Хади Давани: разбор ката v1 и новая история

00:00–00:16 Saudi Arabia is the hottest market in the Middle East right now… Today, Hadi Dawani — who runs over 100 restaurants…

02:11–02:17 20 times the market. That's not a small number… how do you actually get into Saudi Arabia as a business?

03:42–03:47 So before you even get to the opening — the bank account is already a trap…

05:47–06:00 One transaction a month keeps your account alive — Hadi learned that the hard way back in December. And get a MADA card…

06:01–06:07 Quick tip: if you don't speak Arabic — that's okay. But you'll need someone who does…

08:44–09:17 CTA: So the key takeaway here: use a professional law office… around 15,000 riyals… link in the description.

10:39–10:47 A team of five replacing a team of 25. That's AI and outsourcing in action…

14:08–14:14 Team hired. Now the systems. In Saudi Arabia, everything runs through government apps…

16:39–16:46 Permits. Audit. Tax. Zakat. Every year, without exception. Miss one — and you go red…

17:43–17:51 Company is set up. Team is hired. Compliance is sorted. Now… what it's actually like to live and work here.

19:33–19:36 Now — the practical question every new arrival faces first: where do you actually live?

20:41–20:52 55,000 riyals a year — and it's all paid upfront… until you actually get behind the wheel: driving in Riyadh.

21:48–21:55 That's the day-to-day. Now here's the bigger picture — why Hadi thinks this is the best market in the world right now.

23:08–23:14 Saudi brands competing globally. So what does a Saudi business actually look like from the inside? We went to find out.

26:35–26:44 The coffee culture is just one example of how Saudi Arabia is building a world-class lifestyle ecosystem…

27:26–27:38 Final CTA: Pack your bags and come… If you want to see what it's like to work in Saudi as an employee — watch this video next.

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hello my name is Hadi Dawani i come from Bahrain i'm currently living in Riyadh i moved here uh beginning of the year i've been doing business with Riyadh about a year and a half prior to that business is Eatco so we have over 100 different restaurant locations operating in Bahrain and Saudi at the moment main focus is Riyadh it's the biggest city right now and the growth factors we see here is better than anywhere else that's why i've moved fully here and started my business back in 2010 in Bahrain. then, we kept growing and growing. we the biggest cloud kitchen in Bahrain. you become number one in a country and grow to that extent, you say, okay, what's next? So better than just driving across the bridge to Saudi seeing a market that's 20X you could why chose Riyadh. That's the market to be. It's the toughest one. not as easy as everyone thinks, it's also rewarding if you do it right. How

have to adapt quick. Once you learn what shifts are gonna happen in the market, which gaps you fill in with your experiences, with your business, and try to fill them up as fast as possible. Because first come, first serve sometimes. people like to be the second or third and do it better. Me, I like to be first. is new, I'll jump to it, I'll learn it, it as soon as possible. the first instinct I'll have as an entrepreneur.

what pushes us to actually driven to work here. Now, moved here without the family. My family are back in Bahrain. So I go back week or two weeks. And sometimes my family comes here. And are because I have a wife and two Riyadh provides is worth of this. Because the growth factor compared to Bahrain to Riyadh, I'm coming to a market that has more than 20X capability of Bahrain. worth it.

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decided to move to Saudi because we got supported from one of the companies here. And they were like, you're doing very well with us in Bahrain. Why don't you come here? was one of the aggregators that supported us heavily. Supported is like, give here. We're going to give you a special rent put your kitchens in. Come, so many hacks in everything you do. What could I have done here to open faster? What could I have done here to move a company from Bahrain to Saudi? What little tricks a lot of issues. And to me, I consider that support to cash. you move to a new country, you need to meet some people locally. And that support is huge, by the way. People one, two, three steps ahead. when you get it from people who and tested it, so valuable, people it sometimes.

