BEIRUT: Pizza Hut could re-open in Lebanon within six months after the chain was forced to close its outlets in the country, said its country boss.
General Manager Riad Sabbagh revealed that a Lebanese expatriate investor based in Africa may help to revive the business, in an exclusive interview with Arab News.
“We faced an issue in importing our raw materials and transferring our money abroad and we tried to resist the pandemic impact as much as possible,” he said in a telephone interview from Beirut. “There will be a return to Lebanon within five to six months. Pizza Hut agency owners found another investor, a Lebanese investor who works in the restaurant field in Africa, who can take the lead in Lebanon.”
He declined to identify the potential investor as the matter is still confidential.
Pizza Hut said on Sunday it was closing in Lebanon as the fast food chain succumbed to the country’s deepening economic crisis.
The family food favorite posted a notice on social media thanking its customers for their support and asking them to “hold on to these memories until we make new ones.”
Rocketing inflation, power blackouts and the closure of a number of institutions have all contributed to the collapse of the country’s economy and a mass exodus of Lebanese seeking work abroad.
For foreign food and beverage franchises that rely on imported goods priced in dollars, the collapse of the Lebanese pound has been especially difficult to absorb.
In a notice posted on its Facebook page, Pizza Hut Lebanon said: “We will never forget the excitement on your face whenever you get your cheese stuffed crust pizza . . . Offering you the best quality and experience has always been our top priority. Until we are able to do that, with a heavy heart, we say goodbye!”
The country’s economic situation has deteriorated rapidly over the last year, especially since a massive explosion at Beirut Port last August when improperly stored materials detonated and destroyed residential areas nearby — killing 211 people and leaving thousands homeless.
The blast led to the closure of dozens of businesses in the capital and made a bad situation even worse for the city’s residents.
The closure of Pizza Hut represents the latest business casualty of the ongoing crisis.
Customers mourned the loss of the restaurant chain on social media with some bitter sweet comments.
“We hope to follow you soon,” said Hayssam Hnayneh on the company’s Facebook page.
“My memory is that pizza we ordered on the 4th of August and arrived a few minutes right before the Beirut explosion and we couldn’t eat it because it got full of shattered glass,” said Charbel Khoury
Lebanon Pizza Hut boss expects return of chain
https://arab.news/833bn
Lebanon Pizza Hut boss expects return of chain
- The family food favorite posted a notice on social media thanking its customers for their support
AI will never replace human creativity, says SRMG CEO
- Speaking to Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, Jomana R. Alrashid expressed pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI
RIYADH: Jomana R. Alrashid, CEO of Saudi Research and Media Group, highlighted how AI cannot replace human creativity during a session at The Family Office’s “Investing Is a Sea” summit at Shura Island on Friday.
“You can never replace human creativity. Journalism at the end of the day, and content creation, is all about storytelling, and that’s a creative role that AI does not have the power to do just yet,” Alrashid told the investment summit.
“We will never eliminate that human role which comes in to actually tell that story, do the actual investigative reporting around it, make sure to be able to also tell you what’s news or what’s factual from what’s wrong ... what’s a misinformation from bias, and that’s the bigger role that the editorial player does in the newsroom.”
Speaking on the topic of AI, moderated by Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, the CEO expressed her pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI in a way that was “transformative.”
“We are now translating all of our content leveraging AI. We are also now being able to create documentaries leveraging AI. We now have AI-facilitated fact-checking, AI facilities clipping, transcribing. This is what we believe is the future.”
Alrashid was asked what the journalist of the future would look like. “He’s a journalist and an engineer. He’s someone who needs to understand data. And I think this is another topic that is extremely important, understanding the data that you’re working with,” she said.
“This is something that AI has facilitated as well. I must say that over the past 20 years in the region, especially when it comes to media companies, we did not understand the importance of data.”
The CEO highlighted that previously, media would rely on polling, surveys or viewership numbers, but now more detailed information about what viewers wanted was available.
During the fireside session, Alrashid was asked how the international community viewed the Middle Eastern media. Alrashid said that over the past decades it had played a critical role in informing wider audiences about issues that were extremely complex — politically, culturally and economically — and continued to play that role.
“Right now it has a bigger role to play, given the role again of social media, citizen journalists, content creators. But I also do believe that it has been facilitated by the power that AI has. Now immediately, you can ensure that that kind of content that is being created by credible, tier-A journalists, world-class journalists, can travel beyond its borders, can travel instantly to target different geographies, different people, different countries, in different languages, in different formats.”
She said that there was a big opportunity for Arab media not to be limited to simply Arab consumption, but to finally transcend borders and be available in different languages and to cater to their audiences.
The CEO expressed optimism about the future, emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision, a strong strategy, and full team alignment.
Traditional advertising models, once centered on television and print, were rapidly changing, with social media platforms now dominating advertising revenue.
“It’s drastically changing. Ultimately in the past, we used to compete with one another over viewership. But now we’re also competing with the likes of social media platforms; 80 percent of the advertising revenue in the Middle East goes to the social media platforms, but that means that there’s 80 percent interest opportunities.”
She said that the challenge was to create the right content on these platforms that engaged the target audiences and enabled commercial partnerships. “I don’t think this is a secret, but brands do not like to advertise with news channels. Ultimately, it’s always related with either conflict or war, which is a deterrent to advertisers.
“And that’s why we’ve entered new verticals such as sports. And that’s why we also double down on our lifestyle vertical. Ultimately, we have the largest market share when it comes to lifestyle ... And we’ve launched new platforms such as Billboard Arabia that gives us an entry into music.”
Alrashid said this was why the group was in a strong position to counter the decline in advertising revenues across different platforms, and by introducing new products.
“Another very important IP that we’ve created is events attached to the brands that have been operating in the region for 30-plus years. Any IP or any title right now that doesn’t have an event attached to it is missing out on a very big commercial opportunity that allows us to sit in a room, exchange ideas, talk to one another, get to know one another behind the screen.”
The CEO said that disruption was now constant and often self-driving, adding that the future of the industry was often in storytelling and the ability to innovate by creating persuasive content that connected directly with the audience.
“But the next disruption is going to continue to come from AI. And how quickly this tool and this very powerful technology evolves. And whether we are in a position to cope with it, adapt to it, and absorb it fully or not.”
