TECH TO ORDER

With over $36.9 million in total funding, Omar Rifai, Mohamed AI Fayed, and Mohamed Hamedi, cofounders of U.A.E.-based F&B and e-commerce platform, Grubtech, are turning to new markets and AI to expand the growing startup.

- Muhammed Addam

Imagine a bustling restaurant kitchen, hot and steamy, filled with busy chefs and the smells of different cuisines cooking across various ovens. Only there is no front-of-house, no waitstaff, and no dine-in customersjust a streamlined operation focused on producing meals. This is the reality of the burgeoning cloud kitchen industry. However, while Omar Rifai was investing in the sector, he spotted some gaps. "It was really chaotic," remembers Rifai.

Rifai, with a 16-year career in private equity and investment under his belt, was a board member for a Dubai-based cloud kitchen startup in 2019. During his time there, he reached a crucial conclusion that would shape his future career: cloud kitchens are to F&B what e-commerce was to retail 20 years ago. However, a solid technological infrastructure is key, which Rifai found lacking. Inspired, he reached out to an old friend he had known since he was six years old, Mohamed AI Fayed, who had amassed over 20 years of business experience and was working at AI Tayer Group at the time. "I managed to convince him that after two decades in the corporate world, it was time for a new challenge," says Rifai.

Today, CEO AI Fayed and Chief Growth Officer Rifai are two of the three co-founders of Dubai-based Grubtech, an all-in-one software platform that helps F&B companies and quick commerce businesses manage their operations seamlessly.

Established in October 2019 in Dubai, the company now processes over $1 billion in food orders per year, and serves clients in more than 20 countries across three continents, including Talabat, Burger King, Subway, and Domino's.