Innovative Saudi restaurateurs launch Saudi Arabia’s first fresh food robot

The robot offers options for all taste preferences and meal choices. (Chowbotics)
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Updated 04 July 2020
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Innovative Saudi restaurateurs launch Saudi Arabia’s first fresh food robot

RIYADH: The enterprising owners of a Saudi restaurant have taken health food technology to a futuristic new level — by employing the services of a salad robot.

Customers at RAW.K’s Riyadh eatery are being offered nutritious, fresh, and energizing meals and snacks from a machine utilizing the latest appliance of robotics science.

The hi-tech, healthy fast food option has been introduced in the Kingdom by RAW.K in partnership with the robot’s creator, Chowbotics, a Silicon Valley-based food robotics company that developed the machine as a means to tackle food-service challenges such as speed, freshness, and convenience.

Fahad Al-Humaidan, a cofounder of RAW.K, told Arab News: “Robotics in the food industry is emerging as a tool to provide a better experience to customers as well as solving many pain points of the industry.

“As a fresh food brand that puts freshness and customer preferences as a key driver for the business, RAW.K found Chowbotics to be the best partner to strengthen our offerings by introducing RAW.K robot.”

Sally the Robot, which was rolled out in Saudi under the name RAW.K Robot, uses precision robotics to assemble customizable salads, bowls, and snacks made from up to 22 ingredients such as chicken, tenderloin beef, baby arugula, corn, and fresh peaches.

The robot also offers options for all taste preferences along with breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal choices. Users can start by selecting from a chef-curated meal or build their own bowl consisting of two bases such as greens or grains, six toppings, and dressings, all of which are replenished daily.

For health-conscious customers or those with strict dietary requirements, the robot provides handy interactive nutrition information that updates as users personalize their meal.

One machine fill can provide 80 to 100 meals and operatives involved in the daily cleaning and replenishment of the stations are given notifications on ingredients’ expiration through a cloud-based dashboard.


Where We Are Going Today: Forn Wa Saj

Updated 12 December 2025
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Where We Are Going Today: Forn Wa Saj

If you live in this part of the world, then you know exactly what it feels like to wake up on a Friday morning with your friends or your family yearning for a good manoosha and a cup of hot karak tea. Choosing the right place, however, can be quite the task.

With so many manaeesh restaurant options on the market, it gets difficult to differentiate between the good and the bad, the classic traditional and the “modern twist” that is just trying too hard.

Forn Wa Saj, in both Riyadh and Jeddah, is somewhat in between.

They have your classic akkawi, zaater, lahmah bel ajeen and others, but they also include some wildcard house specials such as a pesto halloumi, pepperoni and even a pumpkin spread.

Their lahmah bel ajeen is a great option; it is flavorful and contains just the right amount of tanginess.

For zaatar fans, its flavor is good — perhaps the zaatar labneh would have been a better option.

For the house specials, there were some hits and misses. Esh albulbul (mixed cheese with labneh and honey) is for sure a success. The balance of sweet, creamy and slightly salty is excellent.

Both the musakhan and falafel manaeesh are pretty good but could use some minor adjustments — the musakhan is great quality chicken but you might wish for a bit less tanginess, and the falafel just need more falafel.

Overall, Forn Wa Saj is a good choice for your weekend breakfast. It may not blow you away but will leave you satisfied.

The portion sizes are pretty generous, and although the prices are a bit high, they are average among the more “modern” manaeesh restaurants.