Burger on wheels – Saudis try once ‘lowly’ jobs as economy bites

Low times: Bader working hard in his food truck at a main street in Riyadh to cook and serve customers - something previously considered worthy only for lowly expat workers. - AFP

DISHING out burgers and fries slathered with melted cheese, “One Way Burger” is like any other trendy food truck in Riyadh. But it offers something rare – the cook behind the sizzling hot grill is a Saudi.

In the once tax-free petro-state, which long offered its citizens cradle-to-grave welfare, blue-collar occupations such as cooking, cleaning and working at gas stations have largely been the preserve of foreign workers, who far outnumber Saudis.