Saudi diversified group Almajdouie has announced it is expanding its food division after having opened a new outlet of its Aryaf Bakeries chain in Jubail.

The group is also expanding its Café Liwan chain within Saudi Arabia and proposes to offer franchises in other Gulf states.
The new bakery location brings to 13 the number of  Aryaf outlets it operates in the kingdom – five in Dammam, three in Al Khobar, two each  in Al Hassa and Madinah Al Munnawwara and now one in Jubail.
The group’s bakery products are distributed in Riyadh and Jeddah and plans exist to enter other parts of the Western and Central regions by next year, the group said.
Almajdouie Group acquired its first two bakeries in 1980, one in Dammam at King Fahd Street and another in Al Madinah Al Munnawwara.

Central Production Facility
“By 2007 Aryaf Bakeries expanded to six outlets. With an aggressive expansion plan in hand and growing business in the existing outlets, we felt the need for a good production facility with advanced equipment,” said Omar Almajdouie, vice president of Aryaf Bakeries.
“Therefore, a Central Production Facility, spread over 13,300 sq m came into existence on March 31, 2007. It has five sections, namely pastries, eastern sweets, western sweets, breads and kitchen. The factory is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology along with quality and sterilisation design systems and it fulfils the demand for sweets and cakes from all Aryaf outlets in the Eastern Province, Al Hassa and Madinah while also distributing its bakery products to numerous supermarkets, restaurants, catering companies, café chains and schools.”
Aryaf received the HACCP certification in 2008 from BSI and is on its way to receiving the ISO-22000 accolade.
Ali Hijawi, general manager of Aryaf Bakeries, said the division had gained taste recognition and was introducing new products based on customer feedback. 

Café Liwan
The café business was conceived in 2007 and is currently serving locations in the Eastern Province – Dammam, Al Khobar and Jubail – with Arabian and Western offerings.
“Inshallah, by the end of 2009 we propose to add three more cafes to our chain in Khobar and Jubail,” said Abbas Dharmajwala, operations manager of Café Liwan. Most of our cafes have both singles and family sections. We offer a smoke-free environment with free access to Wi-Fi.” The café serves Arabian coffee and caffeinated and non-caffeinated beverages. The food, including cheese cakes, sandwiches and other bakery products, are produced by Aryaf Bakeries.
“Café Liwan is planning to expand in the Gulf region by 2010 by offering franchise opportunities to some of the reputed companies. We are in the process of documentation for franchising,” Almajdouie Group said.

Almajdouie Group
Apart from food production, Almajdouie Group has a plant to manufacture trailers. The group is involved in project logistics and supply chain management, automobile, real estate and the travel agency business. Transportation and logistics constitutes its core business.