Nahla Elmallawany’s Qeesh Productions has been whipping up a storm in the world of culinary programming. Its innovative productions, featuring whimsical escape rooms, musicals and celebrity chef competitions, have spiced up the region’s food shows to leave audiences craving more. In an exclusive with BroadcastPro ME, she shares the vision behind Qeesh and her unique approach and strategies.
If Middle Eastern culinary programming had a face, it would be that of Nahla Elmallawany. With more than 200 hours of food programming to her credit, she is a prominent figure on the region’s broadcast circuit. Her career spans two decades working with industry giants like Paramount, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery. However, her company, Qeesh Productions, has propelled her to new heights. Productions such as Escape Kitchen, Min Qalby and Master or Disaster have garnered regional acclaim as they revolutionised and elevated the standards of local culinary productions.
Elmallawany says showcasing local narratives has always been important to her. “The only place where I felt I could make a difference was with local content.” In this context, her work at Fatafeat, a Middle Eastern food and lifestyle TV channel with culinary formats, was pivotal in shaping her vision. It was here that she first felt the pangs to venture into something bigger and more representative of the Arab world.
In 2020, she resigned from Fatafeat and ventured into consultancy. As she mediated between production houses and channels, she soon identified the gap between the quality of content produced and channels’ expectations. Having worked extensively with channels, she knew which elements had to be added to enhance the programming quality. She also felt that the mediocre quality of productions would compromise her reputation in the market. Driven by these considerations and confident of her ability to fill the gaps, Elmallawany decided to set up Qeesh Productions in 2021.
Her vision was to produce Arabic content with universal appeal that transcended borders. She started with standard cooking programming, but soon began experimenting with innovative formats. The first programme to come out of this experiment was Khatri Akhater, a reality gameshow commissioned by Discovery Channel. Featuring three prominent Arab female influencers, Amy Roko, Hadeel Marei and Maha Jaafer, and filmed in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, it was a resounding success with positive feedback from both audiences and industry counterparts.
Bolstered by its success, Elmallawany started experimenting with bigger and bolder ideas. “After Khatri Akhater, my team and I couldn’t imagine working on less ambitious projects. We still wanted to work around food but make it more exciting,” she says candidly. This ambition led to the production of shows like Escape Kitchen, in collaboration with Fatafeat.
Unlike traditional cooking shows, Escape Kitchen focused on the game rather than recipes. The unscripted production featured 12 prominent chefs from across the Arab world competing in a haunted escape room setting. Designed by professional escape room creators and game designers, every element of the escape room was custom-created, making it an entirely original production. Filmed in real time, the show captured the chefs’ genuine reactions, fears and determination, bringing greater authenticity to the screen.
Escape Kitchen appealed to food lovers as well as fans of competitive reality shows. The cherry on the cake was how much the participating chefs enjoyed the concept, as it freed them from the pressure of creating perfect dishes. “They loved it – they didn’t have to prepare for anything. They just played the game.”
Not one to rest on her laurels, she still wanted to push the boundaries of creativity. Her restlessness resulted in the Fatafeat show Min Qalby, the Middle East’s first cooking musical. Starring celebrated singers Yousra Elgendi and Youssef Ismail, the scripted series featured original Arabic soundtracks. Production was both exhilarating and challenging.
“It was great but scary,” Elmallawany admits, reflecting on the team’s lack of reference points for the concept. “Our focus deepened with every culinary project we took on. We explored different aspects of food culture, experimented with innovative formats and continuously pushed ourselves to take on bigger challenges.”
These culinary productions highlight how far Middle East productions have come. It didn’t matter which show was being referred to; audiences and industry counterparts consistently pointed out the production house’s cinematography and vibrant set designs, says Elmallawany.
“Everyone kept saying the show looks international, as though it couldn’t have come from the Middle East. There’s this misconception, even within our own region, that Arab producers can’t deliver the same quality as their Western counterparts. But it’s not just about quality – there’s also a lack of belief in the original ideas coming out of our region. Even when a local format is innovative and strong, its chances of being picked up by channels are slim. On the other hand, international formats pitched for adaptation in the region are accepted almost immediately. It’s a bias we’ve worked hard to challenge through Qeesh, proving that Arab producers can create both world-class productions and original ideas worthy of recognition. That makes me incredibly proud.”
