Franchisee sees more expansion

The Visayan Daily Star
May 28, 2009

A franchisee of popular fast food chain Chowking, Ahmed Lafir said he is planning to expand his business at the United Arab Emirates following the success of his initial investment on the venture, a press release from the company said.

By yearend, Lafir, managing director of the Dubai-based Tradeline L.L.C., will have a network of 14 Chowking stores in the UAE alone, including those in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Lafir said he is also in talks with Jollibee Food Corp., Chowking’s parent company, to open stores in the UAE.

While Tradeline is a leading conglomerate specializing in fertilizers, petrochemicals, agro commodities, as well as steel and aluminum products, it has been expanding his Chowking franchise in the UAE at the rate of three stores a year with an average sales growth of over 90 percent in the past three years.

Lafir also unveiled plans to open more stores in the UAE and in other Gulf Cooperation Council member-countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar in the future, at the a recent Chowking franchise convention in Baguio City, the press release said.

Aside from the typical Chowking fare – noodles, dimsum and chicken – Chowking UAE also serves up other Filipino home-style dishes such as bulalo (beef and bone marrow soup) and kare-kare (oxtail or tripe stew).

The UAE stores are also more spacious and can seat up to 200 people for parties.

To keep up with demand, Tradeline has also set up its own commissary that can cater to up to 50 stores and its own research and development team.

Its Chowking business now provides jobs to 400 people of various nationalities.

While Chowking in the UAE will continue to target the Filipino market, he said, “We will also improve our menu to attract others” such as the large population of Indians and Africans. “Still, Filipinos will be our core market as they’re the captive market for the brand and we don’t want to take on risks,” Lafir said in the press release.*