A local take on the vintage American diner has been taking its show on the road over the past few weeks in Qatar, preparing and selling meals out of the country’s first-ever food truck.
Burgeri opened two years ago at the Aspire Zone, and sells burgers, hot dogs, milk shakes and cheesecake, among other items.
Last month, the restaurant announced on its social media channels that it would begin touring the nation in its new food truck.
So far, residents have spotted the truck at Katara Cultural Village and the Pearl-Qatar, and there are plans to stop at places in Al Shamal, Al Khor, Mesaieed, Dukhan and Al Wakrah.
Growing demand
The food truck was apparently launched as a way to respond to growing demand. And so far, many residents have expressed appreciation of the concept on Instagram and Twitter:
@ThePearlQatar @BurgeriDoha this is amazing! Just came home to find it on my doorstep!
— Celia (@_celia_o) August 21, 2015
It is unclear why Qatar lacks food trucks, but starting a business here can be a difficult process, due to the numerous steps needed to officially register with the government.
Another deterrent may be that the country holds restaurants to stringent food handling and preparation standards.
The truck’s exact schedule has yet to be posted, but appears to be traveling to different spots each weekend and will be at Aspire Park this coming weekend, from 7pm til 1am. Updates can be found on its Instagram and Facebook pages.
Thoughts?
((It is unclear why Qatar lacks food trucks, but starting a business here can be a difficult process, due to the numerous steps needed to officially register with the government.)) we used to have few around Doha , some officials found it to be not a Modern look for the capital , & sadly they were gone .
Ice cream trucks roaming around residential areas would be cool..
We used to have these too before they decided to remove them.
It wasn’t until I read this article that I realized I’ve never seen a Mr Whippy here. It would be a money maker!
Do they offer Drive Through service?
I’m glad they changed the spelling of that restaurant from “Burgery” to “Burgeri”. The former spelling always looked too close to a word that really shouldn’t be used in polite company.
Regardless, their burgers are not that great. I have read a lot of fuss about them but was disappointed when I tried them.
No need for me to write much about why something expensive is inexplicably popular in Qatar. Wikipedia has the answer:
“In economics, Veblen goods are types of material commodities for which the demand is proportional to its high price, which is an apparent contradiction of the law of demand; Veblen goods also are commodities that function as positional goods. Veblen goods are types of luxury goods, such as expensive wines, jewelry, fashion-designer handbags, and luxury cars, which are in demand because of the high prices asked for them. The high price makes the goods desirable as symbols of the buyer’s high social-status, by way ofconspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure; conversely, a decrease of the prices of Veblen goods would decrease demand for the products.”
This theory can be applied on the 90-riyal Wagyu beef burger from Jones the Grocer…
Been to Nobu yet?
Haha that one is on a league of its own…
The one in the picture looks artificial and highly processed…wouldn’t put it near my mouth unless I was seriously hungry.
It is indeed processed and junk, but they say they use USDA meat (not sure what that means exaclty but I think it is some kind of a quality certificate) and people keep repeating the same fuss to make it look like something awesome 🙂
It just means it’s certified by the USDA. Not that big of a deal IMO, what with all of the god awful foo products the USDA has certified in recent years.
Pink slime 🙂
About time foodtrucks came to Qatar! I was wondering when that was going to happen.
I’m curious under what circumstances this got approved (like does one have to have an restaurant to have a food truck?). Food trucks have gained popularity because it is an alternative to opening a restaurant. People with a passion for cooking have been able to do what they love at a lower cost and in turn it provides lower costing food and a decent quality. There are even gormet foodtrucks run by well trained chefs.
It will be interesting to see if this first foodtruck will cause others to follow or if the regulations still will be limiting.
I wouldn’t say the “first” food truck in Qatar. Caravan / Sterling used to have food trucks on Corniche back in 90s then they took them off lol. Qatar used to be more fun back in 90s!
The good old days.