Egyptian Restaurants Attract Customers with 'No for Innovation' Motto

A 'suhur' meal, which is served before dawn during the holy month of Ramadan, in Cairo on May 31, 2018. (MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images)
A 'suhur' meal, which is served before dawn during the holy month of Ramadan, in Cairo on May 31, 2018. (MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images)
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Egyptian Restaurants Attract Customers with 'No for Innovation' Motto

A 'suhur' meal, which is served before dawn during the holy month of Ramadan, in Cairo on May 31, 2018. (MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images)
A 'suhur' meal, which is served before dawn during the holy month of Ramadan, in Cairo on May 31, 2018. (MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images)

In his movie “The Danish Experience”, Egyptian actor Adel Imam promoted two popular, local restaurants named “Zizo” and “Baha”. But despite the fame they gained over the past 20 years thanks to Imam’s effect, the two restaurants specializing in eastern food refused innovation.

Unlike the creative marketing ideas that restaurants invest in to increase their revenues, many restaurants haven’t even considered promotional tools to lure customers, preferring to maintain their current, traditional look that powered their fame.

Certain Egyptian restaurants, mostly those considered popular, have acquired a remarkable reputation that lures even non-Egyptian customers. Despite this fame, they are eager to preserve the traditional appearance of their beginnings, and the menu they are known for, refusing to change their originality in an attempt to maintain their success and profit margins at the same time.

Whether in Cairo, which embraces thousands of restaurants or in Alexandria, which attracts thousands of visitors every day, there are many examples of this type of restaurant that seduce people from all social and age categories with their “non-innovated” ambiances.

Since their establishment several decades ago, “Zizo” in the Jammaliah area, and “Baha” in the El Sayeda Zeinab district, have maintained their original concept, rejecting innovation ideas, and insisting that they “don’t have other branches”.

Despite that, both restaurants attract ambassadors and tourists looking to taste the “Egyptian food experience”. All their visitors, locals and non-Egyptians, sit at tables in the street, which gives the experience a more popular touch. El Sayeda district also houses “Al Jahsh” restaurant known for its local beans and falafel served in a simple, unsophisticated way. Its customers are from all social classes, they eat in the street as well. Although some reviews on the world-know travel website TripAdvisor slam the restaurant’s hygiene, celebrities and tourists keep visiting it to taste the original, Egyptian dishes.

A few steps away from Cairo’s Ramses Square, a banner reading “On God’s Blessing” draws people’s attention to a simply-decorated, crowded restaurant that serves cheap, yet tasty liver and sausage sandwiches. Known as the “King of Original Liver Sandwiches”, the restaurant, which was established in the 1980s, has always adopted a low-price policy, so it can make the highest profit. The liver sandwiches it serves are, without exaggeration, the cheapest in Egypt.

In contrast, other restaurants that opted for innovations and changes, including the “Abu Rami Grill Restaurant”, failed and lost a lot of their customers.

The same trend applies in Alexandria, in which many restaurants, especially those serving seafood, like “Shaaban of Fish” in the Al-Manshiyah area, are known for low-key setups, funny names, wooden tables, and cheap plates serving unique combinations.

The restaurant is very popular among Alexandrians. Although the city has many seafood restaurants, and most of them are located right on the sea along the Cornish, Shaaban’s customers insist on visiting it in a narrow alley to enjoy its popular dishes.

The restaurant’s owners have kept its original design but chose to innovate with a new branch that targets different types of customers.

Shaaban has a rival, though. “Houda Dongol”, located in the narrow alley in the Azarita area, also lures seafood lovers with its professional cooking and affordable prices despite its chaotic, low-key setup and location.

The traditional concept is also seen in the “Loul Fortress” restaurant overseeing the sea. A wooden design that reflects the Egyptian, popular spirit, and attracts visitors with its simple décor, rural, wooden benches, homemade fish dishes, warm welcoming of its manager Om Mayyada, and its well-known mint tea.

“Indeed, many restaurants reject the innovation idea, mostly because 95 percent of their owners are elderlies and unconvinced with the importance of social-media-driven updates. Those people can’t convoy advancement because they don’t have the needed mentality, or they might have concerns about innovation so they keep their businesses like they are. In contrast, we see about only 5 percent of business owners who consider innovation and keeping up with the industry’s changes,” Mohammed Yousri, e-marketing manager of several restaurants in Cairo, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Yousri doesn’t agree with those alleging that “non-innovated ambiances” attract more audience, noting that this factor is a sort of mental relief for some customers, and that’s why we often see middle-aged and older people in such places.

