These Healthy UAE-Made Ramen Cups Are “More Than” Instant Noodles

Instant noodles. A dorm-room rite of passage, the late-night saviour of the overworked, and a nostalgia-laced guilty pleasure. Cheap, easy, and always there when you need them. But let’s be honest - they’re an oily, sodium-heavy time bomb. A chemical-laden broth masking the inevitable post-noodle regret. Yet, somehow, across the Middle East, they reign supreme. From Egyptian kitchens to Gulf supermarket shelves, instant noodle’s grip is unshakable. In the midst of it all comes Maya Sultan and her own instant noodle brand, More.Than, with a mission to flip the script.

Sultan didn’t plan to become a food entrepreneur. The Egyptian-born, AUC-educated consultant-turned-founder spent her early career chasing deadlines in the high-pressure world of corporate strategy in Dubai. 14-hour workdays fueled by vending-machine snacks and skipped lunches made one thing painfully clear: there were no good, quick meal options.

“I gained seven kilos in my first year of consulting,” Sultan recalls. “I stopped being active, ate whatever I could grab between meetings, and before I knew it, I was completely burnt out.”

She wasn’t alone. Every ambitious, time-strapped professional faced the same reality. And so, Sultan set out to launch More.Than, a healthier take on instant noodles. The first of its kind in the region, More.Than looks to offer a comforting, convenient fix without the chemical-laden baggage.

Unlike conventional instant noodles, More.Than isn’t pre-fried in palm oil, that sneaky villain behind trans-fat overload. Instead, Sultan’s team developed a whole-grain, high-protein version fortified with pea protein isolate. “Every serving has 15 grams of protein, six grams of fiber, and less sodium than traditional instant noodles,” Sultan says. “No MSG. No label tricks.”

But here’s the thing - being healthier doesn’t mean being boring. Each More.Than cup comes with its own mascot, because why shouldn’t your noodles have a personality? Kimchi Kay is fiery and bold. Tom Yum Tara? Adventurous. And Curry Terry? Curious and aromatic. “We wanted them to have stories,” Sultan says. “They’re not just noodles - they represent the busy, ambitious people we’re making this for.”

Launching a food brand in Dubai? Not for the faint of heart. The city runs on big money, big players, and deeply entrenched distribution networks. “I sat in room after room of meetings with no women. These guys had 20 to 30 years of experience in FMCG, and here I was, a 30-year-old, looking like I was 16, improvising and telling them I wanted to go up against Indomie,” Sultan says, referring to the popular Indonesian noodle brand that she would have to compete against. Many turned her down. “No one wanted to touch this category. They thought it was too risky.”

But Sultan found a smaller, more agile distributor willing to take a bet. “The big guys weren’t a fit. But the smaller players saw the potential and helped us refine the packaging to make it retail-ready.”

Since its October 2024 launch, More.Than has been steadily making its way into Dubai’s major retailers, from Choithrams to F Mart and Circle K. It’s also available on Q-commerce platforms like Noon Minutes and Careem, catering to the impulse-buying crowd. But Sultan has bigger plans: “We want to expand across the GCC, test the product in Saudi, and eventually make it to Egypt. Cairo is calling.”

For now, Sultan is laser-focused on one thing: making sure More.Than sticks in people’s minds as the healthier instant noodle brand. “We’re cleaning up the shelves. There’s so much outdated junk out there, and people want better choices. They don’t want 100% clean, unrealistic food. They want something better than what exists,” she says. “We’re still a baby brand, but give it time. We’re just getting started.”