She feels that simpler formats and standard cooking shows tend to yield better margins than larger-scale productions. “Although the budgets are lower, the smaller-standard shows could be more profitable. They have a repetitive format and we can shoot multiple episodes in one day. In contrast, big-ticket productions, whether studio-based or outdoors, come with significant challenges. These include managing complex logistics, securing permits, coordinating different crews across multiple locations or countries, and using specialised equipment. Additionally, outdoor shoots bring the added risks of unpredictable weather and extensive travel arrangements. These not only drive costs up and but also make it risky to accurately predict expenses when setting budgets with clients.”
Then there’s the challenge of continued demand.
“Food shows are often less attractive to channels outside of Ramadan, when demand for this genre typically peaks. This seasonal interest, combined with the higher profitability of international formats, makes it difficult for local culinary productions to compete year-round. There’s also a lot of discrimination in the commissioning too. For instance, big companies are given big budgets and small companies like us are given smaller budgets to work with. How will we be able to match their quality of production if we don’t have access to the same resources? Everybody should get a fair chance to do the job.”
However, Elmallawany remains undeterred in her ambition and finds Qeesh’s quality of production to be its strongest selling point. “I love the creativity involved in these productions. They’ve allowed me to showcase what Qeesh is truly capable of,” she says. “Clients often approach me, impressed by the production quality and noting how efficiently it was achieved within a modest budget.”
Her approach to cost efficiency revolves around building long-term partnerships with the talent: “I never focus on a single deal or project. Instead, I aim for volume and package deals, which allow me to work with top-tier talent. When people know they will have consistent work, they’re more open to being flexible with budgets. My focus isn’t just on my own growth but on theirs as well, and this has paid off. As our shows gained success and recognition for their quality, more people wanted to work with Qeesh. They wanted to be part of the vision we were creating.”
Elmallawany’s ability to master cost efficiency and optimise resources has led to her success. She has also reduced the number of episodes for some series but enhanced their scale.
“I can offer clients productions that are bigger and more ambitious than what they could typically achieve in-house,” she says proudly. “When I started producing big-ticket shows, I realised the only way to do them within budget was to limit the episodes. I capped it at six to eight episodes but made them really grand.”
Another strategy to balance costs while maintaining high production quality has been to leverage her extensive professional network in Egypt. “I come from a production background in Egypt and have a strong network there. Studios in Egypt are more economical, and the talent pool is vast. This reduces costs by 20-30%.”
While culinary programming remains Qeesh’s forte, Elmallawany’s versatility shines across genres, including travel and talk shows. “We can produce any genre,” she says candidly, but especially enjoys travel and outdoor shows.
“I find them a lot less stressful than studio-based productions such as competition or cooking shows. With cooking shows, food preparation and having back-up recipes ready for each segment is a challenging process. In competition shows, the unpredictability can be overwhelming – some contestants may struggle to complete tasks, delaying the shoot, while others may finish too quickly, leaving episodes shorter than planned. This often requires us to think on our feet and create additional challenges on the spot to maintain the flow. The pressure to keep everything on schedule makes these productions far more demanding.”
She is currently supercharged about a new Qeesh talk show. “I really enjoy the conversations. The guests are very interesting, the discussion is unscripted and I feel like I’m a part of the audience,” she says. While details are under wraps, she confides that prominent personalities from across the Arab world have been invited to spotlight their work and accomplishments.
To support the show, Elmallawany had to assemble a dedicated research and writing team. “Research is particularly important in talk shows, as it lays the foundation for compelling and engaging content. We ensure each guest’s story is explored in depth, covering both their professional achievements and personal journeys.”
One of the toughest aspects of the job is managing the large, diverse teams involved in a production.
“On location, everyone plays a crucial role – talent, presenters, crew and the extended team. Managing all these individuals is no easy task. It involves motivating people when we’ve been filming for long hours or working through sleepless nights, managing emotions under stress and ensuring everyone remains focused despite the pressure.
“At times it requires being firm with the crew and team when things go wrong, while also catering to the needs of on-screen talent, presenters and artists, making sure they are comfortable and happy so they can give their best performances.”
She highlights the lack of support when it comes to data and insights in culinary and unscripted programming. “We don’t have enough research to guide us in this genre, which is why when people ask me why I choose to produce certain shows, the answer is simple: passion and a willingness to take risks.”
For Elmallawany, introducing something different to the audience is about more than just content. It’s about showing that there’s more to explore beyond the repeated formats that dominate the industry. “Someone has to take the risk and lead the way. We don’t have data for ideas that haven’t been done before, and without someone stepping up to create these new formats, the industry will never evolve,” she concludes.