“On the other hand, the younger ones are always looking for innovation. Restaurants adopting this management concept are often the first to close their doors despite their long-term fame. Even by maintaining their traditional touch, time will pass, and new, competing names will emerge and gradually lure people. From a marketing perspective, restaurants’ reluctance to innovate or update is a weakness and a key factor that can threaten the existence of the biggest names,” he explained.

“Marketing rules say the audience like constant renewal, and with the new generation affected by social media, restaurants must seek innovation to meet clients’ needs. Restaurants sticking to their old, traditional concepts have no future vision or aspirations, so they will definitely lose their younger customers, and thus lose the competition sooner or later,” Yousri concluded.



Australia Moves to Ban Children Under 16 from Social Media

Australia's government says unchecked social media algorithms are serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
Australia's government says unchecked social media algorithms are serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
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Australia Moves to Ban Children Under 16 from Social Media

Australia's government says unchecked social media algorithms are serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
Australia's government says unchecked social media algorithms are serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File

Australia's prime minister on Thursday vowed to ban children under 16 from social media, saying the pervasive influence of platforms like Facebook and TikTok was "doing real harm to our kids".
The tech giants would be held responsible for enforcing the age limit and face hefty fines if regulators notice young users slipping through the cracks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Australia is among the vanguard of nations trying to clean up social media, and the proposed age limit would be among the world's strictest measures aimed at children, AFP said.
"This one is for the mums and dads. Social media is doing real harm to kids and I'm calling time on it," Albanese told reporters outside parliament.
The new laws would be presented to state and territory leaders this week, before being introduced to parliament in late November.
Once passed, the tech platforms would be given a one-year grace period to figure out how to implement and enforce the ban.
"The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access," Albanese said, explaining what he dubbed a "world-leading" reform.
"The onus won't be on parents or young people."
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it would "respect any age limitations the government wants to introduce".
But Antigone Davis, Meta's head of safety, said Australia should think carefully about how these restrictions were implemented.
She said poorly drafted laws "risk making ourselves feel better, like we have taken action, but teens and parents will not find themselves in a better place".
Snapchat pointed to a statement from industry body DIGI, which warned that a ban could stop teenagers from accessing "mental health support".
"Swimming has risks, but we don't ban young people from the beach, we teach them to swim between the flags," a DIGI spokeswoman said.
TikTok said it had nothing to add at this stage.
'Falling short'
Once celebrated as a means of staying connected and informed, social media platforms have been tarnished by cyberbullying, the spread of illegal content, and election-meddling claims.
"I get things popping up on my system that I don't want to see. Let alone a vulnerable 14-year-old," Albanese said.
"Young women see images of particular body shapes that have a real impact."
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said social media companies were repeatedly "falling short" in their obligations.
"Social media companies have been put on notice. They need to ensure their practices are made safer," she told reporters at a press briefing alongside Albanese.
Rowland said companies like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Elon Musk's X would face financial penalties if they flouted the laws.
While Rowland did not detail how big these would be, she suggested fines of US$600,000 (Aus $1 million) were well below the mark for companies boasting yearly revenues in the tens of billions of dollars.
Analysts have expressed doubt it would be technically feasible to enforce a strict age ban.
"We already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy," University of Melbourne researcher Toby Murray said earlier this year.
A series of exemptions would be hashed out for platforms such as YouTube that teenagers may need to use for school work or other reasons.
Australia has in recent years ramped up efforts to regulate the tech giants, with mixed success.
A "combating misinformation" bill was introduced earlier this year, outlining sweeping powers to fine tech companies for breaching online safety obligations.
It has also moved to outlaw the sharing of so-called "deepfake" pornography without consent.
But attempts to regulate content on Musk's X -- previously known as Twitter -- have become bogged down in a long-running courtroom battle.
The tech mogul likened the Australian government to "fascists" earlier this year after they announced they would crack down on fake news.
Several other countries have been tightening children's access to social media platforms.
Spain passed a law in June banning social media access to under-16s.
But in both cases the age verification method has yet to be determined.
France passed laws in 2023 that require social media platforms to verify users' ages -- and obtain parental consent if they are younger than 15.
China has restricted access for minors since 2021, with under-14s not allowed to spend more than 40 minutes a day on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Online gaming time for children is also limited in China.