São Paulo – One of Egypt’s largest fast food chains, Mo’Men, wants to establish a partnership with a Brazilian chicken meat company. The group’s chairman, Mohammad Momen, and its general manager, Osama El-Sewerky, are in the city of São Paulo this week proposing a partnership to large local companies. “We want to find large Brazilian frozen meat companies whose product we want to process in Egypt, thus reducing the export cost,” said Momen.
Sandwich chain Mo’Men has 53 stores in Egypt and 15 in other countries, such as Sudan, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Malaysia. In Egypt, the chain is only second to multinationals McDonald’s and KFC.
According to the group’s chairman, meat imports from Brazil started as soon as the company went into business, 22 years ago. “We have the newest and best meat manufacturing and processing technology,” he said. Aside from beef and poultry, the company also imports soy protein from Brazil.
Brazilian companies that the Egyptian group is interested in include BRFoods, which comprises Sadia and Perdigão, Marfrig, and Doux. According to Momen, the partnership with the Egyptians would be a great deal, because in addition to the Mo’Men chain, the group also has three other food companies, namely the Pizza King chain, second only to Pizza Hut in Egypt; theme restaurant Planet Africa; and frozen product brand Three Chefs, one of the country’s leading meat processors.
The group also exports its products to Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the Emirates. Mo’Men also manufactures breads and sauces. Last year, the group posted US$ 150 million in revenues. The figure is expected to double over the next three years.
The company’s plans include placing the group’s and sandwich chain’s products on the Saudi and Asian markets. According to Momen, the group already has a team in Malaysia, which will be a gateway for the Egyptian company to enter other countries. “The Malaysian economy is growing a lot and the country has strong potential for Halal food consumption,” he said.
The businessmen visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in São Paulo yesterday (23rd), where they had a few meetings with Brazilian companies.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
