Dubai SME Partners with Noon to Boost Emirati F&B Brands Online

Dubai is doubling down on its support for homegrown food brands. This week, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Dubai SME), which sits under the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), signed a Memorandum of Understanding with noon Food to give Emirati-owned F&B businesses a str

onger foothold in the digital marketplace.

If you’ve spent any time speaking with small restaurant founders, you’ll know that getting onto a major delivery platform can feel like a bit of a faff. There are onboarding fees, commission structures, marketing costs, and all of it lands before you’ve even served your first online order. That’s exactly the friction this partnership aims to ease.

Under the agreement, eligible Dubai SME members in the food and beverage sector will be onboarded to noon’s platform with all onboarding fees waived. On top of that, a five-year commission structure has been set up, starting at 10% in the first year and gradually increasing to 20% by year five. For early-stage founders watching every dirham, that reduction in upfront cost could be spot on.

Noon Food will also put marketing muscle behind these brands, with committed investment, advertising credits and structured visibility during major seasonal campaigns. Access to noon’s customer base, delivery network and payment infrastructure is part of the package too. In simple terms, these businesses won’t just be listed on an app, they’ll be plugged into a full ecosystem.

Ahmad Al Room Almheiri, Acting CEO of Dubai SME, said the partnership combines institutional backing with digital scale, giving Emirati F&B entrepreneurs “tangible advantages” that help them compete and grow sustainably online. He connected the initiative directly to the Dubai Economic Agenda, D33, which aims to double the size of the emirate’s economy by 2033 and cement its standing as a global business hub.

Faraz Khalid, Group CEO of noon, described the move as a way to provide local entrepreneurs with the digital infrastructure they need to thrive. By offering what he called localised support and preferential access to noon’s ecosystem, he said the company wants homegrown brands to scale faster and contribute to the D33 ambitions.

Beyond the financial incentives, the programme includes onboarding support, operational guidance, dedicated account management and monthly performance reporting. That reporting element may sound small, but in reality it’s where many young businesses either sink or swim. Clear data on order volumes, customer behaviour and campaign impact can transform guesswork into strategy, well… I mean, I’ve seen founders pivot entire menus just from studying ordering patterns.

Dubai SME will nominate qualifying F&B members and promote the initiative across its network, ensuring Emirati entrepreneurs are aware of the opportunity. The idea is to streamline participation rather than leave founders to figure it out alone.

And this matters. SMEs account for more than 95% of registered businesses in Dubai. They’re not a side note in the economy; they are the economy. In F&B especially, Emirati-owned concepts have become an essential part of the city’s evolving culinary scene, blending heritage with modern formats optimised for delivery-first customers.

At Arageek, we often talk about digital transformation like it’s a buzzword. But for a small restaurant in Deira or Jumeirah trying to survive rising rents and tight margins, digital access can mean the difference between steady growth and closure. I reckon partnerships like this, if executed properly, can shift the balance. On the flip side, success will depend on how actively these businesses use the tools provided, support only works if founders lean in.

DET, which oversees Dubai SME, continues to position the emirate as a leading commercial and tourism centre, in line with D33. Within that bigger picture, initiatives like this five-year collaboration are meant to create measurable commercial impact: stronger visibility, broader market access and accelerated digital adoption for Emirati entrepreneurs.

It’s definately not a silver bullet for every F&B startup. Still, reducing early costs and offering structured support gives these businesses a fighting chance in a fiercely competitive delivery market. And in a city that thrives on ambition, that feels like a step in the right direction.

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