Int’l Food Industry Players Making Inroads

Telepizza, the leading pizza restaurant chain based in Spain, has announced its planned arrival in Iran as of March 2017 via a strategic master franchise alliance with its partner Momenin Investment Group and the objective of 200 stores in 10 years. 

This will mean opening some 20 establishments per year and an investment of €100 million in 10 years by MIG, PR Newswire reported.

The first store will be founded in the capital Tehran, after which seven others will be opened before the end of the year.

“The arrival of Telepizza in Iran is a major accomplishment in our international expansion and represents a great opportunity for our business. We are delighted to share the essence of our brand, nothing less than offering pizza with a unique flavor at any time or place, with Iranian consumers,” says Pablo Juantegui, chairman and CEO of Telepizza.

“We are very satisfied to have found a travel companion like Momenin Investment Group to begin our venture in Iran, which promises to be very interesting. We will be the first European chain in the QSR (quick service restaurants) segment to set up in this country, catering to the customers’ demand that went unmet up to this point,” says Giorgio Minardi, international chairman of Telepizza.

Since its arrival in Chile in 1992, Telepizza’s international expansion has not yet stopped: 1,342 shops (456 company-owned and 886 franchisees and master franchises) are operating in 15 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, offering its products to more than 60 million customers with total sales of €506 million per annum.

The company also has its own factories in six countries (Spain, Portugal, Poland, Chile, Columbia and Peru) as well as master franchise factories in six additional territories: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Central America, Russia, Bolivia, and Angola; and also has partner warehouses in Ecuador and Poland.

Telepizza is listed on the Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia stock exchanges. Its shares started trading on April 27, 2016. The total number of shares is 100,720,679.

Several international brands in the food industry have taken advantage of the opening up of Iran’s economy. Croatian franchise Surf’n’Fries expanded its business operations to Iran earlier this year. Surf’n’Fries was founded in 2009 with the first sales outlet opened in the Croatian port city of Rijeka. 

At present, the franchise is also operating in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Vietnam. It boasts the SURFFRY technology, using moisture from potatoes and hot air which, at 250 degrees Celsius, makes fries without using oil in just a few minutes.

Last month, Yum! Brands announced that it managed to secure the required licenses to set up business in Iran. 

“The corporation aims to launch close to 300 branches in Iran within the next three years. The first branch will be opened in Tehran’s Andarzgou Boulevard in about a month,” said Ali Shabani, the legal director of Z.K.D. Corporation, the representative of the American brand in Iran, marketed as “Burger Sun by Yum”. 

Yum! Brands, based in Louisville, Kentucky, has more than 43,000 restaurants in about 140 countries and territories. The company’s restaurant brands KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories.

It is estimated that one-third of Iranian spending at restaurants is concentrated on the fast food sector with Iranian families currently spending $2 billion annually on fast food (about $85 per family), according to a report by Tehran-based management consulting firm ILIA Corporation

Wealthy Iranians (the tenth decile) spending on restaurants is 41 times more than the first decile ($1,300 versus $31 per year), the report added.

It is estimated that 20,000 fast food establishments are operating in Iran, predominately in Tehran. There is also a large prevalence in the next four largest cities, namely Shiraz, Isfahan, Mashhad and Tabriz.