News
Tech Startup Foodics Offers Smarter Restaurant Management
The Saudi company’s innovative solutions optimize restaurant operations, from ordering to payments, delivery, and more.
Foodics, a prominent player in the MENA restaurant management landscape, is transforming the food and beverage industry through its comprehensive, in-house developed Restaurant Management System (RMS).
Known for its strong presence within Saudi Arabia’s thriving startup ecosystem, Foodics already serves customers in over 35 countries. The company provides innovative hardware and software solutions designed to help restaurant owners optimize their operations.
Currently, Foodics offers more than 100 apps that seamlessly integrate into restaurant operations. These tools cover everything from front-of-house management and data collection to inventory tracking, menu creation, delivery coordination, and more.
To further simplify customer ordering and payments, Foodics offers various specialized solutions. These include Foodics Online, a commission-free online ordering platform; Foodics Pay, which streamlines payment processes; Foodics Kiosk, a self-ordering and checkout system; Foodics Marketplace, a platform that partners with over 100 third-party apps for easy integration; and Foodics Accounting, a smart financial management tool designed to simplify accounting tasks.
“We sensed a lack of digitalization across the Saudi food and beverage sector in 2014, especially in the ordering process, including restaurants that were facing operational challenges. This inspired us to develop a fully integrated ecosystem to support the industry as we wanted to bring new technologies that change and enhance how people interact and connect with their favorite food brands,” comments Ahmad Al-Zaini, CEO and co-founder of Foodics.
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Today, more than 30,000 food and beverage outlets use the company’s services. In the UAE alone, approximately 1,850 restaurants rely on Foodics, with over 60% of these establishments having been clients for more than two years.
By focusing on creating efficiency and convenience, Foodics has had a significant impact on the Middle Eastern F&B sector. Their solutions have redefined the dining experience, from the moment customers place an order until the food is delivered to their table or doorstep.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
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The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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