Dubai target for US restaurant brand

Dubai and Kuwait are the Middle East targets for an American restaurant brand, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated, which is planning its first international expansion.

The American restaurant brand, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated, is planting its first flags on international soil with two restaurants in Dubai and Kuwait next year.

The chain, listed on Nasdaq, has partnered with M.H. Alshaya Co, the Kuwaiti-based retail conglomerate which has the regional rights for major retail brands including Starbucks and H & M.

The Cheesecake Factory plans to open 22 restaurants over the next five years in five countries - the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The agreement with M H Alshaya, the largest retailer in the region, may also be expanded to include other markets in the Middle East and North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Turkey.

M H Alshaya has expanded its portfolio of food brands in recent years with several American brands, such as Pinkberry, a frozen yogurt chain, and PF Chang's, an American Chinese restaurant franchise.

"We continuously ask consumers in the Middle East to tell us which US-based casual dining restaurants they want most in their local markets. The Cheesecake Factory is always at the top of the list," said Mohammed Alshaya, the executive chairman of M H Alshaya Co.