SEOUL, Korea – Caffe Bene, a leading South Korean coffee chain, has been accelerating the Islamic culture market invasion since it has become the nation’s first coffee franchise to receive halal food certification on coffee beans and powder for making beverages in September 2015.
As a result, the company opened four stores in Saudi Arabia in 2016 alone, a year after entering the market. It also shows a rapid growth in Middle East, maintaining a new hallyu.
The company has announced that its eighth store in Saudi Arabia saw sales exceed 200 million won (US$174,216) just in a month after it was opened in last December, showing a good sign of tapping into the Middle Eastern coffee market in earnest.
Caffe Bene’s eighth store in Saudi Arabia is located in Boulevard Mall, a complex shopping mall in the main street of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Boulevard Mall is a mega shipping center in where spas, luxurious hotels and numerous restaurants are gathered. It is also an attraction visited by not only local residents but also visitors from all over the world.
An official from Caffe Bene said, “Caffe Bene paid attention to the growing Islamic market and received halal food certification for the first time in the industry, establishing a foothold to expand its business to the Middle Eastern region.
Currently, the company is successfully gaining ground in Middle East with stable sales in major cities of Saudi Arabia, including Dammam and Jeddah as well as Riyadh.
Caffe Bene is also planning to open its stores in additional cities in Saudi Arabia, such as Al Ain and Taif, by the end of this year and accelerate the entry into the Middle Eastern coffee market aiming to open its stores in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.”
Choi Mun-hee
