The East India Company launches first franchise in Kuwait

Opening on 13 February 2013, this new franchise store will carry The East India Company's world renowned teas and coffees; artisan sweet and savoury biscuits; an exquisite chocolate range including luxurious bars and an enrobed selection of fruits, peels, coffee beans and nuts; and gourmet salts and sugars.

The store will also feature a truly delightful new range of Chakra inspired herbal infusions that taste wonderful and help bring balance to the day.

The franchise will be operated by the Al Maousherji Group which is a family-owned business enterprise based in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with subsidiaries based in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Sultanate of Oman, Bahrain and India. A grand opening of the store will be held by the British ambassador of Kuwait, and a VIP reception in the British ambassador's residence.

The State of Kuwait and the United Kingdom are old friends. Since a ship from the British East India Company unloaded in Kuwait in 1775, the countries, and the families, have shared a long and close history. Twenty years after the Special Treaty of Friendship was concluded in 1899, King George V welcomed the late Sheikh Ahmad Al Jaber as the first official Kuwaiti visitor to Britain.