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Food Kuwait

Potbelly, Pinkberry and Starbucks in the Kuwait Airport Duty Free

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This is the best thing to happen to the airport since they shutdown McDonalds. They’re opening them all in place of Costa right after immigration.

86 replies on “Potbelly, Pinkberry and Starbucks in the Kuwait Airport Duty Free”

Nigga come try it in the States, it’s like eating rubber burger with rubber chese.

Kuwait McDonalds is pretty legit, sparkling bling bling clean and fresh and if they never make it good which i don’t remember when the last time it happened they’d get you another one.

One more reason for the smokers to enjoy thier ciggrate and not dream about owning a jet and smoke in it while thier boarding.

Now you get to try it everytime you first step in Kuwait! isn’t that great!

We became cooler than many places in the States.

Yeah, that’s why Kuwait has many tourists in it….BTW how is food a good thing to visit Kuwait? Obesity….not a good thing.

That’s the spirit, two more of you and Kuwait is all good and we could move on when we see a pinkberry.

P.S. for lame people, if you’re not kuwaiti you’re not gonna get this, so don’t be lame and play somewhere else.

P.S. for non Kuwaities: don’t worry a Kuwaiti is probably gonna replay, it’ll probably sound so lame and you might think all Kuwaities are bunch of mainstream followers that carries thier phone toys and you cannot see them smile even at pinkberry the mouth watering frozen yogurt, you see them cheating eating cheap frozen yougurt probably having thier BBM status as “Pinkberry Time” with an old picture that they saved 3 weeks ago from all diffrent angles and backgrounds, they might even through some home chopped mango in there, here you go now you know why are we good at photography and being lame.

REAL duty free shops should be available (Electronics, Music, etc..) and not just food. Maybe these will be there in the new airport.

Why is it getting on your nerve? is it chasing you in your dreams? do you dream of white frozen yougurt tasting like almara3i?

To save you the trouble, just everytime it’s all you see look the other way, if by any chance there is another one within 25 meters and it’s all you see, then grab one and move on.

It’s not that, dude. Big, faceless corp guys could sell their own crap and people are gonna go take it because it’s a big name company.
It’s sad, the people I see buying there look like sad, spineless, characterless mainstream trend following zombies…

No people there are always happy and excited and giggles and when they take thier first time they are always happy.

Not all people, it’s just McChickens eat there and some of them probably had it before it was in Kuwait.

there for if you’re not McChicken then you are not cool and don’t know nothing cool and most likely not Kuwaiti.

You’re right, I’m half Kuwaity… but that doesn’t mean every lame trend that comes out I should go after it just because everyone is. ;p

LOL, see? Pinkberry promotes racial conflicts too, that’s why I hate it.. haha.
And ‘Vlame’, so what if people borrow other cultures? Diversity is beautiful.

V here stands for Very.

Diversity is not the issue, being lame is, i mean if non of them were lame they weren’t be bothered, but i guess i’m just proving my point even more, this took longer time than i thought and i don’t conflict my work (making decent living time) with dealing with lame people time and now i guess this zalama that’s too angry at me because he can’t be Kuwaiti.

She, not he. And I am Kuwaiti, thanks. I’m just a firm believer of personal taste and individuality and no, I don’t like pinkberry. It’s gross artificial tasting yoghurt. If you want good artificial tasting yoghurt, you go to red mango.

Sometimes I wonder, is stupidity a temporarly condition or not.

you know what, I’m google that, then Stupidity on wikipedia.

Potbelly is a sandwich/soup place that originated in Chicago because people like to eat soup/sandwiches especially in the winter.It will fail in Kuwait. It does very well in DIFC, but does not do well in the Dubai Mall. I would never eat soup in that airport. If there is Pinkberry after immigration, then there will be two Pinkberry’s in the airport. GD WE NEED CHECK IN DESKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Starcraps’and crapberry just have to be everywhere… who could blame them? They got brainwashed addicts addicted to their crap…

Lol you got a lot of FIGHT THE MAN comments I bet you’re as “Mainstream” as the people you rail against without realizing it

What makes money at Starbucks in Kuwait?

That 6x drink full of caramel frapuccino the starbucks employee gave me once, trying to hustle me in paying either 1.500 or 1.800 for the caramel since the 50 fils from time to time increase is becoming a trend in Kuwait.

Noticed it many times. It is spelled KUWAITI, not KUWAITY! People nowadays define failure with spelling & grammar mistakes. Stay in school!

