Ahmad AlZaini on Building a $13B Restaurant Operating System From Al Khobar

Is the software business dying? Loulou sits down with Ahmad AlZaini, co-founder and CEO of Foodics, at the 11-year mark of the company for the operator's read on the biggest question in tech this year: what happens to software when AI agents replace the human at the login screen. Foodics is the restaurant operating system for the region: 40,000+ locations across the GCC, Egypt and Jordan, $13B in payments processed to date, on track for $14B by end of year, 700 people, licensed by the Saudi Central Bank, backed by a $198M capital raise including a record $170M Series C. Ahmad is a Forbes-recognized entrepreneur with executive credentials from Harvard, Stanford and MIT, and was appointed to the Endeavor Saudi board of directors in 2026. Subscribe for weekly conversations on business, investing, leadership and what is actually happening in the Arab world. Chapters 01:36 Foodics at 11: the top line, $13B GMV, 40,000 locations, 40% revenue outside Saudi 03:12 Why the World Cup 2034 and Expo 2030 are Foodics tailwinds: 40% GMV lift in Qatar 2022 case study 10:00 From Al Khobar to Aramco to Foodics: why the founder was never supposed to be a founder 16:00 First equity check: $1M for 5% from a coffee shop owner, no lawyer, no term sheet 22:00 Growth capital advice: do not take from Saudi at growth stage, go global, come back with matched terms 26:00 40 SF VC meetings, 3 term sheets: how to raise when nobody knows where Riyadh is 31:00 AI is out of the box: the Anthropic February 2026 SaaS selloff explained 37:00 Do not lay off, replace the mentality: how Foodics is retraining the whole org 43:00 The $100M AI M&A war chest and the Norma AI acquisition 50:00 Jack Dorsey's org-as-a-circle with AI in the middle: how Foodics is building it 53:00 The exit conversation: if for one minute you decide you need to exit, you are not in the right business 59:00 The Foodics Mafia: 10+ ventures backed, Endeavor Saudi board seat, national and local selection panels 1:07:00 The under-30 Saudi generation: high-school AI hackathons, curiosity, and where they spend money Follow Loulou Khazen Instagram: /louloukhazen LinkedIn: /louloukhazen X (Twitter): /louloukhazen Follow the guests Ahmad AlZaini Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alzaini/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.