FOODICS
TBY talks to Ahmed Alzaini. CEO of Foodics on digital economy sector.
BIOGRAPHY
Ahmad Alzaini is the co-founder and CEO of Foodics, an innovative, POS, and cloud-based all-in-one restaurant management system launched in 2014. He was acknowledged as one of the world’s high-impact entrepreneurs by Endeavor Global in 2018. In 2010, he co-founded his first start-up, ALWANS, which develops apps and investment opportunities for other start-ups. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from KFUPM.How has the company developed over its five years of operations?
We have developed a restaurant and retail management system, focusing mainly on the F&B and hospitality sectors. We provide a cloud-based management system platform and a restaurant management system that support cashiers, POS, and wait staff with digital applications like the Kitchen Display System and other great apps and add-ons. It offers cost management, dispatch and delivery management systems, inventory and stocktaking, as well as purchasing management. Foodics was founded in 2014 in Khobar but today has offices in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai, and Egypt. Starting with small coffee shops, we now have a range of clients as well as bigger enterprise accounts. At present, we have more than 25,000 terminals and customers in 17 countries and more than 120 employees in five countries. We have five supporting languages: English, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, and Italian. We have a B2B marketplace where customers can add other third-party software to Foodics to help them scale at any stage. This includes accounting, loyalty, marketing, smart payments, an online ordering platform, and business intelligence. We see value in local and flexible integrations with any application systems or cloud applications, and it's easy for clients to add anything they need with our open API.
How are you revolutionizing the market with your restaurant management system?
In the past, opening a restaurant meant hiring an engineer to decrypt the complex back-end system to change pricing or add items. There was a lot of manual work, and your data wasn't always safe. The heavy initial investment is one of the biggest challenges that F&B owners face, which is where technology and business sense can mitigate such problems.
FOODICS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Interview
Mohammed A. Al-Mowkley , Deputy Minister of Water Services, Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture & CEO, National Water Company (NWC)
NWC leads the Kingdom's efforts to preserve water as a non-renewable national resource and drastically reduce the average per capita water consumption.
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Majed H. Al Saadi , Managing Director, Priority Projects Office (PPO), Local Content and Government Procurement Authority
PPO and ECA act as an accelerator for the realization of Vision 2030 by bridging the gap between the private and public sectors and helping the government diversify the economy in the long run.
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HRH Princess Hala bint Khaled bin Sultan Al-Saud C, Chairman, Saudi Law Conference (SLC) organizing committee & Founder,, Burhan Almarifa
Burhan Almarifa is focused on maturing the legal sector, encouraging innovation, and enabling research and development in KSA through knowledge transfer and consultancy.
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Sahel N. Abduljauwad, Rector, King Fahd University oF Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM)
The King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals has long been the backbone of Saudi Arabia's formidable drilling expertise. Today, it is working to train the next generation of renewable energy and water management scientists.
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Dr. Abdullah Al-Rubaish, Rector, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University (IAU)
Dr. Abdullah Al-Rubaish was appointed vice president of KFU in 2007 and president in 2010. He combined his executive experience from serving in various deanships at KFU with academic practices to become associate professor of medicine and work as a medical consultant at the Department of Internal Medicine. He graduated from KFU's College of Medicine and completed his medical internship at KFHU, where he also pursued a fellowship program. He became a member of the UK Royal College of Physicians and the Arab Board after he completed his sub-subspecialty in Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Alberta, Canada.
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Rajaa Moumena, Founder & President, Future Institute of Higher Education and Training
Saudi Arabia is allowing women more privileges, including driving and becoming ambassadors. The Future Institute of Higher Education and Training is trying to help by providing courses they need to adapt to this new world.
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