Agha Restaurant, ZwZ, Dunkin', Malak al Tawouk, Freddy's, Znoud El Sett, Mon Maki A Moi, and McDonald's are soon opening at Beirut Airport

In the coming days, departing and arriving passengers at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport will notice several changes regarding restaurants and cafes.   

The total number of restaurants and cafes, which currently stands at eight, and four kiosks, distributed between departure and arrival points and the passenger-only area, will undergo alterations.  

Let's take a closer look at what is expected: 

For those heading to the airport, specifically at the arrival point, on your right, Dunkin' Donuts will replace Cafématik.  

On the other side, towards the left, Znoud El Sett restaurant, a Lebanese eatery serving daily dishes for employees and travelers, will replace Akle.  

On the upper floor, precisely at the departure point, the location of Balkoumi will be transformed into Malak al Tawouk.  

Moving on to the passenger-only area, the following changes will occur:  

On the western side, McDonald's will replace Balkoumi, while Cafématik will be replaced by Zaatar w Zeit.  

In the eastern area, Agha Restaurant will replace Balkoumi, and Dunkin' Donuts will replace Cafématik.  

Before the gates, where there were previously two kiosks, there will now be four, including Dunkin' and Freddy's.  

Salt will be replaced by Mon Maki A Moi on the upper floor, within the lounge area.  

Currently, only Dunkin' Donuts is open at the arrival point, with the rest still under construction.  

These restaurants were previously operated by the Lebanese Beirut Airport Catering Company SAL (LBACC), owned by Middle East Airlines (MEA), and a Saudi shareholder since 2015.   

However, they are now under the management of a new company, Nevada Holding, which owns the Lancaster chain of hotels and restaurants.   

Nevada Holding secured the contract approximately three months ago through bidding, competing against two other companies, LBACC, and another unnamed company.   

Nevada Holding emerged as the winner by offering the highest bid of $3.5 million annually for four years, the legal contracting duration, in exchange for $870,000 as a fixed amount, to which is added an amount that the company pays for each passenger annually, which is 18 cents for the first year per passenger, i.e., one million and 260 thousand US dollars in total, and it will increase in the coming years. 

The sources of the new company confirmed to LBCI that it intended to choose restaurants that suit all segments of society and, at the same time, well-known brands that people are used to and are present in all airports of the world.   

At the same time, sources close to the LBACC company confirmed that increasing the amount of investment in this way makes it imperative for the company to raise prices and increase burdens on the passengers. However, it wasn't on board of this step.  

At the end, the only constant is that there is now a variety of airport restaurants that did not exist before.