Today, we interview Mousa Al Shalahi, the Chief Executive Officer of Pastry + Coffee (website link) – a nice Bakery / Coffee shop chain coming to neighborhoods near you.
1. How did you enter the franchise business?
I’ve always had the entrepreneurial spirit to build and craft something of my own. I saw an opportunity to get in the world of food and beverage and as I started investing my time, energy, and creativity,
I realized this is the kind of business I’d want to devote my life to.
We believe that the franchise structure is a great opportunity to expand our business while also assisting entrepreneurs who wanted to start their own. We made the necessary efforts to have our franchise proposal complete and ready.
2. Where and how did the idea of your concept come from?
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had a sweet tooth and not to mention coffee plays a vital role in my day-to-day life. I strongly felt there was an opportunity for a company that can elevate the quality of pastries in this country, and I couldn’t help but to include coffee along with it.
3. What inspired the brand name?
We wanted to keep it minimal and simple. We didn’t want to give it a name that would give the people a tough time remembering it.
4. What is the story behind the brand’s logo?
The icon unites a “+” symbol with a butterfly representing spiritual rebirth, transformation, change, hope and life.
Pastry + Coffee Logo
The different thicknesses make it look elegant and smooth, merging with the brand’s personality.
5. What makes your brand different from your competitors?
We are distinguished by a smart diversified product category, that caters and satisfy different customers tastes. Even with a great product base we still exceed our competitors with excellent customers’ satisfaction and premium quality of goods that are freshly baked every day.
We have a huge variety of bakeries and pastries baked with the finest ingredients. Additionally, we serve the highest quality of coffee from trusted source of specialty coffee beans roastery. We outsource our fresh products to other pastry shops, bakeries, and restaurants.
In addition to our unique catering services that fills all our customers’ demands when it comes to our tailored sweet/savory menu collection.
6. What are the essential qualities that you look for in a franchisee?
The primary considerations are financial stability and capability, enthusiasm combined with a good work ethics and the desire to excel and achieve the desired goals set forth. The character and motivation of the franchisee is considered more critical to the performance of the business than any previous retail or business experience, as our extensive training program and store assistance will prepare you to operate a Pastry & Coffee store.
7. How long does it take, on average, for your franchisee to realize their investment?
Franchisee will realize Return on investment within 2 years.
8. What was the major challenge you faced in your career, and how did you overcome it?
The Major challenge that we encountered is the Covid-19 pandemic that led to total lockdown in Kuwait and affected the market.
During the spike of the COVID-19 pandemic, where our customers are quarantining and spending most of their time at home. To relieve them from the feeling of being locked, specially that we perceived how much our customers enjoy and love our croissants in which prompted us on expanding our product line to be the first to launch our ready to bake “Frozen Croissant “in Kuwait, offering our customers a whole new experience to take a step forward and be a pastry chef at home.
In parallel, we supplied many hypermarkets with the product across the region ensuring greater coverage thus, increasing brand awareness.
Simply because, we always take every downside and convert it into a positive and great opportunity.
8.1.What is your best achievement?
Within 2 years of operating, we established a brand that is currently competing with international well-established companies in pastries.
Above all, we are delighted to claim that we have great base of loyal customers and employees.
The best is yet to come.
9. How does your business day start?
Our business started by implementing “The Central Kitchen” concept, where we started supplying our freshly baked pastries that we produce at one facility to our shops and our clients.
10. What was your best moment throughout your franchise career?
Connecting with people from different nations is almost the best working experience.
Most importantly, that we are looking to expand our brand in the right way.
11. Where do you see your brand in the next 5 years?
We see pastry + coffee franchised across the GCC region successfully. Giving our customers the optimum experience of quality pastry and coffee and to be one of the leading pastry shop across Middle east.
12. Any tips you want to impart to our readers who want to be in the franchise industry?
The best tip that we can provide to our readers, is that the franchise structure offers you a great opportunity to start a proven successful business rather than starting one from scratch.
And YES, persistence is key and keep striving until you see results.
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Term Of The Day
Franchise Feasibility Studies: “This is used to check if a company can be a good franchise.”
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