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The New Zealand owners of the Esquires Coffee Houses franchise have signed a deal with a Middle Eastern company to open 100 Esquires outlets in the region within five years.
Brothers Lewis and Stuart Deeks' operation is now markedly bigger than Esquires' original Canadian parent.
They will be exporting product necessary for Esquires in the Middle East from New Zealand, including locally roasted coffee and Kerikeri-grown organic tea.
The Deeks have the Esquires franchise rights for everywhere except Canada, Britain and Ireland, and are expanding aggressively.
They brought the concept to New Zealand in 2002 and now have 38 franchised outlets here and four in Fiji.
The latest deal gives Abu Dhabi-owned Flamingo Restaurants and Catering Services the master rights to operate outlets in the Middle East and North Africa for at least 10 years.
Esquires New Zealand chief executive Joe Rechichi said the Deeks - who had poured a lot into developing the franchise model - were also on the verge of signing deals in China and Malaysia.
Three stores would open in Dubai in November, six were planned for China in December, and it was hoped three outlets would open in Kuala Lumpur by Christmas.
In comparison there were only 20 Esquires stores in Canada. "Now the tail is wagging the dog," Rechichi said.
He said Esquires used only Fair Trade coffee beans, which would be roasted by its Auckland contract roaster and exported.
It also now sourced all its powders, syrups and organic tea from New Zealand, and these would also be exported.
"It's exciting times for not only ourselves but also our suppliers, because they all come for the ride," he said.
It was cost effective to export the New Zealand product because there was plenty of space on empty ships heading back to the Middle East.
Esquires was looking at Australia but the Middle East and Asia offered greater growth, Rechichi said.
Justin Purser of TradeAid Importers said while Esquires could claim use of the Fair Trade tag its business model was about profitability and aggressive expansion.
