Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf establishes regional operations and training centre

The 2,000 sq ft facility will cater to the operational and training needs of the entire Middle East region.

Ismail Akil Abbasi, Chairman of DubTrade, licensed franchisee for Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in the Middle East, said: "As our expansion plans in the region take hold, the need for a dedicated operations centre became apparent. In the past, our employees were sent to Singapore to receive their qualifications, but now we can provide them with all training tools in a more convenient location."

The regional centre is also the UAE's distribution hub, with a 20-strong team ensuring supplies to the chain's nine outlets across the Emirates. Baked products, including muffins and bread, as well as meals, are prepared through the central kitchen and delivered daily fresh to the stores.

Abbasi continued: "We will soon be opening outlets in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and have just trained the first managers for our outlets there. In addition, we are looking to establish outlets in the Sultanate of Oman shortly, and will expand the training to cover those outlets as well.

The new Centre includes a life-size café, through which baristas can get real-time training in a similar environment to the ones at the outlets. The five-week training course involves two weeks of intensive in-house training, followed by three weeks of actual customer service in the outlets.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf opened its first store in 2001, and now operates nine stores in the UAE, including outlets at Ibn Battuta, Markaz Jumairah, Dubai Marina, La Plage and the International Exhibition Centre in Dubai, Al Jimi Mall in Al Ain, the Sahara Centre in Sharjah, as well as the Etisalat Head Office in Abu Dhabi. A tenth store will soon join the portfolio at Mall of the Emirates.

Founded in 1963, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® is an international roaster and retailer of specialty coffee & tea stores.