Tanmiah opens R&D Innovation Center at Riyadh headquarters
Tanmiah Food Company has opened a dedicated Innovation Center at its Riyadh headquarters, uniting consumer research, prototype development, pilot trials, and market validation under one roof. The facility, inaugurated on 17 September 2026 in the presence of Chairman Amr Al Dabbagh and Saudi Deputy Minister for Research and Innovation Abdulaziz bin Malik Al-Malik, is designed to compress the time between concept and commercial launch for Tanmiah's poultry and broader protein portfolio.
The center is organised into four connected areas: creation and research, a kitchen, an application lab, and a sensory analysis suite. By replicating Tanmiah's further-processing and marination capabilities at micro-laboratory scale, the company says it can fully develop and validate products on site before committing to full production runs, reducing lead times and improving responsiveness to consumer feedback.
Scope and ambition
Beyond its core poultry remit, Tanmiah is positioning the center as a platform for expanding into new protein categories. The facility is also designed to support bespoke development work with HORECA (hotel, restaurant, café and catering) partners, from product formulation through to menu creation. Group chief executive Zulfiqar Hamadani said the center would strengthen the company's ability to respond to evolving consumer needs while contributing to Saudi Vision 2030's goal of a more self-sufficient food sector.
Managing director Zein M. Attar framed the center's purpose in terms of local sourcing and cultural relevance, citing the company's existing Taste Secrets range featuring Shaqra pepper, a variety cultivated northwest of Riyadh, as an example of the direction of travel. Tanmiah's subsidiary Agricultural Development Company won two categories at the Product of the Year Gulf Edition for the fifth consecutive year in 2026, recognising its frozen breaded and fresh marinated chicken lines.
Market context
The inauguration arrives at a moment of broad investment in food innovation infrastructure across the Gulf Cooperation Council. Saudi Arabia's agrifood sector has attracted growing government and private capital as the Kingdom seeks to reduce dependence on food imports, a strategic priority reflected in Vision 2030's agricultural self-sufficiency targets. Several regional food producers have moved to build or expand in-house R&D capabilities in recent years, reflecting competitive pressure to shorten product development cycles and differentiate on health and sustainability credentials.
Tanmiah's vertical integration, spanning 163 farms, seven hatcheries, six feed mills, and four primary processing plants, gives it a structural advantage in piloting new product formulations rapidly and scaling those that clear consumer validation. That operational breadth, combined with distribution across Saudi Arabia and five other GCC markets, provides a commercially meaningful testing ground for the Innovation Center's output. Near-term milestones to watch include the first product launches attributed to the new facility and any formal partnerships announced with HORECA operators or ingredient suppliers in the Kingdom.