Page 194 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

178 Dubai & Co.

has reached this fourth degree of adaptation with its distinctive
“McArabia” sandwich. The sandwich consists of two pieces of
grilled chicken wrapped in Arabic bread, dressed with lettuce,
onions, tomatoes, and a yogurt-tahini sauce. As noted by observers,
the McArabia is both an adaptation of the Big Mac–chicken sand-
wich and a response to the shawarma (gyro) sandwich, which is a
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highly popular and low-cost meal in the Arab world. While the
shawarma itself traces its roots to the Levant (not the Gulf), its
widespread consumption in the GCC countries has made it very
much a local food.
McDonald’s is no stranger to the GCC market. As illustrated in
Table 6.2, the American franchise has been in all six GCC countries
since the 1990s. Its franchisees are some of the most influential busi-
nesspeople in the Gulf region, including a descendant of the former
Saudi monarch, King Faisal.

TABLE 6.2
McDonald’s in the GCC

Year of Number of
Country Entry Franchisee Locations
Saudi Arabia 14 1993 REZA Food Services Co. Ltd. 96
(Western Province); Riyadh
International Catering Corp.
(Central and Eastern Provinces)
UAE 15 1994 Emirates Fast Food Corp. 44
Kuwait 16 1994 Al Maousherji Catering Co. 46
Bahrain 17 1994 Fakhro Restaurants Co. 10
Oman 18 1994 Al Daud Restaurants LLC 5
Qatar 19 1995 Kamal Al Mana 9

It is important to bear in mind two factors when considering
McDonald’s’ ability to develop the McArabia sandwich for the Gulf
market. First, the franchise has capabilities and a precedent
worldwide for developing market-specific items such as rice
burgers for Taiwan and Japan, shrimp burgers for Korea, McCurry
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Pan for India, and DeliChoices for Australia. McArabia, therefore,
is simply an extension of a global capability and best practice into a
new region. The second factor is one of cost or scale economics.