Al Farooj Fresh, a restaurant chain owned by Al Islami Foods Hospitality, said it plans to set up seven new branches across the UAE to meet the growing demand for its shawerma sandwiches and chicken meals.

With an estimated investment of Dh8 million, Al Farooj is now on an expansion spree with a total of 17 branches including 14 in UAE, 2 in Lebanon and 1 in Oman.

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 and so are the halal food restaurants.”

Al Islami last year aquired majority shares of Al Farooj chain of restaurants and did a complete overhaul of the brand with an aggressive expansion plan for the Middle East market.

To offer franchising opportunity to local entrepreneurs, Al Islami signed a 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 ” Lootah added.

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, he said.

“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 introducing new products under Al Islami porfolio,” Saleh stated.

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.-TradeArabia News Service