we did. We came. We started our first cloud kitchen. We tested the market year in the same cloud kitchen because we wanted to see the flows of everything. when you do that, you do face mistakes. So, one of the funny things that happened, it's funny. It wasn't funny when it was happening. It were supposed to open in December. we went to try to open to the aggregators, they said, we need your IBAN. So, I went to the bank to take the IBAN. And the bank said, we closed your account. I was like, why? They said, you didn't do any transaction for 60 days when I was forming the commercial registration. So,

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when I came here, I had to do the commercial registration. When found a law office and they said they will do the whole setup for me from forming the company me the commas, to getting me the bank account. Where the bank account, I had to go, but the lawyer came with me to make sure all the documentation is correct. newcomer that support. If I did not go through people an office or somebody, I would have taken way longer. was approximately 15 ,000 rials fees here and there. we were in restaurants and cloud kitchens, they had the exact we needed, which is cloud kitchens. And we went and opened it based on the cloud kitchen. And we also did it as a Bahraini company opening a branch in Saudi. the holding is back in Bahrain. restaurant permit takes time and there is a lot of details. But because I opened it inside a cloud kitchen they had most of the permits ready. they have special rules for that. So, again, it's basically I went into a co -working environment. So, you have a co -working space for kitchens, if you want to see the difference. So, when you go through a co -working space, you have everything ready and you just take your off disk. did the same, but in kitchens. So, this is what cloud kitchen is, how you can expand quick. You for a ready kitchen, you don't go through construction, you don't go through all of this. That's why the first year was only testing. Learn the market, learn all the issues, because you will always find blind spots. Oh,

See, usually when you have bank cards from different banks, right, you have visa, like this card has MasterCard and there is something called MEDA. MEDA only works in Saudi. like an alternative to Visa and MasterCard. those little supermarkets, sometimes the gas stations, the reason they only want MEDA is because they get charged, I think, 0 .75 % where Visa and MasterCard will charge more. So a lot of the shops will be like, OK, you want to use anything from me, only MEDA. a small issue when you don't have a bank account here.

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is very important in Saudi. is the main language. is what people want to read. if you're in Dubai. You can get a license. You can get away with 100 % everything English. doesn't work here. The majority are Arabic speakers Arabic first speakers. you have to make sure you understand and read the market properly. maybe a consultant and you're going to deal with very specific individuals, you can get away with not knowing Arabic well. if you're dealing with a B2C market have to have Arabic. you walk through Saudi, of the signboards are Arabic and some of them don't have even English. Yeah, would highly suggest in the beginning, get somebody to do your paperwork. minute you're going to be established, either get a part -timer. somebody to support you in Arabic. in the beginning, somebody doesn't need a full time person. you can hire locals as part -time. them three hours a day, two hours a day, them support you when you are having... see what kind of suits you. Do you want somebody to go with you to meetings? Do you want somebody to go with you to ministries? Do you want somebody to cross -check what you're doing? definitely it's a must to have somebody strong and Arabic. seen it through friends where they hire somebody part -time for 2000 rials. you're not having them full -time. You're having them part -time for selected tasks. would rather pay the 2000 rials for a selected task to hire somebody full -time where I might only need them once a week. I do speak the language, I've learned that I cannot have somebody who doesn't speak Arabic to deal with any external issues. They have to be Arabic. a if they speak Arabic and English because can work with my clients outside of Saudi and Saudi and they become more dynamic to the team. even if I have somebody only speaking Arabic, good enough for me because the Saudi market is my main market. that's what's needed here.

what first I will advise is to go to Misa find everything there in terms of information how to open what do you need the regulation of every commercial registration just did is actually give it to a company to do it for me because don't want to make a mistake then after six months I realize I've done something wrong would rather outsource your team focusing on the main main things in the company and then you can open a company and anything extra just outsource it and this is one of the things would outsource immediately and if there is anyone my friends who try to open a company here that's the first I gave them go to a company let them open it for you much better even if I tell you what my whole experience give it to somebody who knows how to do it