@boss They (The people running this airport) were going to charge McDonalds a huge amount of key money and they headed to the parking lot. A filthy dirty one I will add. I have travelled all over the world and I have never seen an airport like this one where the airport functions for guests and not passengers. They could also use a bit of demeaner in that airport also. I call it the Nazi airport where they treat all foreigners like crap. They should hire some foreign expats who speak the various languages to assist the multitude of lost souls in that airport with friendly shirts that say ‘May I help you’ instead of yelling at foreigners like we are sheep. Worst airport in the world!!!!

@zaydoun I could overhaul that airport with no job experience. That is how simple it is, in fact, I think that to solve the many problems in Kuwait is simple so quess what I think of your government. As I queue to get to my check-in desk after trying to make my way through a barrage of taped cartons and a million expats from the subcontinent,in a tiny space with old luggage machines that send my luggage off to a system built for your country in the 1970’s and then proceed through a queue through immigration where I am spit in my face for being foreign, then proceed to my rundown gate sitting with a million expats with bags of Tang, I want to shoot myself with a tranquilizer gun where I can forget about this nightmare and wake up in Dubai where I can rush to a clean toilet. This airport needs to be overhaulled immediately and any Western company with job experience can get it in focus within a year’s timeframe. Most of the food court needs to be removed from upstairs and check-in desks, Xray machines and a better organizationwith assisting passengers is needed and is simple to do, KUWAIT!

You’re naive if you think the government doesn’t know the airport needs restructuring, everything is just a massive process that is blocked on every side by opponents for no reason or funding or god knows what.

@aaa Your being blindsided. There was no movement 10 – 20 years ago when your ‘visionary leaders’ should have had the basic insight to expand that airport? The rendering that is being thrown around the press is from 2008 and has not even gone to tender and was cancelled. I’m not naive, you are and if you are young, you should demand your government perform for the nation. This is your gateway, and you will not even be taken serious if you don’t expand this airport. It will take experienced western management to turn KIA and KA around.

Debenhams, Boots, 2 Starbucks, Solaris, Pizza Express, Pinkberry

All of these were already open in the airport, nothing new

@daily I say let AlShaya build his own terminal, start his own airline and fill his terminal with all his franchises. I spent two years, in peace, going through Sheik Saad Terminal with Wataniya Airways and even if I had an international flight I would exit Kuwait this way then catch my international flight out of Dubai. My stress level was less, now I am thrust back into that horrendous airport which is a total nightmare for me. I’ll fly out of his terminal or anyone’s terminal to get out of KIA. He might do a good job, at least get the right people running his terminal that are qualified to do so.

I agree that the airport needs to be fixed but I had a bag stolen in Dubai airport so it’s definitely not perfect

I was wondering whether there are laws regarding monopolies in Kuwait? No company in Europe would get away with what AlShaya’s getting away with….

They’re not getting away with anything since they don’t have a monopoly

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

“A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity.”

There are hundreds of other coffee shops, yogurt places, clothing stores, restaurants etc.. in Kuwait so there is no monopoly.

The only difference is Alshaya is successful and people here tend to spite successful people instead of praising them.

I guess monopoly was the wrong word, I meant antitrust laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_law

You could argue that there are other companies supplying the products you mentioned, but then again there were other software companies around the time microsoft was being sued because of their competitive practices.

Also, what I meant by how they get away with things, just look around you. At the Avenues, did you ever notice that only Alshaya run places have seating areas eating half the walkway? Dean & Deluca, Pinkberry, shake shack, a starbucks in every free metre. Look at the non-Alshaya brands (say, D’lush) – not a single seat out of line.

They own the avenues, they’ve taken over the old mothercare/fashionway building, they’ve built their own bulding in Jabriya (with a pinkberry/pizzaExpress/Starbucks), they’re taking over Marina mall (pizza express/pinkberrIES/starbucks), and now theyre sucking up the airport (they outbid McDonalds for crying out loud!).

Finally, there are also things you might not be aware of, such as Alshaya veto-ing any shop that conflicts with their interests (noticed any other frozen yogurt shop at avenues?). That is breaking competition law. So this was my question; does competition law exist in Kuwait?

@MM88: Thanks, that’s what I wanted to know. It’s a bit scary both for small business start-ups, and consumers!

