The United Food Industries Corporation (Ufic) belongs to an elite group of Saudi businesses whose revenues last year exceeded SR100 million ($26.6 million).

It is one of the premier biscuits, confectionery and snacks manufacturing firms in Saudi Arabia.
Established in March 1984 as a limited liability company with an initial corporate objective of producing biscuits, Ufic started production in 1986. Production expanded exponentially and eventually included confectionery and snack products. It markets its products under the brand name Deemah, which is a household name in Saudi Arabia.
Ufic has a paid-up capital of SR92 million. It is a closely held company owned by individuals and organisations in Saudi Arabia, including chairman and chief executive officer Abdul Aziz Al-Akeel, deputy managing director and sales and marketing chief operating officer Khalid Al-Akeel, Louloua Mohammed Al Akeel, Abdul Aziz Hammad Al Bulaihid, the Tamimi Company, Sa’ad Ibrahim Mojel, Abdul Karim Hamed Al Mojel, and Mohammad Al-Khayyal.
 In addition, the company has more than 650 dedicated professionals with specific competence in their own fields.
Ufic started its production with two biscuit lines and an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes, according to export manager George Garcia.
“In its first expansion in 1994, it added wafers. Due to its popular product range and consistent quality measures, Ufic has registered commendable growth year after year,” he continued. “The growing demand for Deemah products led to the second major expansion in 1999 that eventually increased its production capacity. In 2003, a new confectionery factory was built and became fully operational.”
Garcia says the biscuit factory now has three biscuit lines with an annual production capacity of 27,500 tonnes and two wafer lines with an annual production capacity of 3,600 tonnes. The confectionery factory has four lines with an annual production capacity of 22,800 tonnes.
“The biscuit lines produce cream sandwiches, filled bars and rolls, cookies, plain biscuits and crackers. The cream sandwich category includes custard, banana, orange, chocolate, coconut, lemon, strawberry, and vanilla flavours. The filled bars and rolls category includes the famous Deemah date bar, fig bar and softi softi rolls. The cookies category includes chocolate chips, and oatmeal. The plain biscuits category includes brands such as nice, glucose, ginger, digestive, tea, petit beurre, sesame and marie while crackers include salted, cheese and cumin,” he added.
The wafer lines produce chocolate-coated and plain wafer sandwiches. Chocolate-coated wafers include triangular and rectangular sizes whereas plain wafer sandwiches include chocolate, orange, strawberry, banana, vanilla and hazelnut flavours.
The confectionery factory produces the Deemah Bon, Juicy, Soft, Fruity, Toffee, Rich, Fresh, Joy and Fun brands.
 Elaborating on the Deemah brand, Garcia says: “Deemah Bon and Deemah Juicy are hard-filled candies. Deemah Bon is filled with cream flavours while Deemah Juicy is filled with fruit juice flavours. Deemah Soft is a chewy candy with fruit juice flavours while Deemah Fruity is a plain fruit-flavoured chewy candy. The famous Deemah Toffee includes different succulent flavours while Deemah Rich is filled with cream flavours.”
 With Deemah’s continuous search for innovation, the company is now producing centre-filled chewing gum under Deemah Fresh. Also, it is gaining popularity with its gum-filled lollipops under Deemah Joy and Fun brands.
Garcia says production activities are centralised in its factories in Riyadh.
“Ufic has strong selling and distribution networks both in and outside of Saudi Arabia,” he explained. “In Saudi Arabia, Ufic distributes its products through 16 branches located in major cities. The distribution centres are manned by well-trained sales representatives who serve the small-scale retailers.”
Garcia points out that the products are distributed to large supermarkets as well as to wholesalers.
“To improve customer satisfaction, Ufic implemented an automated Van Sales System supplied by the latest technology from Intermac, US,” he stated.
“We market our products to more than 45 countries, which reflects the strong market appeal, acceptability and price competitiveness of our products,” he explained. “Our export department employs area sales managers and well-trained support staff. The managers visit their respective regions on a regular basis where they scrutinise and select qualified importers/distributors for each country. The department is likewise responsible in helping them establish, position and develop Deemah products in their market.”
Garcia says armed with Ufic’s full support, the export market is continuously growing year after year, which shows the company’s product acceptability, price competitiveness and sound strategy are the winning formulae toward stronger business operations.