KEY POINTS:
Home-grown listed fast food retailer Burger Fuel is planning to have a "double digit" store presence in the Middle East in the near future.
The gourmet burger chain announced yesterday that its first store in Dubai will open at the end of the year, following the signing of a master franchise agreement between the company and Dubai-based Alphamed Group, a subsidiary of the Al Khayyat Investment Group.
The store, located in a popular tourist area in Dubai, will seat around 100 to 150 people - larger than any of the franchise's existing New Zealand and Australian outlets.
Executive director Josef Roberts said if all goes well in Dubai, the plan is to roll out the concept throughout the United Arab Emirates.
Roberts said exact store numbers were confidential, but it was "certainly in the double digits".
The deal marks the burger chain's first master franchise agreement, which Roberts said was a significant step in developing Burger Fuel as an international brand.
Dubai had been targeted as the company's first move beyond Australasia because of its rapid economic development, its high profile, and proximity to other countries.
"We wanted to go somewhere where new economies were developing, which represented more excitement, more growth. We felt that Dubai was a very international destination, and becoming more so, and really gives us that opportunity to showcase that brand in the right way.
"The city is like a permanent international trade exhibition, which makes it the perfect springboard for us to expand beyond Australasia."
The menu will be modified slightly, with the main adjustment the replacement of bacon with beef bacon.
"When you go into a country like that, there's always some adjustment on flavour profile, but in the end, we come to the fact that Dubai is a very international spot and we intend to pretty much roll out our menu as it is."
The construction and operational costs of the first store at the 526-hectare Festival City will be fully funded by Alphamed.
The company, which started in Ponsonby Rd in October 1995, opened seven new stores last year, with two more due, making a total of 25 stores in New Zealand and two in Sydney.
Burger Fuel listed on the NZAX last year in a high profile float targeting young people who did not normally invest in the sharemarket. Shares that floated in July at $1 traded yesterday at $0.45.
It reported a net loss of $1.35 million in its first three months as a publicly-listed company - $991,000 of which was for costs associated with the float.
