A Melting Pot Of Cultures: Coca-Cola Arena Is Doubling Down On Knowing Its Customers

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Getting Mark Jan Kar, general manager of Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena on the record these days isn’t easy, but that’s how it should be. It’s peak event season in the United Arab Emirates, and if you’re not busy, something’s wrong. Coca-Cola Arena is as busy as ever, having notably increased the number of events that take place at the venue in a week over the past 12 months.

One reason is the increased concert activity. A lot of major tours include the UAE in their routing from the outset, rather than as an afterthought. The other is Dubai Basketball joining the EuroLeague in 2025. The team now measures itself with the best players in Europe. And while they averaged around the same number of wins as they did losses at the time of this writing, all of their games at Coca-Cola Arena have been won. The home court advantage is real.

Kar and his team spent the past year taking a lot of aspects of the day-to-day running of the building in-house, including catering and data processing/technology. Finally, the building’s sound system received a massive upgrade from d&b audiotechnik. It’s no wonder, then, that Kar is feeling “extremely positive” about moving into 2026. Coca-Cola Arena’s event calendar is already filled with shows up until April, and beyond. A Def Leppard concert scheduled for Aug. 2 is already on sale.

Kar explains, “It’s not common for the Middle East to be promoting shows three months in advance, let alone nine, 10 months in advance. So that’s a changing of the times, and it’s a very positive step.” There’s still a dip in purchases after the initial onsale excitement, and a notable pickup closer to event days, but, in general, purchasing habits are indicative of a maturing market.

“You have to remember,” Kar explains, “that between us and Abu Dhabi, we’re the first multi-purpose indoor arena, and we’ve been in operation five and six years, respectively. That’s very short in the history of a city.”

Other factors that contribute to a maturing market include the continued and exponential population growth in Dubai, which has been increasing by 1,000 residents per day in the first quarter of 2025, according to local news reports. What is more, Coca-Cola Arena has had some time to build a reputation, forge fan loyalty and begin to attract patrons irrespective of the program. People understand the arena; they get it. But that took time.

Especially in an expat city like Dubai, which changes the promoter’s game on multiple levels. Different shows need to cater to different demographics on sale at the same time. Most importantly, catering needs to be adjusted from event to event, which is why the team decided to take it in-house. After all, Kar and his team know their audience best, although not nearly as well as they’d like to, as he emphasizes. That’s why the coming months and years, in Kar’s words, will be spent on “doubling down on knowing our customers. We’ve got six or seven different national genres that we work towards, and they all have different buying habits, different listening habits, as well as engagement and experiential habits. It’s about working with the data that we collect on all of these groups, and use it to please each of them by meeting their unique tastes.”

A large part of this is becoming a data-first company and making full use of new technologies, including AI. But another part was taking control of all food and beverage. Working with third-party caterers is usually more commercially profitable in the early stages of an arena, but it also comes with inconsistencies, especially during peak season. Kar’s team “redesigned the menu so that around 70% of it would please everyone, and the remaining 30% consists of items that are done differently from event to event. An Arabic show doesn’t have alcohol, so the focus needs to be on food. For a South Indian show, we add samosas, chicken strips, etc. We built out a full, curated culinary experience and brought in our own culinary team. We’ve got five commercial-grade kitchens, all the FF&E in the world, so I didn’t have to spend on infrastructure, just on resources.”

Coca-Cola Arena also redesigned its concessions, creating its own in-house brand called Tempo, as opposed to giving other brands the exposure within arena walls, and maintaining full control over how the food is produced, how it’s packaged, and everything else.

Elevate is the arena’s premium hospitality brand. It includes the brand-new and very cool Elevate Deck, a raised platform right behind the front of house offering space for 72, with all the perks of a suite, but right among the crowd. Last but not least, there’s the Live Lounge, a non-bowl facing function space aimed at pre- and, occasionally, post-show dinner and drinks, that just got an upgrade.

The unrivaled hospitality and luxury of Saudi and UAE airlines have served as an inspiration. “When you’re traveling from Dubai to London on Emirates Airlines, all
the people are going to the same destination, but you’ve got economy, premium economy, business, and first class. Different curated experiences on the same flight. That’s what we want to do, ultimately, just inside a venue.

“We’ve got so many different customers, we’ll never be able to perfect it, which drives us to keep innovating and introducing new concepts and ideas. It’s about knowing your customer, staying humble and being innovative. We’re an aspirational venue. We want to be mentioned in the same breath as The O2 and Madison Square Garden, and we’ve got a long way to go. But we really believe in the markets of the Arabic world and Southeast Asia world.”

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