You cannot resist walking into the store that if filled with the aroma of roasted nuts, chocolates and coffee. Shaheen Nuts – The authentic taste of Jordanian Roastery, is sure to indulge you with the most original experience born from the Capital of Jordan, Amman. We find out more about this from Faris Shaheen – General Manager, Shaheen Nuts.
1.How did you enter the franchise business?
We have an 80 years old brand that was handed to us as 3rd generation. Having worked in multinational companies and getting good understanding of Retail business, we needed a scalable and time efficient way of expanding our business. Hence, we came to the conclusion that franchise is our optimal option if we do it properly.
2. Where and how did the idea of your concept come from?
Having a brand that is 80 years old required from us to ensure we build an authentic franchise concept with one of the best entities in the field. As we got several franchise request from the region, we knew that we had to re-build our business in a franchisable manner, and that is where it all started.
3.What inspired the brand name?
As most old brands that were related to family names. Our grandfather established the business and used our family name as the brand. Years ahead, Shaheen became the go to brand for freshly roasted nuts, chocolates, spices and coffee
4.What is the story behind the brand’s logo?
We knew we had to re-establish our logo in a way that maintains history but also shows present and future. The idea of the new logo had to reflect that. Hence, the word Shaheen was drawn in an oriental style, and cashew kernel was added to it.
5. What makes your brand different from your competitors?
Supply chain, Automation and Systems. We never compromise on quality starting from selection process, where products are booked at the beginning of the season. Automation is another area that we invested in to ensure experience consistency across all of our branches. When it comes to systems, we have also built one connected system that provide real time data across all touch points.
6. What are the essential qualities that you look for in a franchisee?
Eye for quality and in-depth market understanding. Being a premium brand, our franchisee must be aware that what we do targets Mid-High end customers.
7. How long does it take, on average, for your franchisee to realize their investment?
In a realistic scenario, anywhere between 24-48 Months.
8. What was the major challenge you faced in your career, and how did you overcome it?
Rebranding an 80 years old business. Customers understood that Shaheen focuses on quality, and when we rebranded, customers were worried that we may increase our prices or affect our quality. To ensure we avoid that, we set a clear pricing policy and mapped our production process to ensure quality consistency.
8.1.What is your best achievement?
Signing our first franchise. This action helped us test our franchise concept and fine-tune some of our processes.
9. How does your business day start?
Getting products ready for branches and franchisees. This ensures adhering to shelf life guidelines.
10. What was your best moment throughout your franchise career?
Opening day of our first franchise. We ran a campaign and generated high traffic.
11. Where do you see your brand in the next 5 years?
Over the coming 2-3 years, we aim to go regional and over the coming 5 Years, we aim to go global. This applies to franchise and export business, where we believe that having products exported to franchise potential countries will create brand awareness and generate demand for our products, serving our franchise partners.
12. Any tips you want to impart to our readers who want to be in the franchise industry?
Don’t take shortcuts and ensure you have the right control systems in place.
Don’t jump to the first opportunity you get unless you know that this will be the right partner to go with.
Your franchise partner will either take you to a new level or drag you down to a level you don’t want.
For franchisee’s, make sure you select a brand that is well established and work with people who have the right experience, not just copycats.
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