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BurgerFuel Worldwide (BFW) has opened its largest store to date in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. This latest BurgerFuel flagship store in the centre of the capital can cater for over 250 burger enthusiasts.

The Riyadh store has been preceded by much anticipation, driven by the existing BurgerFuel stores located in the Eastern province covering the famous “triplet cities of Khobar”. With a population of around 7 million, Riyadh is the largest city in Saudi Arabia.

As is the tradition and law in Saudi Arabia, the giant flagship store is a reflection of the local culture and dining style with the restaurant literally split in half. Families dine on one side and bachelors on the other side. Chris Mason, BurgerFuel Worldwide CEO International markets who was in Riyadh for the grand opening said that “We were told by our local partners, that if we thought the store in Khobar was busy, we should wait until we open in Riyadh, ‘it will be crazy’ they said. They were right – we broke the record for the highest sales ever on opening day”. BurgerFuel is operated in Saudi Arabia by local Master Licence holders, Abdullah Fouad, a Saudi Arabian Top 100 company.

Josef Roberts, BurgerFuel Worldwide CEO who also attended the opening in Saudi Arabia, said that “the Middle East has proven to be a good move for us and we still have a lot of potential in this region” while discussing the company’s recent 102% lift in profits and success in the region during an interview last week on TV3’s Firstline.

During his current visit to the Middle East, Josef commented that “Chris (Mason) and I have had discussions with all our partners and each of them is committing to 2013 as being a big year of growth in terms of opening more stores. We are very excited about what we are achieving in the Middle East and what is still to come”.

The New Zealand company now has 10 stores in the Middle East, across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iraq – with stores in Egypt and Qatar due to open in 2013.