What chain restaurants charge in the United Arab Emirates

The UAE is one of the most brand-dense restaurant markets in the world. A single Dubai mall can hold more international chains than an entire mid-sized European country, and the combination of a large expatriate population, high mall footfall and very high disposable income has made it a standard second or third market for almost any expanding brand.

It is also unusual in drawing chains from every direction at once. American brands sit alongside British ones like Costa Coffee, which counts the Emirates among its largest markets outside the United Kingdom, and alongside South-East Asian operators including The Pizza Company, Swensen's, Black Canyon Coffee and Coffee World, all of which followed regional franchise networks into the Gulf.

Halal certification is the default rather than an exception here, pork is generally absent from mainstream chain menus, and the food-court format at mall scale drives much of how menus are built.