McDonald’s celebrating milestone in Kingdom

McDonald’s Middle East and Africa Development Company has announced an extension to its partnership with McDonald’s Saudi Arabia. A formal signing ceremony took place at the McDonald’s Middle East & Africa Developmental Licensee Summit in Cyprus.
Abdulrahman Alireza, GM, Reza Food Services, and David Hoffman, president, McDonald’s Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa (APMEA), signed the deal.
Hoffman represented the McDonald’s Executive Leadership team.
Abdulrahman Alireza said, “We are today celebrating a significant milestone, building on years and years of a successful business partnership and the investments we have made in our local community.”
Alireza said: “We are extremely proud to be renewing and reinforcing our partnership with McDonald’s, and look forward to supporting the brand’s expansion and growth plans in Saudi Arabia and the wider region, as well increasing our commitment to our local economy, people, and community.”
The McDonald’s Developmental Licensee Summit brought together senior executives from the Middle East & Africa with business owners and their respective senior marketing and operations teams from 16 countries.
The developmental licensee model is a form of franchising that McDonald’s adopts in the Middle East – whereby restaurants are 100 percent owned and operated by the local business owners.
“APMEA is a very successful area for McDonald’s with over 9,500 restaurants, and the Middle East and Africa is an integral part of these operations,” said Yousif Abdulghani, managing director, McDonald’s Middle East and Africa.
“Later this year, we will be opening our 1,000th restaurant in the Middle East and Africa, and we are aiming to grow that figure to 1,400 restaurants by the end of 2015,” said Abdulghani.
“The McDonald’s Developmental Licensee Summit is a great platform for our partners — including our Saudi partner Reza Food Services — to network and meet other leading business people from across MEA, and share their experiences of operating a successful brand,” added Abdulghani.