Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Dubai's practical solutions for fine dining at home

Dubai's practical solutions for fine dining at home

People in Dubai are getting a taste for eating at home. We explore the rise in meal delivery kits and meals subscription services in the city.

At the start of the year, many of us look to make healthier choices whether it's being more active or trying to watch what we eat. Dubai is famous for its many international and home-grown restaurants in beautiful locations. But recently there's been a growing appetite for food to eat at home.

Meal plans


Dubai is a city powered by home deliveries from laundry to lattes. Convenience is king, even if you have to pay for it. Jessica and Kurt Davis are regular meal plan customers. They say that prices vary and that some meal plans can be quite expensive, but they change providers so they can get variety because "sometimes it can get boring". They say that diverse plans exist but often the plans operate on rotations. To them, changing providers to "try something different" is the way to go.

Founder of Root’D


The United Arab Emirate's food and beverage market is worth more than 10.8 billion euros. This includes restaurants, hotels and delivery services. 60% of smartphone users in Dubai have a food-related app, and half of them actively use it. With this increase in popularity, consumers are being presented with a vast amount of choice of meal plans. Measured macronutrients are being prepared fresh and delivered to your front door daily.

Vegan food subscription service, Root'D, launched in November and it already has over 100 users. Its founder Roy Koyess says "we've seen an increase in number of consumers joining plant-based at least for a couple of weeks, to kind of detox from the animal-based products. I think the reason for that is they're getting a lot of information about the health benefits behind cutting out certain ingredients and they're trying out vegan meals".

What are the health benefits of meal plans?


Maria Abi Hanna is a dietitian and describes people's new outlook on food to us:

"This whole holistic approach that people now are taking, which is the wellness approach, and it's not just, you know, calories in, calories out, it's really the whole combination of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and the way of eating, whether you should be following a plant-based plan or a low carb plan. It's a huge science behind it. People are beginning to realise the importance of it for sure".

Dubai based dietitian


Delivery kits


Another subscription-style that is growing in popularity is meal delivery kits, where you make the food yourself. Olivia Manner is the founder of Hello Chef. She agrees with our meal plan customers, Jessica and Kurt Davis, that sometimes recipes can get a bit repetitive. She says that's why people feel enjoy discovering the meals they have on offer because "you're discovering something new every week, but you have your familiar favourites as well. And we tend to be more geared for the weeknights anyway. So then on the weekend, you still have plenty of room to cook your own roast".

The cost


On average, meal plans cost between 450 to 900 euros a month per person. They include 20 days of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Meal kits are in the region of 250 to 350 euros for 20 dinners. An average monthly grocery shop for one in Dubai costs between 200 to 300 euros.

Food being prepared to be delivered


A learning experience


Putting cost aside, meal kits have another upside. Keith O'Malley-Farrell is a meal kit customer. He thinks that the meal kits have helped him learn how to cook. He says "it's really easy. The first day I did it, I was a bit like, read the thing, go back, forget what it said, go back, read it again. But the second time it was like I was a professional". It also means he doesn't have to go and find the ingredients and get anything wrong. He strongly feels that he would have given up if he had to shop for the ingredients himself.

Food during the pandemic


During the coronavirus pandemic, many restaurants pivoted with new and established meal kits, seeing a swell in demand as they offered consistent food access and minimal to no contact delivery methods. It's all very practical, but as Jessica and Kurt put it, "it was great during the lockdown, but it kind of increases the monotony of the days because basically, you work, you get up and work at your desk, you get your food delivery. Food delivery is actually probably, it seems more convenient, helpful when you actually have a lot more going on outside the house".

Though the long-term profitability has some experts sceptical, there's no denying that there's a healthy appetite for meal plans in Dubai with lifestyle, dietary requirements and convenience being the driving factors.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×