A New York-style pizzeria has opened in Dubai in the Jumeirah Centre, its first location outside the United States, with plans for several more in the UAE and wider region.
Russo's New York Pizzeria was founded in Texas by the chef Anthony Russo, a first-generation Italian-American, in the 1990s.
He started franchising the chain when he had just three outlets, and there are now 30 Russo's restaurants dotted across the United States. The pizzeria is being introduced into the UAE by Prime Hospitality.
The first restaurant in the country opened yesterday and others are to follow in Abu Dhabi at Al Wahda Mall next week and in Sharjah's Sahara Centre next month.
"About four years ago we came to Dubai for the first time and my goal was to franchise in the Middle East because I felt that we had to bring good pizza to the market," said Mr Russo, who was in the UAE for yesterday's launch.
The chain chose to exhibit at Gulfood and knew it had potential for success here when people queued for hours to taste the pizza.
"After that we realised that this is a market to develop," said Joe Hroch, Russo's general counsel. "In the Middle East everyone wants to have the best. But you really need to see the best … to know what the best is and that's what we're bringing."
Prime Hospitality, which owns the franchise for the UAE only, plans to open up to 10 restaurants in the Emirates.
"All our brands have to have a niche in the market that is not realised yet. What appealed to us with Russo's is the fact it has fresh ingredients," said Murad Al Nasur, the general manager of Prime Hospitality. "Actually when we built this location, we added a freezer thinking they were going to have some frozen products and they said 'forget it. We're not going to have any frozen products. Everything is fresh'."
Russo's aims to open about 26 restaurants in the Middle East over the next five to seven years.
It is planning to open restaurants in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
"We see a lot of growth potential here. Kuwait is available. Oman is available. There are good markets there we want to tap into," said Mr Russo.
Pizzas cost between Dh40 (US$11) and Dh60 at Russo's and it makes what it claims is the largest pizza in the UAE, a 28-inch monster, which costs Dh155, minus toppings, and feeds eight to 10 people.
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Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
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Ways to control drones
Countries have been coming up with ways to restrict and monitor the use of non-commercial drones to keep them from trespassing on controlled areas such as airports.
"Drones vary in size and some can be as big as a small city car - so imagine the impact of one hitting an airplane. It's a huge risk, especially when commercial airliners are not designed to make or take sudden evasive manoeuvres like drones can" says Saj Ahmed, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research.
New measures have now been taken to monitor drone activity, Geo-fencing technology is one.
It's a method designed to prevent drones from drifting into banned areas. The technology uses GPS location signals to stop its machines flying close to airports and other restricted zones.
The European commission has recently announced a blueprint to make drone use in low-level airspace safe, secure and environmentally friendly. This process is called “U-Space” – it covers altitudes of up to 150 metres. It is also noteworthy that that UK Civil Aviation Authority recommends drones to be flown at no higher than 400ft. “U-Space” technology will be governed by a system similar to air traffic control management, which will be automated using tools like geo-fencing.
The UAE has drawn serious measures to ensure users register their devices under strict new laws. Authorities have urged that users must obtain approval in advance before flying the drones, non registered drone use in Dubai will result in a fine of up to twenty thousand dirhams under a new resolution approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Mr Ahmad suggest that "Hefty fines running into hundreds of thousands of dollars need to compensate for the cost of airport disruption and flight diversions to lengthy jail spells, confiscation of travel rights and use of drones for a lengthy period" must be enforced in order to reduce airport intrusion.
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
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Sukuk
An Islamic bond structured in a way to generate returns without violating Sharia strictures on prohibition of interest.
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