Albaik

Albaik began in September 1974, when Shakour Abu Ghazalah, a Palestinian who had come to Saudi Arabia as a refugee, put his savings into a rented warehouse on Old Airport Road in Jeddah and turned it into the country’s first restaurant selling broasted chicken, chicken fried under pressure. The seasoning, sold as a recipe of 18 herbs and spices, was developed in 1984; the spicy Harrag version followed in 1994 and shrimp in 1995.

For decades the chain stayed in the Hejaz, the western region around Jeddah, Mecca and Medina, the region pilgrims pass through on the way to Mecca, and Albaik has long run seasonal restaurants in Mina for the Hajj, including what it built in 2006 as the world’s largest quick-service kitchen. Only in 2015 did it open outside the Hejaz, in Buraydah, reaching Riyadh in 2018. It is now the largest restaurant chain in Saudi Arabia.

The first restaurants abroad opened in Bahrain in December 2020, followed by the Dubai Mall in June 2021, with 23 branches in the UAE by May 2025, a temporary site in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup and Kuwait in January 2025. Chicken is the core of the menu, served with garlic sauce; the sandwiches below are how it does burgers.

More than 120 restaurants in Saudi Arabia by 2019, plus Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait, with Pakistan announced.

• Chick-fil-A (United States, since 1946). The chicken sandwich that started the wars, and a chain that closes every Sunday. Also built on chicken.
• Popeyes (United States, since 1972). The New Orleans chicken chain whose sandwich sold out America in two weeks. Also built on chicken.
• Dicos (China, since 1994). China’s home-grown rival to KFC, built on Texas-style fried chicken. Also built on chicken.
• KFC (United States, since 1952). A fried chicken empire whose best burgers are sold outside America. Also built on chicken.