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we're running our business now changed a lot. Because before we had a team of 25 in our management. Today, we switched the whole business with all AI, and standardization of the processes. Today, we're a team of five. team of five consists of. An accountant. have a marketing manager who runs the marketing team. We have an admin. and quality assurance. it's just us today. did this shift happen? We get the best quality. don't take chances of, this person going to get the job right, wrong? No. This is the service we need. This person knows it very well. We only need it once or twice. Or maybe then we'll need it five times. We'll pay for it five times. much easier. And when you have a small team, the culture becomes nicer. Everybody is more interconnected with each other. will be less frictions and less layers. see that we're working much freely together. become more effective than a team of 25. Yeah,

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because of the we have one Saudi working with us. We have two expats. And we have two Bahrainis. Now, Saudi, if you hire anyone from the GCC, is no mandatory for them. So I have one Saudi national, I get right? other two Bahrainis need to hire, they don't go on it. it depends on what activity you have. Saudi will give you different visa. So in cloud kitchens, because we're cloud kitchens, we get four they call it aqama here. can hire four with one Saudi. if you hire Bahrainis, they're not considered, you just add them. There is no minus or plus. from Bahrain, so when I hired, I hired Bahrainis that I know and worked with before, so it was easier. But I can hire an Emirati, a Qatari, a Kuwaiti, an Omani. the same structure. minimum wage is 4 ,000 rials. anyone's salary is below 4 ,000 rials, you don't get the for them. you're not paying 4 ,000 rials not your budget, maybe you can hire a Saudi as a part -timer. part -timer is considered half a Saudi. So, if you are two part -timers, you will have one visa. Maybe you don't need a full -time accountant and you don't need a full -time HR. You can hire a part -time HR, a part -time. And will consider it as one visa by hiring these two part -timers. That's one way of doing it. with wages here, if you hire people who just graduated from university and there are some extra rules for it, some supporting where they will pay half of the salary a spam of six months, which is also a nice support. saudi there are like few positions that have to be saudi head accountant has to be saudi your hr has to be saudi also your admin to be saudi

about hiring used linkedin i've used indeed they were both places to find uh employees whether you want expats or you want locals good results from both of them i heard there is much more but these are the two i've used and benefit from now there is an alternative where i also from is actually asking my network do you know somebody good do you know do you know do you know and sometimes you really do get good employees because do like to shift you'll find somebody who's working somewhere they're uncomfortable somebody else knows them and they do pick up some talents in between because you get to know all right i want somebody to do this job and they're good at one two three and through friends i do get good good talents in Bahrain, it's a bit easier when I used to do it, because Bahrain is small. Riyadh is big. start doing interviews, you're actually pushing people driving 30 minutes, some of them 50 minutes away, and traffic is not easy. we first do everything through Zoom. If we see somebody fit, we ask for a second meeting in person to meet them even better. And then we assess what happens on the third.

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. . . about the systems here it all works under an app called Quwa now what's Quwa the minute you hire a local you upload their CV to Quwa signs it he clicks accept from his application so it's automated what's important about this Quwa is an application if you're the only guy in the company you have to really know it because all the structures are there and it's linked to every ministry the salary has to be done through it wants a holiday everything goes through Quwa so there are certain apps where working in Saudi you have to learn once you master them you'll get everything done there is a app called Nafad once you have your Rekaba and everything done will ask you for a code for doing anything adding somebody to the company in the thought you're trying to enter your accounts of Quwa all of this in Nafad and

report is mandatory because if you don't have an audit, how are you going to pay your zakat? and how they're going to ensure that you're paying the taxes right? it's very simple to get it here. There are loads of companies and depends what class you want them to be, right? Do you want the KPMG and the big audit firm? Or you want just a simple audit firm to give it to you? They're all available. companies can only do an audit. And they have to have the certification do it. you know which ones they are, you can get the audit report from them and submit them to the Ministry end of the year.

