O'briens Set To Open Up In Saudi Arabia

A WAVE of anti-US sentiment in the Middle East has helped O'Briens Irish Sandwich Bars launch a major expansion in the Gulf.

The Irish Independent has learned the restaurant group will this week sign a contract with a company called Al-Rashed which will act as franchisee.

The sandwich company will open outlets in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Quatar, Oman and Kuwait.

O'Briens managing director Brody Sweeney said business people "prefer to take non-American brands if they can help it. We are picking up an anti-American sentiment under the surface after the Gulf War".

Although many American fast food chains have a presence in the Middle East, there is a resentment against the US, he added.

Mr Sweeney, who was speaking from Riyadh, where he is holding meetings on the expansion plans, said O'Briens had developed a pork-free menu and only uses halal slaughtered meat.

The company's Malaysian outlet has adapted the company's menu so pork-free products will be offered to Middle Eastern consumers.

He said the restaurants would also close for regular prayers and would stay open for the traditional busy period after late evening prayer from 9pm to midnight.

The outlets will be segregated into separate sections for male and family customers.

Mr Sweeney said: "Saudi Arabia is booming and very wealthy; they are mad about anything Western. And we are catering for our usual clients - young white collar professionals with disposal income." The company is also expanding into India and will open its first outlet in New Delhi this year.

It has signed a ten-year agreement to open 30 outlets in the sub-continent.

O'Briens Irish Sandwich Bars now has operations in the US, Ireland, Britain, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Denmark.

Mr Sweeney said there would be outlets in 11 countries by the end of the year.

"They have great potential - if half of them work, we will have a good business." In Ireland, O'Briens is opening 15 outlets in corporate and state-sector canteens as part of a partnership deal with Eurest, a leading provider of catering services. The deal is reputedly worth €25m to the partners.

The first outlet has opened in KPMG's Dublin headquarters, and new sandwich bars will follow at the IBM facility, in West County Dublin.

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