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El Tabei cautious about expansion
According
to El Tabei Mohamed El Tabei, a veritable “who’s who” of present
and former ministers, movie stars and even presidents have enjoyed the
fare served by one of downtown Cairo’s most famous institutions: his
father’s fuul (fava bean) and taamiya (falafel) restaurant. “King
Farouk, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat would eat from here,”
said El Tabei, one of the owners of the El Tabei El Domiati retaurant
chain, from his office in downtown Cairo.
The
restaurant was founded in Damietta in 1926 by his grandfather, and in
1965, El Tabei’s father moved the operation to Oraby Street in
downtown Cairo. Today, El Tabei El Domiati is one of the best-known
restaurant chains in the country. “My father was in charge of
everything by himself,” El Tabei said. “He had to oversee all
meals personally, and that’s why he didn’t open up any other
branches.”
Concerns
about maintaining quality kept the business small in Egypt, and
although a restaurant was opened in Saudi Arabia in 1980, El Tabei’s
father would monitor both operations closely by flying back and forth.
After several successful years, the Saudi branch closed following the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
But
when El Tabei’s father passed away in 1995, the family business
entered a new phase of existence. El Tabei Jr. was a director of the
National Bank of Development. Upon his father’s death, however, he
handed in his resignation and took over the restaurant operation.
El
Tabei and his brothers quickly developed an expansionist business
plan, opening four outlets in the most bustling parts of town. “The
most important thing El Tabei El Domiati did was choose a good
location,” said Mohamed Hairam, the manager of another fuul and
taamiya operation, Hairam Cafeteria, in Abdeen. “The old man was
downtown for a long time in a very crowded location, and then all of a
sudden they started opening branches all over the place.”
For
El Tabei, location is just part of the reason for the restaurant’s
success. Three more branches have opened in Cairo since 1995, and
another two are slated for later this year. While some restaurant
chains expand more rapidly, El Tabei said he takes a methodical
approach. “I wouldn’t be wise to open 20 branches in one year and
work hard to break into the market only to find that I’ve over
expanded and damaged my initial investment,” he said.
In
order never to incur debts to banks, all expansions are achieved with
internal funding, El Tabei said.
Another
reason for the slow pace of expansion is his family’s fear that, if
there were too many branches, deterioration of quality would be almost
inevitable. “A lot of places serve fuul and taamiya only to turn a
profit, while putting the needs of the customers second,” El Tabei
said. “We have Germans, Americans, Japanese who are satisfied with
our food because we go through great pains to ensure quality in
service and taste.”
Though
often listed in tourist guide books, El Tabei El Domiati primarily
targets Egyptian consumers. One regular customer, Cairo resident Adel
Abdel Moneim, praised the restaurant’s consistently tasty food:
“Most places either serve good fuul and bad taamiya or bad fuul and
good taamiya, but El Tabei serves both of them good all the time.”
El
Tabei attributes the success of his business to efficient service as
well as good food. With a total staff of around 500, El Tabei and his
brothers personally make sure every aspect of the restaurant is run as
smoothly as possible.
The
food is prepared daily by chefs at a factory in Harafiyeen, just
outside Cairo. Because preparation is done in one location, and with
uniform ingredients, quality is higher than if each item were made at
the restaurants’ individual branches, El Tabei said.
Once
the food gets to the restaurant, El Tabei expects his staff to serve
it to customers in the most professional manner possible. One time, he
said, after a customer at the Oraby Street branch made a complaint
about the manager, this manager was immediately demoted to serve as an
example to other employees. “If a customer comes to me and complains
about the way he was dealt with at one of our restaurants, I might go
and remove half the staff of that branch,” he said.
But
another thing that keeps customers coming back is affordable prices.
Recognizing this, the Tabei brothers decided to keep prices the same
when the decline of the local currency relative to the US dollar
pushed up the cost of some essential ingredients.
Before
the currency devaluation last December, a jug of sunflower oil sold
for £E 40; since then, it has skyrocketed to £E 70. Yet the
restaurant has managed not to pass the added expenses on to the
consumer. “In light of the difficult economic situation the country
is going through, I prefer that I lower my profits rather than raise
prices,” El Tabei said.
El
Tabei El Domiati has faced more daunting challenges than mere currency
devaluation. Undaunted by the earlier closure of the Saudi branch, El
Tabei and his brothers eventually set their sites farther afield.
A
year and a half ago, El Tabei visited New York City with hopes of
opening a branch there, near the Port Authority on 43rd Street. The
location seemed ideal because of its proximity to commuters – many
of whom hail from New Jersey, with its large Arab population. But the
attack on the city last September 11 quickly put paid to that idea.
Currently, the New York project has been shelved until conditions
improve.
Meanwhile,
with tensions in the Middle East worsening recently, American-style
restaurants are again being shunned by some consumers. Although El
Tabei El Domiati would hardly be on their blacklist, El Tabei said he
did not expect sales at his chain to increase either. “There won’t
be any impact on us, because those chains serve meats and
Western-style food, while we attract customers who go for
Egyptian-style food in the first place,” he said.
M.
SCOTT BORTOT
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