Yeah, you have to always make sure your permits are correct. Your permits are renewed. have the right permits to do what you're doing. they do check. And there are frequent through the ministries. So always sure you have everything done correctly. if not, you're going to get fined. And if you get multiple fines, they do close you down. not cheap to get fines. So that's why cheaper to right and to run your business in the correct way than keep getting fines and closures and all that. Can you need to renew the permits. You need to do your audit reports. You need to pay your taxes. You need to pay your Zakat. Zakat is another tax you have to pay end of every year. are some of the basics. you have to check your online platforms. Is everything paid correctly? Is everything correct? Are what happens online here, you see a red dot. Like they'll give you your red or green. So automatically, you know that there is something wrong. Just go and fix it before happens.

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you are not green, and you're in business, red because you you delayed the payment or you didn't pay something on time you're blocked from everything you cannot apply for a visa you cannot apply renew your uh of any of your employees you cannot renew your commercial registration basically just stuck till you pay your fee so you always have to make sure that you're paying things on time i commercial registration you didn't pay your bills your cr is closed you're not allowed to leave the country here the customer service from the ministries are really good like sometimes if did not renew niqama or you did not renew your commercial registration or something you see the ministry calling you hello who you are and then you didn't do what you did is there anything wrong can we help you with anything is there something not understood are you know when you're gonna pay actually very helpful it's like a really good customer service

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Sunday is the working day till Thursday. Some companies do have working days on Saturday. see different companies functioning differently. Some of them work from 8 to 4. Some of them 8 to 5. Some of them 9 to 5. depends what type of company you are. Some of them will allow you to work remotely. Some of them will allow you to work in the office for half of the week. you're coming to open a business, you have to see the structure you want to do. And what fits you. And fits the staff you're going to get. It's all about the culture you want to build. on the industry you're in, right? So, F &B, would give people off on weekdays and have most of the team to be working on weekends. Because that's when sales go up. it depends what industry somebody is in. industry, we do not have holidays. We have holidays as a founder. But as a team, you have to give everyone their offs. One or twice a week. Depending on their positions and what they do and what's in the contract. So, yeah.

I think, has the lowest holidays in the GCC. 100 % sure, but from what I remember. low season here in Riyadh is summer, technically like summer in Riyadh. the weather. I like the roads. you can feel in summer that the traffic is low my commuting is much easier in terms of time, but not in terms of heat. when winter comes, commuting is hard because of traffic, but you're not driving through the heat. But yet again, Riyadh's weather is way better. and Bahrain. There is no humidity. As just different to that humidity. And that's why the sun is hot, but the weather is during summer.

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when I was searching for central something Acceptable to live in opinion you would have to pay for a one -bedroom apartment about fifty five thousand riyals and is yearly because it's hard to find monthly apartments and if you do I will overcharge for it It's good If you want a monthly apartment and if you do temporarily I would just suggest to go find a service department or a Hotel and just book it for a month It becomes a Approximately the same price at least somebody's cleaning the room and everything and where you're gonna work or most of your meetings would be because riyadh is big you're working what are you doing every day are you networking if you're not working where which part of riyadh are you actually going to be around and try to be close to it I have a certain budget I would take a smaller apartment next to the area I live in rather than a bigger apartment in a better area so to me location is key

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are in riyadh right now and luckily this block is not that busy but once we get more central you'll see how the traffic is don't try to move around between five to seven or maybe sometimes even 4 30 to seven that's when everybody leaves work and it just becomes consuming what takes you half an hour could take you an hour sometimes even an hour and a half depending on what's going on in riyadh okay so the fines, right? Yeah. are high and as you can see, cameras are everywhere. you can't touch your phone. Like kilometers, you'll see cameras on top of you taking pictures if you touch the phone, which is actually good. It keeps the place safer. I'm not mistaken, on the phone, it's about 500 riyals. over speeding, depending on how much you over speed. See, I don't have because I follow the rules, right?

