F&B has never been short on bold ideas, but today, many of the most influential ones are coming from the youngest minds in the industry.
Across the Middle East, young names are bringing fresh perspectives, entrepreneurial ambition, and a deep understanding of evolving consumer preferences to build concepts that not only attract diners but also influence broader conversations around culture, community, and the future of dining.
In this edition of The Restaurant Times Young Owners Powerlist, we recognize the industry’s most promising voices who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, creativity, and commercial success at a relatively early stage in their careers.
More than rising stars, they represent the next generation of food and hospitality itself, and through their brands, they are actively shaping how the Middle East eats, gathers, and experiences food while setting the agenda for the industry’s future.
Omar Orfali
Omar Orfali co-founded Orfali Bros Bistro, a Dubai institution that has earned international recognition for its bold, deeply personal interpretation of Levantine cuisine. The restaurant’s global acclaim, including a coveted ranking among MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants, speaks to what the Orfali brothers have built together: a dining experience rooted in heritage but charged with creativity. Omar’s vision proves that fine dining in the region doesn’t need to borrow its language from elsewhere; it can speak in an entirely native voice.
Sultan Kayed
At a young age, Sultan Kayed has already built a multi-outlet portfolio, a feat that would impress entrepreneurs twice his age. The co-founder of GOAT and LIT Pizzeria, Sultan has an entrepreneur’s instinct for timing and a consumer’s instinct for what people actually want to eat. With multiple outlets and over a decade of industry experience, he is developing a playbook to scale casual-dining concepts in a competitive market.
Ali Ghzawi
Ali Ghzawi brings 13 years of industry knowledge to Alee, the restaurant he founded and leads as CEO. That depth of experience—rare for someone his age—gives Alee a foundation that many newer concepts lack: operational maturity blended with creative ambition. Ali is a careful builder, someone who understands that lasting restaurants are grown, not launched. His work in Jordan represents exactly the kind of grassroots hospitality leadership the region needs more of.
Rashed Belhoul & Saif Al Romaithi
Rashed Belhoul co-founded Mamafri on a proposition that is as simple as it is powerful: the warmth of home cooking, given the stage it deserves. As an Emirati founder with over 13 years of industry experience, Rashed brings both cultural authenticity and operational depth to a concept that stands apart in the UAE’s dining scene. Mamafri is a reminder that the most compelling restaurant ideas often begin closest to home, and that sincerity, executed well, is a strategy in itself.
Saif Al Romaithi co-founded Mamafri with a clear sense of purpose: to bring a dining experience to a market hungry for authenticity. His seven-plus years in the industry have given him a grounded understanding of what it takes to build a concept that is both culturally resonant and commercially viable. As co-founder, Saif’s contribution to Mamafri is part operational, part cultural, ensuring the concept never loses sight of its origins.
Emilie Rihani
Emilie Rihani co-founded Three by Eva with a business-minded clarity that has been central to the concept’s growth across two outlets in the UAE. With 14 years of industry experience, she brings strategic depth to a brand that could easily have remained a single passion project. Emilie’s role is to ensure that the vision is not just realized but built to last, that the boldness of the concept is always matched by the soundness of the foundation beneath it.
Lilian Rihani
As Co-founder and Creative Director of Three by Eva, Lilian Rihani is the force behind the brand’s visual and experiential identity. With 14 years in the industry, she has developed a rare ability to translate feeling into form, to make a restaurant feel like something before a guest has taken a single bite. Lilian’s creative direction is what gives Three by Eva its soul, and her consistency across two outlets speaks to a discipline that matches her imagination.
Solemann Haddad
Solemann Haddad brings an artist’s eye and an operator’s discipline to Moonrise, the concept he founded that has quickly earned a reputation for its atmosphere and considered identity. With seven years in the industry, Solemann understands that in hospitality, everything communicates, from the lighting to the last bite. Moonrise is the beginning of what promises to be a significant story. He is self-taught and started his restaurant without formal training. He is unbound by rules or expectations and keeps a wide perspective.
Sara Aqel
Sara Aqel has spent a decade honing her craft before channeling it into Dara Dining, a concept that reflects her deep respect for hospitality as a discipline. She is one of the region’s most quietly compelling voices in dining, building something intentional rather than fast. Dara Dining stands as a testament to her belief that a single, well-executed outlet can leave a more lasting impression than a chain of mediocre ones.
Noor Al Abassi
Noor Al Abassi is the co-founder of Fifth Flavor, a concept built around culinary curiosity and a refusal to play it safe. Currently, she is among the youngest founders on this list, and among the most distinctive. Fifth Flavor doesn’t follow a template; it asks guests to suspend their assumptions and experience food as something more nuanced and layered. Noor’s vision is ambitious, and the concept she has helped bring to life suggests she has every ability to see it through.
Mohammad Alathel
Mohammad Alathel has built Amsa Hospitality into a large operation, one that demands as much organizational discipline as entrepreneurial vision. Based in Saudi Arabia, Mohammad is building at a pace and with an ambition that mirror the Kingdom’s own transformation. As Founder and Managing Director, he oversees a portfolio that spans diverse concepts, each reflecting his belief that hospitality should be both excellent and accessible. He is one of the most significant young operators in the region today.
Closing Note
The names featured in this edition of The Restaurant Times Young Owners Powerlist 2026 represent a new generation of entrepreneurs who are creating brands, communities, and new ways of thinking about hospitality. From chef-led concepts and fast-growing chains to mission-driven ventures and culturally rooted dining experiences, each has demonstrated an ability to identify opportunities and execute with purpose.
As consumer preferences evolve and competition intensifies, these young leaders are proving that age is no barrier to influence. Through creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial drive, they are helping define the next chapter of food and hospitality in the Middle East.
