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There will soon be a Blizzard in Jordan. The country is the latest addition to Dairy Queen’s Middle East expansion that already includes locations in Bahrain, Brunei, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
SKM Franchise Co. LTD will launch a minimum of 10 DQ locations within the first five years of its recently signed long-term agreement.
The company’s first of five DQ Grill & Chill restaurants will open in late 2015.
The Nafal brothers, who lead SKM Franchise Co. LTD, have more than 20 years of retail development experience. In 2005, they opened El Rancho Supermercado, which grew into a chain of 16 supermarkets in Texas, with 6 stores in Dallas. They also own La Bodega, a food distribution company.
“We are very excited and enthusiastic about introducing the DQ brand to Jordan,” said Mario Nafal. “It’s a powerful global brand with a strong heritage. Jordanians will soon become part of the legion of fans the DQ system has around the world. We look forward to this tremendous opportunity.”
DQ’s International Expansion
Berkshire Hathaway’s Dairy Queen® system currently has 6,400 Dairy Queen stores in the United States, Canada and 26 other countries. The international business has been particularly robust, with 1,426 locations, including over 600 stores in China alone.
Middle East expansion have been particularly aggressive, with Saudi Arabia on track to open 32 locations by 2015 through franchisee Al Safwa Food Group. The largest DQ Grill & Chill restaurant in the world is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Kuwait locations are owned by Khaled For Foodstuffs Co., a subsidiary of KMGC, and UAE locations are owned by U.S.-based International franchise company Bajco Group.
Dairy Queen doesn’t want to do its international expansion piece meal, and is looking for franchisees with the strength to take on whole countries.
For more on Dairy Queen, read a Mazor’sEdge special report on Dairy Queen.
© 2015 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.