News

Hotel Cloud Kitchen Startup Matbakhi Launches In Saudi Arabia

The platform will help Saudi Arabian hotels tap into a $4.71 billion online food delivery market as the Kingdom pursues ambitions of becoming a Top 10 tourist destination.

Published

1 month ago

December 20, 2022

Nour Nasir

Matbakhi

Matbakhi, a food technology startup, has become the latest addition to Saudi Arabia’s booming catering sector after setting up a headquarters in Riyadh.

Matbakhi’s premise is simple yet innovative: The company helps hotels turn their unused kitchen spaces into revenue generators, upgrading their menus with fresh, creative offerings from young, up-and-coming local chefs. The idea is to give local talent a platform and help chefs build their brands, while simultaneously offering a delivery service to bring the meals to different neighborhoods.

“The way food is conceptualized, sourced, cooked, delivered, and consumed is evolving by the minute in line with the preferences of highly aware and increasingly knowledgeable consumers. Keeping these customers at the heart of everything we do, Matbakhi aims to make the food you want accessible and convenient to order, and ensure that it is delivered to your doorstep in minutes while you’re still looking forward to that taste and experience,” says Joe Frem, co-founder and CEO of Matbakhi.

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Matbakhi’s cloud kitchens are effectively a plug-and-play service for hotels. The company offers everything from procurement to staff, helping to raise the profile of local chefs while enhancing the revenue and marketing reach of the hotels hosting the service.

The company’s novel business model will create unique opportunities within Saudi Arabia’s buoyant hospitality sector, especially as the Kingdom plans to become a Top 10 global tourist destination by 2030.

With help from Matbakhi, the hotel food and beverage sector could be transformed entirely, blending seamlessly into the online food delivery market, which, according to a report from Innovius Research, is predicted to be worth a staggering $8.8 billion in value by 2028.

News

ABB E-mobility Delivers Its Millionth EV Charger

Continued growth has been facilitated by doubling production capacity after the launch of the company’s new DC fast charger facility in Valdarno, Italy.

Published

15 hours ago

January 31, 2023

Nour Nasir

abb e-mobility delivers its millionth ev charger

ABB

ABB is a leader in electrification and automation solutions and has just announced the delivery of its millionth electric vehicle charger — the latest milestone in the company’s ongoing mission to create an emission-free future using smart and reliable EV charging solutions.

ABB currently boasts a presence in over 85 markets. After the launch of the company’s new $30 million, 16,000 squared meter production facility in Valdarno, Italy, production capacity has doubled over the last two years. The cutting-edge manufacturing plant recently set a new benchmark for the EV sector, producing a fast charger unit every 20 minutes, thanks to the high-tech factory’s seven simultaneous production lines.

abb e-mobility ev charger factory

“While our continual investment in research and development shows our ongoing commitment to enhance the field of e-mobility, the global delivery of these solutions at scale is integral to the realization of our goals. I want to thank our customers globally for their continued collaboration in hitting this one millionth charger milestone. I look forward to the millions yet to come, and to the cleaner, greener world they will help create,” says Frank Mühlon, ABB E-mobility CEO.

In the United Arab Emirates, ABB has installed over 80 fast and high-power DC charging stations, making it one of the largest projects from a single brand in the region. The biggest station is in Yas, Abu Dhabi, and offers 20 DC fast and high-power chargers for owners of emissions-free vehicles.

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“We are proud that ABB chargers are today powering electric vehicles across strategic locations in the country, including the sites of the Dubai Utility provider, DEWA, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Most of the car manufacturers and dealers in the UAE have ABB chargers in their showrooms and as well as car parking areas. We are confident ABB’s technical know-how, products, and research in the field of E-Mobility will continue to support the decision-makers in the Middle East to drive the transition to an emission-free future,” says Ahmed Abdu, E-mobility division lead, MENA region.

In addition to its Italian facility, ABB E-mobility has continued its global expansion. Earlier this month, the company announced a new United States facility that will eventually turn out over 10,000 chargers per year for the public sector, providing power to school buses and other fleets. As well as expansion into the USA, ABB E-mobility’s stake in Chinese charging provider, Chargedot, opens up another lucrative market for the EV charging giant.