UAE-born chain Just Falafel aims for bite of Britain

The humble falafel is set to take the United Kingdom by storm as the food chain, Just Falafel, plans to open 200 stores in the country.

Fadi Malas, the chief executive of Just Falafel, says they have committed to opening 25 locations in the UK, primarily in London, before the end of next year. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Just Falafel, the home-grown UAE food chain, plans to open 200 stores in the United Kingdom over the next five years as it seeks to spread its brand internationally.

The food company has committed to opening 25 locations in the UK, primarily in London, before the end of next year and aims to launch a total of 200 stores in five years across the country through a number of franchise agreements.

"It's a market we take extremely seriously and we wanted to have an objective on the market," said Fadi Malas, the chief executive of Just Falafel.

"Two hundred is extremely doable. McDonald's has more than 1,200 stores in the UK, and there are a few more Subways. With 200 stores, we are not being that aggressive for the UK."

Just Falafel will open its first outlet in the UK on Monmouth Street in Covent Garden next month. Outside London, stores are planned for Cambridge and Exeter.

Mr Malas said the brand had received about 700 emails from potential franchise partners in the UK and had met 150 people, of which a "handful" had been chosen to open stores.

Just Falafel was targeting business districts, high streets and malls to open chains, Mr Malas said.

It was investing in the infrastructure and training to deal with a large pool of franchise partners.

Hermann Behrens, the chief executive of The Brand Union Middle East, a marketing and branding consultancy, said Just Falafel had quickly and successfully built a strong brand in the Emirates, but that it would be difficult to achieve the same presence in the UK.

"I do not think it's easy," said Mr Behrens. "It's a tough old market when it comes to food and fast food, especially in the UK."

Revenues from the UK fast food industry were estimated to decline at an average annual rate of 2.2 per cent over the five years from 2008 to next year to £5.29 billion (Dh31.31bn), according to Ibis World, a research company.

Mr Behrens said that Just Falafel would have to employ more traditional forms of mass media advertising to attract customers, rather than social media, which has been a notable success for the brand in the Middle East.

"Falafel is a very basic product, but they have created a lot of interest around it with different formats," he said.

Founded in the UAE in 2007, Just Falafel is now present in Lebanon, Jordan, Oman and Qatar, with the UK and Saudi Arabia to be added before the end of the year.

The food chain has 23 stores and plans to open one outlet a week for the remainder of the year.

"It's difficult to say how we are going to grow over the next five years," said Mr Malas. "But if you think that we will be doubling our size in the next quarter, we might be able to do the same in the quarter after. It's a fast-growing company."