Interview Fadi Malas CEO of Just Falafel
A
Fadi, how did the idea for Just Falafel first come about? The population here is completely international. Everybody is busy. Everybody, at some stage in the day wants to grab something quick and nutritious.
falafel is… well, just a falafel. But behind the scenes at healthy fast food franchise Just Falafel, lies a powerful master class in getting it ‘just right’ in terms of phenomenal business growth and global domination strategies. Editor Kay Marham invites Just Falafel Helmsman and Chief Executive Officer, Fadi Malas to share the secrets of their success in our exclusive interview. The business The first branch of Just Falafel was opened in Abu Dhabi in 2007. Since then, with annual turnover leaping from $707,800, to over $1.9 million between 2010 and 2011 – with an equally impressive financial ascent expected for 2012, the company has experienced extraordinary growth across seven countries, becoming one of the world’s fastest growing food chains, and currently the largest falafel chain in the world. Rapid expansion When I interviewed Fadi last month, he told me that they had 580,000 fans on Facebook. Three weeks later, the figure stands at over 737,000. Harnessing the power of social media since the beginning, Just Falafel has now made history by generating more than 3,500 requests for franchising opportunities from over 70 countries on its Facebook page, via a targeted social media campaign.
“We had a very strong business plan from the start, absolute determination to make it succeed and a level of focus on the business that has never waivered”
It begs the question, well, several really…
14
December 2012
We had a very solid business plan and a very definite idea of what we wanted to achieve. We had, and still have to this day a massive focus on what we do. Did you experience any early mistakes or failures? If we are not making mistakes, then we are not doing something right. That holds true for any business. How else do you learn best practice? Young entrepreneurs should therefore not be afraid of their mistakes. I’m glad that we made our mistakes early, it meant that we could refine our operations and then apply the known strategies to the business to grow it. But mistakes are only good if you learn from them.
With an average of 25,000 fans per outlet, Just Falafel is now the subject of the first GCC company Facebook case study. With a master franchise recently sold in London, plans to open 200 more in the UK over the next 5 years, and firmly establish a strong presence in India; next on the list are Canada, Australia and a direct assault on the spiritual home of fast food itself, the US of A.
Falafels have a solid tradition behind them and in the same way as ideas just come to entrepreneurs, the initial idea was to apply some innovation to a very traditional concept; something that would fit with and serve the international nature of people living here. So, we came up with the Greek and Italian falafels for Europeans, Egyptian and Emirati falafels for the locals and so on.
Just Falafel Quesadilla Sandwich
Was there a specific ‘breakthrough moment’ when you knew that the business model would work? We had a very strong business plan from the start, absolute determination to make it succeed and a level of focus on the business that has never waivered. Some business owners come into work in the morning, do what they have to do and go home at 5pm. The business stayed in our heads at home, the weekends, and never left our minds. Of course, we have home lives and families, and it has never been the case that we don’t have time for family and friends, but our focus on the business was, and is still always there.