadh and the Eastern Province with 22%, and 16%, respectively. 

To put this number into context and into a wider perspective, we should look at the population in Saudi Arabia. According to the most recent report issued by the General Authority for Statistics in 2021, the current population in Saudi Arabia is over 35 million. This means that the number of restaurants in Saudi is about 1,500 restaurants per 1 million in population. 

Objectives of the Quality of Life program and Vision 2030

According to the Quality of Life report issued in 2018, the hospitality sector represented by restaurants and cafes is considered one of the main pillars targeted by the program. One of the KPIs which the program follows is the number of restaurants and cafes and benchmarking them with the international levels. The report indicates that the current number of restaurants in Japan for example is 16,000 per 1 million in population, and in Switzerland the number is about 6,000 restaurants per 1 million. These numbers indicate that the number of restaurants in Saudi Arabia is still below the international average. According to the Quality of Life report, the goal is to reach about 3,000 restaurants per 1 million in population by 2030. 

The quality of life report also referenced that the number of cafes in Saudi Arabia is about 258 per 1 million in population while Vision 2030 aims to increase this number to 1,000 cafes by 2030. The report also indicates that there is a shortage of high-end restaurants run by internationally known chefs in Saudi Arabia. 

These statistics indicate that the F&B industry is still young and has a great potential to grow considering the increasing population in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, the main challenges for entrepreneurs remain to be selecting the most strategic location for the restaurants, finding the gap in the market and filling it by providing the best suited cuisine, and providing a competitive advantage that will differentiate them with others in the market.