The fast-food restaurant markets in the UAE and Saudi will sustain a 5 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in sales by 2014, said an expert on the sidelines of the ongoing Gulfood expo in Dubai.

To take advantage of the robust growth forecast of the region’s fast-food restaurant industry, UAE-based Alternative Dining Experience Restaurants Management, a leader in alternative and innovative dining concepts, plans to pursue an aggressive expansion drive in the GCC.

The company said it has already started exploratory talks with several Gulf entrepreneurs and investors to open new outlets of Dukkan Falafel, the home-grown UAE-based fast-food franchise, in different cities across the region.

Dukkan Falafel currently has 18 outlets under development in the UAE, in addition to seven outlets that are already open.

It will open more new outlets in the first quarter of 2012, while outlets in Enoc Ghusais, Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi and in Sports City, Dubai will open in March this year. Another outlet in Al Ain will open in the second quarter of 2012.

Rami Wardeh, CEO and co-founder of Alternative Dining, said Dukkan Falafel continues to attract new investors because of its unique business model and innovative fast-food dining concept.

"Moreover, Dukkan Falafel has gained a loyal and fast-growing customer base propelled by the company’s commitment to use the best-quality ingredients," he remarked.

"These key attributes, combined with the excellent growth forecast of the GCC’s restaurant industry, has certainly opened more exciting possibilities that will sustain our growth plans in the GCC," Wardeh said.

"In this regard, the Gulfood 2012 exhibition provides an ideal networking platform for Alternative Dining to reach out to more potential investors and strategic partners in the region," he added.

Alternative Dining operates, manages and franchises restaurants, and has ventured into the luxury segment of catering in the UAE.-TradeArabia News Service