The Economist had a piece on Baghdad’s restaurant golden age:

• There’s not a lot to do these days in Baghdad so people go out to restaurants.
• It has led to about one new restaurant opening every three days – and few of them fail with profit margins over 50% being fairly common.
• Operating in Baghdad has its idiosyncrasies. The city’s sole food critic can’t give out negative reviews because it costs millions to open up a high end restaurant, but only about $5,000 to order a hit on someone bad for business.
• Parking lots might be overtaken by militant forces that charge exorbitant amounts for “safe” parking.
• Once you get past that though there’s a fair amount of innovation. In one restaurants patrons dine surrounded by art hanging on the walls – all of which is for sale.
• The boom has been particularly good for chefs who can now expect to make as much as $9,000 a month.

Read more about other businesses that have benefitted from the restaurant industries rising star, and many other details here.

Source: The Economist