One of these things is (not quite) like the other - the rise of fast food dupes in Qatar
Doha's fast food scene is awash with some very real copies of famous (and infamous) brands - where does it end?
Qatar’s TikTok and Instagram landscape was ablaze last week with a new player in the fast food market. Selling chicken wings with various sauces, chicken tenders, fries. On first blush (looking beyond the howler of a typo on the packaging), many thought it was the the cult favorite Wing Stop. The green branding, the ranch, even from a distance, the logo.
There had also been strong (OK on TikTok) rumors it was entering the Qatar market.
But it wasn’t Wing Stop. It’s Power Wings, a very close dupe. Right down to the mango habanero and Louisiana Rub. Pushed heavily to local influencers and spawning a flurry of “reviews”, Power Wings flew into the Qatar market, the latest in a growing list of very close relatives of bigger, more well known cult brands.
And yes, it’s not the first brand to position itself as adjacent to the big players. Recently Junior’s opened a stand alone outlet in Al Sadd, meters away from McDonalds. Branding itself the “new love”, they even have a breakfast menu, which, more than leans heavily into the Golden Arches space.
Then, there is Royals, which like Juniors also didn’t stray to far from the one they seek to emulate - yellow, red and of course, burgers. Although their passable filet-o-fish dupe has mysteriously disappeared from their menu in recent weeks.
But this dupe culture has been going on well before the current climate. There’s the controversy around the Qatari brand Salt, which has now opened a stand alone in London. Then, Chikeys, which clucks…sorry, looks a lot like Chik-fil-a.
And there’s more…
Copyright issues aside (that’s a whole, heavily vetted post in itself), the brand dup emergency in Qatar is driven by several forces.
Both Juniors and Royals’ emergence and popularity have been driven by the BDS movement and the desire for locally-made alternatives to the Golden Arches. Add to this the regional master franchise system which can make expansion into new markets slow.
Meanwhile, other dupe-type venture are just an opportune grab at market share when the real brands don’t step in and try the Qatar market.
Raising Canes is on the verge of opening two outlets in Qatar. Meanwhile, regional player Pickl have invested and opened up at West Walk. Both brands seeing the obvious opportunity in a food-obsessed, but smaller, market.
So what’s next? I see more brands entering the seemingly insatiable Qatar fast food market in 2025…dupes and otherwise.
Dont forget to mention C Express as a dupe
An enjoyable read! It is funny reading about dupes in the food market because it is burning like wildfire in the beauty and cosmetic space. Over 6 billion hashtag counts and growing. It seems that TikTok has both incubator and accelerator for this. If you are the original brand, it is infuriating because you have created a space in a market the others come almost parasitically to absorb. There’s nothing wrong with competition. But there is something woefully unimaginative about mimicking someone’s brand and getup. Burger King and McDonald’s have been rivals for years, but one has a clown and the other King. In reality my concern is that not enough consumers care. They go where their taste buds, budgets or Instagram engagement takes them.