@mishal, You hit the core of your problem. Al-Shaya built his business empire on his own initiative and yes, now he has wasta. I heard that in order to build the Avenues, they told the government they were building a Vegetable market to get the project going. Take for example, Sir Phillip Green, owner of Top Shop which is now global and he started with a few pounds in his pocket. He is now trying to make his way through the NYC retail market which is a challenge. AlShaya is a Kuwaiti mogul who worked hard to get there, you should feel proud not threatened.

If you want to free Kuwait from them, then what you need to do is to start your own business and compete with them, shouldn’t be a problem if you’re Kuwaiti and have the resources, it should only take some time if you know what you’re doing.
If you’re an expat, just accept the fact, and don’t even think about starting a business unless you you’re willing a give up %51 of your company to a Kuwaiti sponsor just so you can kick start your biz….

Mark, you left Kuwait with a post about the airport which is a topic that gets people’s blood boiling. I say you reach a 100 by nightfall.

Why is everyone upset? When McDonalds closed down and chilis opened up everyone got upset because we no longer had an option for a quick bite before a flight. Now that we’re getting a place that serves a quick bite people are upset because it’s an Alshaya restaurant?

I wouldn’t mind Alshaya running the airport since it would probably end up looking like the Avenues.. which is a good thing.

Mark, it already looks like the Avenues and not an airport, I’m sure you would agree with some of these comments that state a few more check-in desks, newer x-ray machines and a little bit more customer service would be advantageous to a working airport. As far as AlShaya bashing, he is one of the few examples of a hard-working Kuwaiti becoming a successful empire by not taking an MP position and that’s admirable. I have always known Kuwaitis to be very jealous people and that could be the reason here. I want better management in the airport, don’t really care about the food. Alshaya running an airport/airlines, well that was a good suggestion above. Alshaya Airways – sounds good. Make it like Jetblue and throw the low-budget market up a notch!

‘Like the Avenues’ is a figure of speech, I mean it already looks too much like a mall and not an airport. Got your point, it need an overhaul. Check out the back of the airport if you are bused to your aircraft- wow, you want pictures of old Kuwait, it is pathetic and check out how they organize the incoming luggage.

@Khalid, agree. But doesn’t the government own the airport? If so, why are the people running the airport taking key money and jacking rents that high? There should be ceiling contolled by the government. In fact, why doesn’t that bloody parliament discuss the status of this airport in one of their sessions? The new airport contract should have priority right now if they want to move this country forward.

Haha the parliament is tearing itself apart over corruption scandals and bribes and you want them to talk about a damn airport? You seriously think that’s a priority right now? Ridiculously narrowminded

@aaa Yes I do, because grilling should not be done in Parliament, but in a separate forum in front of a Congressional Court and MP’s should not be allowed to grill but to submit a grilling request to the courts or whomever this country deems appropriate to handle grilling cases. Parliament should be business as usual, not grilling. AND no MP’s should be allowed to protest in the streets in Kuwait, that is not allowed in most civilized nations. Not even government employees are allowed to protest against the government of some countries.

You know what’s lame? Shitty English and unnecessary grammatical errors. Make an effort people, or post in Arabic.

“Sometimes I wonder, is stupidity a temporarly condition or not.”

Really? This blogg is better than that…

“No people there are always happy and excited and giggles and when they take thier first time they are always happy.”

Can someone translate please? I mean, I’m happy and excited and giggles to know what the hell all of this means.

Potbelly was my favorite places to get a sandwich or an awesome bowl of chili soup in the states! Their milkshakes were great too.

So this is DEFINITELY awesome news. My only question is, how is it behind immigration? Does it mean it’s at a point where only travelers enter?

Life goes on and the World’s go round and people in Kuwait are still arguing which is better that SuperDuper Hyped Brand or That TurboBoosted Hypity hype Brand (q80sanasen beat it !) in the end its a useless coffe shop for me since i dont drink coffe nor like it at all is it that much to u as a regular restaurant at least make the change with the same category not to drift sideways.

Darn! if they could steal a corner for WH Smith would be adding that fourth cushion on the sofa of traveling (in)convenience.
Books, cigars and coffee everywhere but in Kuwait the first word is often silent.

I have an 8-hr stopover at Kuwait. Please suggest me things to do, eating joints, shopping ideas ( what all can I shop ). I have a 4 yr old along, anything interesting for kids ? any resting areas ?

There is only 1 restaurant and very very little shopping. My advice, buy books and magazines before arriving since I don’t think they sell magazines at the airport here.

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