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Quick CEO plans to expand UAE, Mideast operations
GROOT-BIJGAARDEN - Belgian fast food chain Quick plans further expansion in north Africa and the Middle East, Chief Executive Jean-Paul Brayer said yesterday.
Quick would eschew saturated western European markets outside its FrancoBelgian heartland and instead expand operations in Morocco, Algeria and the UAE, Brayer told Belgian business people.
"Algeria is an interesting country. We really have the option of being the first there," Brayer said.
Quick currently has one restaurant in Morocco and one in Dubai, with a launch in Algeria planned for later this year. The hamburger chain plans to open more than 30 restaurants in Morocco, Algeria and the UAE in the next 10 years, taking advantage of favourable demographics and the limited presence of US rivals McDonald's and KFC.
Restaurants in Iran and Saudi Arabia were a possibility if Quick was successful elsewhere in the region. Quick, which counts more than 430 -- mostly franchised - restaurants, has had a chequered history of expansion outside its home region. Successive ventures in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Hungary and Slovenia over the past 20 years have rarely turned a profit or stayed in the group more than a few years.
Quick moved into profit in 2003, reporting 12.9 million euros ($15.73 million) in net earnings for the year last week, and is targeting 15 percent organic growth in earnings before interest and a 1-2 percent rise in sales on the same basis.
Brayer said he hoped to acquire the remaining 50 per cent of Serrac, which owns 18 restaurants managed by Quick, from owners Elior before the end of the month.
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