Alex Malouf talks to Rami Abu Ghazaleh, CEO of Al Baik restaurants, one of the region's most successful homegrown dining brands.
Launched in 1974 by the late Shakkour Abu Ghazalah in Jeddah, Al Baik is the result of the founder's long-held dream to own a successful restaurant business built upon the pursuit of excellence.
Today Al Baik is headed by Ihsan Abu Ghazaleh (chairman) and Rami Abu Ghazaleh (CEO). We interviewed Rami Abu Ghazaleh about the Saudi restaurant chain's marketing strategy.
Tell us about Al Baik's topline marketing strategy.
It is based on two pillars: Enhancing customer loyalty and being a good corporate citizen.
Over the past 36 years Al Baik has become an iconic brand, recognised by Saudis, expatriates and pilgrims from across the world for the highest quality food, fast and courteous service and sparkling, clean restaurants.
Our strategy is to focus on what our customers want, which means consistently maintaining the highest standards at every level of operation and continuing to offer the best value for money.
We also believe in visibility and transparency, and our marketing strategy encompasses the communications aspect of our organisation.
Al Baik keeps its customers informed and up to date about everything that we are doing.
For example, when we had to increase prices for the first time in 25 years, we prepped our customers so that they understood the reason was the global rise in the cost of raw materials.
And, of course, when the cost of raw materials went down, we were very happy to inform them that our prices had come down as well.
Visibility includes being where our customers are. As you are aware, Saudi Arabia has a mainly young and rapidly growing population, and over the past 30 years our cities have expanded enormously. Wherever a new district develops we aim to be there - whether it's in a mall or an independent branch - conveniently located so that our customers don't have to go far to enjoy their favourite Al Baik meal.
Being where our customers are extends to being where our customers need us. For example, 10 years ago HRH Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, Minister of the Interior, invited food service companies to participate in the annual Hajj activities by setting up outlets in locations convenient to Allah's guests visiting the Holy Shrines.
Responding to HRH Prince Naif's call, Al Baik established three outlets in Mina, one of which is considered the world's largest quick-service preparation kitchen facility. Al Baik's restaurants in Mina are operational during the Hajj season only, and the project is a non-profit venture for the benefit of the Hajj pilgrims, and it also supports charity programmes.
The main facility is located in an area parallel to the Jamarat bridge at Mina. The restaurant is designed to serve 250,000 meals daily with a team of more than 400 on site preparing meals of the highest quality.
High quality, quick service, cleanliness and incredible value for money are the most important elements in Al Baik's Hajj operational philosophy, which is based not on profit, but on virtue, religious principles and patriotic commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
How do you adapt your marketing strategy to market conditions?
Each market is unique and to enter a market you have to understand the mindset of its people - within the same country two different cities can require totally different means of reach.
Our key message is we see ourselves as part of each region we go into and this strategy is embodied in our "You and Al Baik are Neighbours" campaign, which we implement wherever we open a new outlet.
Of course, we face many challenges. Nowadays there are numerous quick-service restaurant chains, but these are mainly foreign franchises. The fact that Al Baik is a Saudi concept, Saudi owned, Saudi managed and a Saudi success story has won us a special place in the hearts and minds of Saudi citizens - and also with expatriates from all over the world who are part of our multinational society.
For this reason there is no need for us to differentiate ourselves as a Saudi brand, because the fact that we are a homegrown brand with a world-class menu offering is the very reason we are so popular.
What are you doing to reach out to the youth?
Saudi Arabia has a young population, but young or old, everyone loves the Al Baik experience. What we are doing to reach out to the country's youth is in education and this comes within our CSR.
Al Baik is firmly committed to being a responsible member of the society we serve and the neighbourhoods we operate in.
To put this into practice we are proactive in developing educational initiatives that are aimed at capacity building of youth, including enjoyable and entertaining programmes for children.
We also have programmes that cover food safety and environmental awareness. Examples are the highly successful annual summer anti-littering campaign featuring the cartoon characters Nazeeh and Wartan, and the equally successful House Hero programme that builds self-confidence in our youth by teaching them skills in the fields of car mechanics, basics of electrical and air-conditioning maintenance, and first aid and fire fighting.
We regard these as central to Al Baik's activities as a socially responsible corporate citizen.
What are you doing to defend the brand?
Every successful brand has its imitators - as you know, IP infringement and counterfeiting are a huge global problem. Al Baik is no exception.
We see such infringements in over 20 countries around the globe, and our legal team is vigorous in defending our brand. Much of any company's success depends on non-tangible resources that it has developed such as intellectual property and trademarks. It takes years to build brand loyalty, and yet this can be stolen almost overnight by those who think they can get rich off the ingenuity and hard work of others.
Moreover, since unethical profit is their only motivation, counterfeited products and services are invariably produced at the lowest possible cost using cheap materials and labour, which can be dangerous to the health and safety of consumers.
We believe that it is the responsibility of the Arab companies and the executive and judicial administrations to stop these infringements. For our part we do not hesitate to take legal action to put a stop to any encroachment on the Al Baik trademark and corporate identity.
© Gulf Marketing Review 2010
