UAE-based Just Falafel Opens First US Restaurant

UAE-based fast food chain Just Falafel announced that it has opened its first restaurant in the US, as part of a major expansion drive in the country.

Located in Fremont, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the franchisee-operated restaurant is the first of 160 new restaurants planned to come up in North America over the next five years.

The restaurant will launch a new menu, introducing ‘The Californian’, mixing traditional falafels with fresh beets, cucumber, tomato, mixed salad, beetroot labneh, and a spicy salsa. It will also launch a protein burger, sweet potato waffle fries, a breakfast egg muffin and freshly squeezed juices on its menu.

Fadi Malas, Just Falafel’s CEO, said: “Our love and passion for Mediterranean and vegetarian food is growing and we expect this cuisine to prosper in highly competitive markets such as the US.

“We have sold nearly 19 million pieces of falafel since the Just Falafel brand started.”

The company has signed franchise agreements with different partners in New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Texas and Los Angeles and the Greater Toronto Area in Canada.

It will open branches in Canada in June 2014 and New Jersey in August 2014.

Just Falafel, which began with a single store in Abu Dhabi in 2007, is rapidly expanding around the world and currently has close to 700 employees in nearly 20 countries.

Last month, it also announced plans to open 57 restaurants in Europe’s Benelux region, which includes Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.