A new heartwarming initiative is bringing pay-it-forward dining across Dubai, giving residents a chance to spread kindness and support local cafés and restaurants. Through the platform TreatOnUs.ae, you can prepay for a coffee, dessert, or meal that will later be gifted to someone else who visits the venue.
The concept comes from entrepreneur Alexander Sysoev and is founded on the old “suspended coffee” tradition, where people would pay in advance for someone else’s drink. Now, that same idea has been turned into a citywide movement that connects people, even if they never meet.
Here’s how it works:
- Restaurants and cafés pick a few items from their menu and set a price for each at https://treatonus.ae
- You choose what you’d like to cover and pay through a shared link
- The venue then decides how to pass it on to a client
If you’re thinking of trying it yourself, you can cover something small, like a pizza for AED 30 or a latte and cookie for AED 50. There are also simple meal options in the AED 70-150 range. The platform doesn’t take a cut and doesn’t charge venues to join.
Within the first day, over 180 prepaid items were purchased, showing that Dubai residents are more than open to small acts of kindness. The goal now is to grow this into something bigger, with more venues joining and hundreds of meals and drinks shared daily.
If you want to join this wonderful initiative, head to treatonus.ae.
There’s more good news in the UAE this week and plenty of ways to support and feel a bit more connected to the community. Uber is doubling all tips for taxi drivers until the end of March, and talabat is rolling out support for restaurants with 100 cloud kitchen spaces at zero rent.