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do believe there is a lot to be done here. And I can see the changes in the market. They're really doing things well. Go look at the customer service all over Saudi. people really take care of you. hospitable. the airports, in the events, when beyond what I ever expected see. way better than Europe in customer service. one of the safest on earth. Infrastructure, if you look at the new buildings, if you look at the new malls, if you look at the new strip malls, built better with the right structure. at the local brands here. at the local coffee shops look at the local restaurants look at some of the local stores see so many brands here than the big franchises worldwide they're not expanded as much how restaurants should always go is let's expand in our region let's expand across the country than the region and then try to go worldwide and a lot of the brands from the Middle East are going to Europe are going to Asia or even going to the US this is happening it means we do have some competitive edge some of the brands in Europe we are innovating we are pushing the agenda

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called Weter. a shop that sells all the items for coffee, from the beans to to the equipment. they do and all of that. So as you go in, maybe somebody there can explain to us more about it. we are here in the company, and we are specialized in coffee tools. And what distinguishes us, of course, is that I don't want anyone, for example, to need something or someone needs something, and I will get it in this place. We are trying to save everything that is under the roof of the coffee. I mean, like you now, you brought a machine, and you want maintenance, you want something, a change, everything is available in any coffee machine. Everything you need in coffee is under the roof of the coffee machine. shops are everywhere and they're busy. And when I first moved here, some of the things that will surprise you how it's a culture, people are in coffee shops at 1 -2 a .m. drinking coffee. three, four cups a day. And that's why you see shops like this are everywhere in Saudi. But I cannot see cappuccino or etc. just strong like American. Yes, people here are into... The American coffee is called coffee of the day. Or V60, the way they made it for you. As you see that machine over there, that's the machine they have in every shop. Why? call it coffee of the day. Coffee of the day, which is the Americano. just what everyone drinks. And it's so affordable, which makes it even more drinkable by everyone. If you you go to Dubai, you're paying 20 -25 riyals per coffee. Here, you can pay between 7 to 11 riyals for a coffee. And it's very high quality as well. I think 10 riyal. For coffee day, 5 riyal or 6. it's not the simple coffee like from Starbucks or another coffee. usually drink Americano? I think it will be the best. And in FNB and when I see the coffee shops here, they're just way better than anywhere else. I travel with my Saudi friends, they're actually always complaining. Like whenever we travel to any country, ah, the coffee is not good here. I will need more coffee because the standard of coffee here just rose to another level became more and more and more demanding. So there is a big demanding of high quality coffee. you have that much demand on coffee, then you have so many coffee shops. And when you have so many coffee shops, the competition is high, people have to very innovative. They have to invest more. They have to build better things, and is there for it. course, the coffee market in Saudi Arabia is very large and the competitors are many. Our competitors are those who are more creative, those who produce better products, and those who try to prove themselves in the market. Okay. We are a Saudi -based company. And we have employees from Saudi Arabia, from Arab countries and from different countries. their products are specialized in coffee. Coffee is from all over the world. not specialized in a specific nationality or a specific place. course, the future of Riyadh in coffee is very big. And those who come from outside the Saudi state, a lot of them, and we are developing in 2030. you say, all people are directed towards Saudi Arabia, and the view of Saudi Arabia must develop, especially Riyadh, because it is the capital, it is the big place in Saudi Arabia.

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the progress is what makes Riyadh place to find opportunities. Things are changing. lot of new things are coming here. A lot of new shops are coming, which means when everything changes, a lot of new gaps come up. can't see them if you're not here. So that's why everyone says you want to move to Riyadh, pack your bags and come. Coming and visiting every month or a while will not get you much. packing your bags and coming here and living, you will start seeing the gaps. You start seeing the opportunities. You start meeting people and networking here is key. So bit by bit, you'll open up. And see a lot of things that could happen.

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