Badr Zuhair Fayez is a Saudi chef and businessman with an extensive history of working in the food and beverage industry. Fayez was recently appointed as a board member of the Culinary Arts Authority headed by chef Mayada Badr. He was selected by Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan. Fayez has contributed to the establishment of several creative businesses in the food industry in Saudi Arabia and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts and an MBA in marketing from the College of Culinary Arts at the Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island. He also holds a degree from Le Cordon Bleu institute in basic cuisine. Fayez gained experience abroad with an internship at the Grand Hotel in Vienna, by working as a pastry chef in Italy, and through spending time shadowing chefs during a culinary expedition in Southeast Asia. He then returned to his home town Jeddah, aiming to introduce revolutionary concepts to the local food industry, and opened multiple restaurants and a bakery there. In March this year, he partnered with Adlah Al-Sharhan, a celebrity chef from Kuwait, to launch Bowlila in Los Angeles, US. Bowlila is a brand built around chickpeas as a healthy and low-carb protein, introducing a new bowl concept that taps into the plant-based, low carb fast-food movement. Fayez is a partner and CEO of Badr Fayez Catering Co. and Midwam Edutainment. Both are based in Jeddah. His catering company’s focus is to develop an innovative perception of food and elevate Saudi cuisine. He is also a member of the international advisory board at the Saudi Culinary Academy. Fayez has made many appearances on live cooking shows and is former Top Chef, Master Chef Arabia judge. His latest appearances were on the “Dabbir Aklek” show, which is the Arabic version of a BBC action-adventure cooking contest titled “No Kitchen Required,” in 2018. The series takes five prominent chefs from the Arab world out of their comfort zones and drops them into remote areas around the world where they have to work together with locals to hunt, gather and cook meals using traditional methods.