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.



Developing Nations Blast $300 Bln COP29 Climate Deal as Insufficient

 COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev walks during a closing plenary meeting at the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Baku, Azerbaijan November 24, 2024. (Reuters)
COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev walks during a closing plenary meeting at the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Baku, Azerbaijan November 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Developing Nations Blast $300 Bln COP29 Climate Deal as Insufficient

 COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev walks during a closing plenary meeting at the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Baku, Azerbaijan November 24, 2024. (Reuters)
COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev walks during a closing plenary meeting at the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Baku, Azerbaijan November 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Countries at the COP29 summit in Baku adopted a $300 billion a year global finance target on Sunday to help poorer nations cope with impacts of climate change, a deal its intended recipients criticized as woefully insufficient.

The agreement, clinched in overtime at the two-week conference in Azerbaijan's capital, was meant to provide momentum for international efforts to curb global warming in a year destined to be the hottest on record.

Some delegates gave the deal a standing ovation in the COP29 plenary hall. Others lambasted wealthy nations for not doing more and criticized the Azerbaijan host for hurriedly gaveling through the contentious plan.

"I regret to say that this document is nothing more than an optical illusion," Indian delegation representative Chandni Raina told the closing session of the summit, minutes after the deal was gaveled in. "This, in our opinion, will not address the enormity of the challenge we all face. Therefore, we oppose the adoption of this document."

United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell acknowledged the difficult negotiations that led to the agreement but hailed the outcome as an insurance policy for humanity against global warming.

"It has been a difficult journey, but we've delivered a deal," Stiell said. "This deal will keep the clean energy boom growing and protect billions of lives.

"But like any insurance policy, it only works if the premiums are paid in full, and on time."

The agreement would provide $300 billion annually by 2035, boosting rich countries' previous commitment to provide $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020. That earlier goal was met two years late, in 2022, and expires in 2025.

The deal also lays the groundwork for next year's climate summit, to be held in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, where countries are meant to map out the next decade of climate action.

The summit cut to the heart of the debate over financial responsibility of industrialized countries - whose historic use of fossil fuels has caused the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions - to compensate others for worsening damage from climate change.

It also laid bare divisions between wealthy governments constrained by tight domestic budgets and developing nations reeling from costs of storms, floods and droughts.

Negotiations had been due to finish on Friday but ran into overtime as representatives from nearly 200 countries struggled to reach consensus. Talks were interrupted on Saturday as some developing countries and island nations walked away in frustration.

"We are leaving with a small portion of the funding climate-vulnerable countries urgently need. It isn’t nearly enough, but it’s a start," said Tina Stege, Marshall Islands climate envoy.

Nations have been seeking financing to deliver on the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels - beyond which catastrophic climate impacts could occur.

The world is currently on track for as much as 3.1 C (5.6 F) of warming by the end of this century, according to the 2024 UN Emissions Gap report, with global greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuels use continuing to rise.

Sunday's deal failed to set out detailed steps for how countries will act on last year's UN climate summit pledge to transition away from fossil fuels and triple renewable energy capacity this decade.

WHAT COUNTS AS DEVELOPED NATION?

The roster of countries required to contribute - about two dozen industrialized countries, including the US, European nations and Canada - dates back to a list decided during UN climate talks in 1992.

European governments have demanded others pay in, including China, the world's second-biggest economy. The deal encourages developing countries to make contributions but does not require them.

The agreement includes a broader goal of raising $1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2035 - which would include funding from all public and private sources and which economists say matches the sum needed to address global warming.

Countries also agreed on rules for a global market to buy and sell carbon credits that proponents say could mobilize billions more dollars into new projects to fight global warming, from reforestation to deployment of clean energy technologies.

Securing the climate finance deal was a challenge from the start.

Donald Trump's US presidential election victory this month has raised doubts among some negotiators that the world's largest economy would pay into any climate finance goal agreed in Baku. Trump, a Republican who takes office in January, has called climate change a hoax and promised to again remove the US from international climate cooperation.

President Joe Biden congratulated the COP29 participants for reaching what he called an historic agreement that would help mobilize needed funds, but said more work was needed.

"While there is still substantial work ahead of us to achieve our climate goals, today’s outcome puts us one significant step closer. On behalf of the American people and future generations, we must continue to accelerate our work to keep a cleaner, safer, healthier planet within our grasp," Biden said in a statement.

Western governments have seen global warming slip down the list of national priorities amid surging geopolitical tensions, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and expanding conflict in the Middle East, and rising inflation.

The showdown over financing for developing countries comes in a year scientists predict will be the hottest on record. Climate woes are stacking up, with widespread flooding killing thousands across Africa, deadly landslides burying villages in Asia, and drought in South America shrinking rivers.

Developed countries have not been spared. Torrential rain triggered floods in Valencia, Spain, last month that left more than 200 dead, and the US so far this year has registered 24 billion-dollar disasters - just four fewer than last year.