One of the Kingdom's most beloved fast-food chains, Al Baik, figures on the list of eight foreign fast-food chains worth a taste recommended by Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc., a subsidiary of Newsweek Inc. “You might have spotted the business-class travelers on Emirates and Qatar Airways toting containers of Al Baik along with their duty-free shopping,” writes Sean O'Neill in BudgetTravel.com. The chain is so popular that the company operates a pop-up restaurant once a year in Mina, which caters to hundreds of thousands of Muslims a day while they attend Haj, says O'Neill. “Al Baik was founded in 1974 in Jeddah and quickly became one of the most beloved fast-food chains in the Middle East.” Others on the list include Giraffas from Brazil, Mr. Lee from China, Nordsee from Germany, Kaati Zone from India, Teremok from Russia, Toast Box from Singapore, and Steers from South Africa. Al Baik's claim to success, however, owes a lot to its budget price, which is about 30 percent less than that of international chains, and the 18 secret herbs and spices that give a unique and distinguishing flavor and taste to its meals. The first outlet in 1974 was opened by the late Shakkour Abu Ghazalah in a rented old warehouse on Old Airport Road in Jeddah. The response was lackluster. The outlet was serving not more than 100 customers a day during the first 90 days. But within a year, people started to form long queues outside the Old Airport outlet. The rest is history. In 1986, Al Baik was registered as a trade mark in the Kingdom. Today it has 31 branches in Jeddah, six in Makkah, three in Madina, one in Taif, one in Yanbu, and an outlet in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. In 2006, it opened the largest quick service seasonal restaurant kitchen in the world in Mina to cater to pilgrims during Haj.
