Al Farooj restaurant invests Dhs8m into UAE expansion

With an estimated investment of Dhs8m, Al Farooj has now been expanded to total of 17 branches that include: 14 in UAE, 2 in Lebanon and 1 in Oman - offering fresh shawerma sandwiches and chicken meals.

Commenting on the expansion, Saleh Abdullah Lootah, CEO at Al Islami Foods said, "The popularity and steady growth of global halal FMCG market has created huge opportunities that are waiting to tap into. The global halal market is growing; so the halal food restaurants."

Al Islami last year aquired majority shares of Al Farooj chain of restaurants and did a complete overhaual of this brand with an aggressive expansion plans for the Middle East market. To offer franchising opportunity to local entrepreneurs , Al Islami signed a Memmorandum-of-Understanding (MoU) with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders for Al Farooj.

"It gives us trenendous confidence to see the food industry growing, espcially halal-food market, despite the so called recession. We are witnessing a market opportunity for the
businesses that are structured on Islamic economic models," continutred Mr. Saleh Lootah.

Al Islami has always stressed on to correctly define what is considered Real Halal in its true context and educating the consumer about it, on which the company stands strong across the world.

"In line with company's consolidated strategy to position Al Islami as the leading provider of halal food business solutions to the investors, we have accelerated our efforts to seize the opportunity by introduce new under Al Islami porfolio," Saleh conluded.

New Al Farooj restaurant branches have been set up at Emirates Coop Society in Al Mizhir; New Aswaaq shopping mall in Nad Al Hamar; Union Coop Society in Satwa; Emirates Coop Society in Hatta; Al Ittihad Coop Society in Al Wasl; and one branch at Dubai Sharjah Road and one in Ajman.

Franchising:

Al Farooj offers franchising with a complete business model based on return-on-investment. The entrepreneurs have to fill up Franchising Application. Al Farooj Franchise Manager assists the selected franchisees with finalizing franchise formalities.

The process includes: assistance on site selection, feasibility studies, brand concept design and drawings, architectural and construction requirements, staffing, break-even analysis, training, frequent supervision, product quality check, provision of recipe from corporate commissary, operating manual, re-franchising, brand development across the Middle & Far-East, business development plan, direct management option.