Smashing it deliciously! A CEO is the person who leads his company to its highest potential. He should be a visionary, focused, dedicated and persevering. These are the qualities that Khalid Hajjar, CEO of Kayan Restaurants, is born with. He believes he is born for F&B industry but he didn’t leave it to that and gained experience from ‘field to fork’. His illustrious résumé includes time served as Regional General Manager at Al- Homaizi Food Industries, Regional Manager-MENA-Organic Division at Alyasra Foods, Commercial Director at The Gift Co., Senior Commercial Manger at Organic Farm Foods, Regional Director of Operations at Delicious Foods Company, Executive Director at Tripac Limited, and Farm Director at Tripac trading & Investment Co. Limited. CityPages sat down with Khalid to talk about why Smashburger was an instant hit, how and why did he choose to bring the concept to Kuwait and what are their future plans.
Please introduce yourself to our readers: My Name is Khalid Hajjar. I was born and raised in London, although my family is originally from Syria. I love what I do, I love food and I would like to think I am slightly off-center!
Tell us about your education: I was at boarding school from the age of seven and I loved it. University was at University of London where I studied Middle Eastern History.
Can you tell us about your previous work experiences? My first job after university was working as a farmer in Jordan; growing bananas for the local market and a range of fresh vegetables and herbs for export to the top UK supermarkets. I spent 10 years in the field and it was amazing. After that, missing home, I went back to the UK as Commercial Manager for Organic Farm Foods where we supplied all the major UK supermarkets with fresh organic fruits and vegetables. I was there for 3 years and learnt a lot with regards to supply chain, category management and the food industry as a whole. I then moved to Walkers Chocolates where I was the GM for their Food Gifting division. We focused on all major UK retailers such as Debenhams, Next, Marks and Spencer etc. We supplied said retailers with a range of gift items centered on food.
While at Walkers, I was approached by Alyasra Food Company here in Kuwait. The role was to set up an Organic Food division within the company. I started the division from scratch, and brought some amazing brands into Kuwait. It was a great 3 and a half years experience and an even better introduction to Kuwait and the GCC. My next move was to Al-Homaizi Food Industries where I was the GM for Al Rifai for the entire Middle East. I spent a year in this role which gave me good insight into GCC retail. I left mid-2011 to setup and start Kayan Restaurants from ground-zero.
What or who inspired you to food and beverage field? I was born for this industry. From my first day on the farm I knew my career was going to be F&B related. Basically, I am in a very unique position since I am vertically integrated within the F&B industry. I have full experience from ‘field to fork’; which is quite rare. From planting of the seed, all the way to eating the final product and all parts in between; I love food - this is not just a job but my passion.
Can you tell us a bit about the Kayan Restaurants Company and how it came about? Kayan Restaurants’ businesses are in the increasing popular fastcasual dining sector of the market. Our aim is to sell great food with friendly service in relaxed and comfortable surroundings. Kayan Restaurants was born after having a coffee with Mr. Yousef Al Essa, April, 2014
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