Habib's

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Habib's

Type	Private
Founded	1988
Headquarters	São Paulo, Brazil
Key people	Alberto Saraiva President and Founder
Industry	Restaurants
Products	Middle Eastern Cuisine
Revenue	-
Employees	14,000
Slogan	-
Website	www.habibs.com.br

Habib's is a Brazilian fast food franchising specialised in Middle Eastern cuisine, it has more than 260 outlets (many of them self-owned) across the country and has recently begun expansion into foreign markets. It is known for very low prices and exotic dishes. Middle Eastern dishes are very popular in Brazil ever since the immigration of people from that area into Brazil, despite their numbers being less than 7% of the overall population.

1 History
2 Business model
3 Competition
4 International expansion
5 External links

[edit] History

Habib's was founded by a portuguese-born baker, Alberto Saraiva, with no ties with the Middle East, who got the idea early in 1988 after an ailing old man of Arab descent applied for a job. He had no job for the man, but upon learning that he had been a cook back in his home land, Mr. Saraiva decided to open a small fast-food restaurant and hired the man. The first Habib's restaurant was opened later that same year.

Before Habib's, Middle Eastern cuisine, despite being popular, was not readily available and the prices were usually high. The repressed demand was strong and people queued in front of the restaurant almost since the first day. Catering for this demand, Habib's soon started to grow and became one of Brazil's most thrieving businesses.

[edit] Business model

Habib's serves popular Middle Eastern dishes, like tabouleh, kibe or sfiha, along with other types of sandwiches like bauru or beiruth. Prices are usually low and they boast having the fastest fast-food service. In São Paulo they advertise that orders by phone not delivered in less than 28 minutes will not be charged.

About 45% of the 260 Habib's restaurants are owned by the founder, the others are operated in franchising.

The most popular Habib's products at Habib's are esfiha (a small, round flatbread topped with minced beef or cheese) and the kibe (a croquette of beef shaped like a rugby ball with either an olive or some catupiry cheese inside).

Besides the cheap snacks, various set menus are available, ranging from a full Arabic meal to a combination of esfihas, kibe, french fries and freshly-squeezed fruit juice. Unusual for fast-food restaurants, a waiter takes your order at the table, while knives and forks are always provided.

[edit] Competition

Low prices and wide options are important because Brazil's food market is highly competitive. While in most countries you are restricted to either fast-food or regular restaurants, in that country one can also find snack bars serving meaty eats, churrascarias, street vendors selling snacks or hot-dogs, and, most of all, the ubiquitous self-service restaurants where one serves oneself freely from dozens of options and pays after the weight of the plate (the latter type is especially popular and low-priced, usually with clean and nutritious food).

In such a market, Habib's is set apart by its attention to the customer, low price, high quality and low operational cost (most Habib's restaurants operate in smaller and less expensive locations than, for instance, McDonald's). Another differential is Habib's careful attention to cultural details: they provide dishes, knives and forks because Brazilians dread picking the food with the hands and, therefore, fast-food restaurants are seen as unpolite — a blemish that Habib's knives and forks are weapons intended to avoid.

[edit] International expansion

Habib's has been probing the foreign market for quite some time, discretly opening small restaurants in the United States and the Middle East. Reportedly the September 11 terrorist attacks were a major setback, and forced them to change the brand logo for use in the United States, as the old one was deemed as unsympathetic by some.