Abdulrahman Alshabanat: The Chefz Founder Reshaping Premium Delivery in Saudi Arabia

Abdulrahman Alshabanat didn’t follow the typical founder script. While his background is in computer engineering, his real edge came from strategy and a deep understanding of Saudi consumer behavior. He saw a clear gap: high-end customers wanted premium, culturally relevant delivery experiences, and no one was serving them well.

That insight became The Chefz, a platform connecting elite food providers with high-end customers across Saudi Arabia. But Abdulrahman’s real innovation wasn’t launching a delivery app. It was redefining what thoughtful, locally fluent growth looks like in the Saudi startup scene.

What Sparked the Idea of The Chefz

The idea didn’t start with scale, it started with a problem. After returning from Carleton University in Canada, Abdulrahman launched 'Shughul Bayt' in 2016, focusing on home-cooked meal delivery. But the model quickly proved unsustainable. By 2017, he made a decisive shift: reduce complexity, elevate quality, and focus on premium vendors.

That’s when The Chefz was born, not just a name change, but a complete rethinking of the business. Together with co-founder Abdulrahman Almarshad, he narrowed in on high-end desserts and sweets, building a curated experience for elite Saudi customers. Only after proving traction did they expand into new verticals like fine dining, florals, and perfumes. Each move was deliberate. Abdulrahman listened, adapted, and built with cultural precision.

Execution Over Hype

Abdulrahman built The Chefz with a profit-first mindset. Early revenues were reinvested to refine operations and secure premium vendor partnerships. When capital came, it came from aligned, local investors.

In 2022, a SAR 650 million acquisition offer from Jahez validated the model, but regulatory delays halted the deal. Abdulrahman took it in stride, not as a loss, but as a cue to prepare for public scale on his own terms.

“Don’t build too many future expectations. When reality differs, it disturbs you,” he said in a candid interview in 2023. The experience strengthened his belief that The Chefz could chart its own path, perhaps even toward an IPO.

A Culture That Reflects the Founder

Inside The Chefz, Abdulrahman built a team that mirrors his own mindset: disciplined, analytical, and execution-driven. He doesn’t romanticize startup culture. For him, vision is only as good as the team that can deliver it.

He hires operators who understand the local market, build with intent, and act with accountability. This internal culture has been critical to The Chefz’s brand promise: every order, every partnership, every service reflects a high standard of consistency.

Beyond business, Abdulrahman leads with purpose. In collaboration with the Saudi Tourism Authority, The Chefz recently localized its digital experience for inbound Chinese tourists by integrating Mandarin language support, in line with the Kingdom's tourism goals.

National Recognition, Local Impact

In 2024, Abdulrahman was awarded “Best Self-Made Entrepreneurial Personality” by the Esameyoon Initiative, a national platform celebrating Saudi founders. That same year, under his leadership, The Chefz received the Saudi Customer Experience Award for “Best Customer Experience in a Crisis” from the Saudi CX Association, recognizing the company’s resilience and service excellence during high-pressure moments.

From App to Infrastructure

Looking ahead, Abdulrahman is trasnforming The Chefz. With "The Chefz as a Service (TaaS)", he’s opening the company’s delivery and service tools to other businesses. Built to be API-first and partner-friendly, TaaS reflects his bigger vision: to make The Chefz the infrastructure powering premium delivery across industries, not just its own app. It’s a move from product to platform, shaped by the same precision that built the brand.

Abdulrahman has made clear that regional expansion will follow the same principle as domestic growth: measured, intentional, and full-stack.

Vision Forward

As Saudi Arabia redefines its economic landscape under Vision 2030, Abdulrahman Alshabanat is helping define a new kind of founder: strategic, grounded, and focused on value over noise. Whether steering toward IPO, deepening vertical integration, or exporting The Chefz infrastructure across borders, he’s setting a new bar for what Saudi entrepreneurship can be.

Follow Founder’s Tale for more stories of the visionaries shaping Saudi Arabia’s future.