Pickl is the First UAE Restaurant to Enter the Metaverse

Pickl is the first UAE Restaurant to Enter the Metaverse

Steve Flawith, Founder and Chief Executive of Pickl. Photo: Pickl

Burger joint Pickl has become the first UAE restaurant to enter the metaverse.

The brand, which was founded in Dubai in 2019, has rapidly spread across the UAE, and will be launching a range of brand-themed games, Pickl NFTs and virtual apparel, which can be worn by your virtual avatar or exchanged for Pickl apparel in physical stores. “We are excited to take our first steps into the metaverse with the launch of a digital Pickl,” said Pickl founder and chief executive Steve Flawith. “It’s the beginning of what we are sure will be a bright future for the brand in the virtual world.

“In the short term, we will be able to hold meetings with our international teams and showcase our brand to our franchise partners in the metaverse, giving us greater global reach than ever before.”

The company also has plans to launch its first virtual restaurant later this year. “In the future, we want our virtual restaurant to replicate the full customer experience of our real-world venues,” Flawith said. “We even plan to integrate it with delivery so customers can order their Nashville Chicken Sando or Double Cheeseburgers in the metaverse and then receive their burgers direct to their door — the full virtual-to-physical experience. We are actively exploring this possibility as we speak.” With Pickl planning global expansion outside the UAE later this year, the company says cementing its place in the metaverse is a natural next step. “Will we be selling virtual franchises of Pickl soon? Never say never — with virtual land prices rising and more opportunities opening up the different worlds in the Metaverse, the most profitable Pickls of the future could soon be virtual,” said chief licensing officer Ashley Griffiths.

Since its launch in JLT in 2019, the brand has opened a store in Dubai’s Time Out Market, launched a concept store An/Other by Pickl in City Walk, which pays tribute to the history of burgers and opened two restaurants in Abu Dhabi. Later this year, it plans to expand to other parts of the GCC. Source: The National (https://bit.ly/3qPaqWk)

Dubai Reveals Plan to Create Futuristic City in Metaverse

Dubai Municipality has announced that it will work with private sector companies and investors to create a futuristic, humancentred version of the city that capitalises on opportunities thrown up by the metaverse. Dawood Abdul Rahman Al Hajri, Dubai Municipality Director General, introduced the One Human Reality concept to delegates during a plenary on Tuesday at the World Government Summit 2022 (WGS2022), at Expo 2020 Dubai. “One Human Reality is the meeting point or integration between two worlds: the metaverse and the world we are currently living in together,” he said at a session titled ‘Operating Cities of Tomorrow’.

The metaverse is a virtualreality space where users interact with computergenerated environments and other users. At its broadest, it combines elements of social media, augmented reality, virtual reality, video games, cryptocurrencies, and other advanced technologies. As the next big market opportunity, the metaverse could provide nearly $800 billion in revenue by 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates show.

“The metaverse today has become closer to reality than we could have imagined,” H.E. said. Offering examples of how such a city might work. Residents could be joined by friends in other parts of the world in the form of avatars on a virtual walk through a city park. Similarly, simulated time travel to historic moments or immersive tours of landmark destinations may be other metaverse applications. Such futuristic use cases would require portals in public spaces and city centres, he said, adding that governments and cities should invest in building this infrastructure as soon as possible. Dubai Municipality will soon launch a programme called One Human Reality Talks, aimed at bringing together companies and investors to develop and share this new reality. It will include dialogues with experts, insights, cooperative use cases, knowledge sharing, and more.

“Cities benefit from integrating big data. With the help of the Internet of Things (IOT) and artificial intelligence, city leaders will be able to build a digital infrastructure enabling us to access this world in a new way,” Al Hajri said. Source: Khaleej Times (https://bit.ly/36xWo4Q)