Mealtimes matter for boss of Abela catering company in Dubai

Abdulkarim Hannawi oversees operations with hundreds of thousands of meals served up daily, and will not compromise on standards.

Abdulkarim Hannawi, the chief executive of Abela & Co, says their client base has moved to the broad corporate market with the likes of Nestlé, Petrofac, Mars and Microsoft on board. Antonie RobertsonShow more

The sheer logistics of Abdulkarim Hannawi’s job sound daunting: to prepare and serve 150,000 meals every day, in some cases transport them to hundreds of sites around the UAE, and provide a healthy and varied diet to thousands of demanding customers.

Mr Hannawi (“call me Abed”) is not some kind of super chef with unnatural powers. He is the chief executive of Abela & Co, one of the UAE’s biggest catering firms, and he has 3,200 dedicated employees to help him provide the daily bread for a small army of industrial workers, hotel employees, students, schoolchildren and government employees.

Of those 150,000 meals, 65 per cent are produced at the customers’ in-house catering facilities, the rest prepared in Abela’s “central kitchens” dotted strategically round the country.

“Our mission has been clear since day one: long term partnerships with customers, food safety, and our employees,” he says, speaking at the Abela HQ in Deira, in the heart of Dubai’s old commercial zone, which reminds you there is bustling business life outside the financial areas and the free zones.

The company was founded in the UAE in 1967 by the Lebanese native Albert Abela, mainly to serve customers on a comparatively small scale in the Gulf, Lebanon and Palestinian Territories. It was eventually bought by Emiratis, who now own it 100 per cent.

The owners are among the most illustrious of Dubai’s elite: Sheikha Sheikha bin Saeed Al Maktoum, a leading member of Dubai’s ruling family, is a big shareholder; as is Khalifa Juma Al Nabooda, head of the eponymous family trading group which describes Abela as its “partner.”

Those are demanding taskmaster shareholders. Of Mr Al Nabooda, who is also the chairman of Abela, Mr Hannawi says: “I wouldn’t describe him as hands-on, but he takes a close interest in the affairs of the company. If he hears that a student at one of the colleges finds something wrong with the food selection we provide, he will let me know.”

Mr Hannawi, Lebanese-born and US-educated, was working for a catering business in America when Abela came knocking at the door, bought the US company and moved him back to the Middle East. “I wanted to be closer to my family in Lebanon back then, and Dubai was the perfect place to be,” he explains.

At the beginning, the customers were in the oil services and construction sectors. “But we don’t do much construction now as conditions can be challenging. Food has to be prepared and delivered in some demanding circumstances – location, climate – and we will not compromise on safety or standards,” says Mr Hannawi.

Over the years, the client base moved to the broad corporate spree, supplying food to the likes of Nestlé, Petrofac and Mars. Microsoft in Dubai is now a big customer. “Basically blue and white-collar catering,” he says.

But then, as Dubai’s economy took off towards the end of the 1990s, Abela spotted a growth opportunity in the schools and universities that were springing up, largely to satisfy the growing expat populations, and in hotels, which were opening at a fast rate and whose staff needed feeding.

That presented another challenge. “In the early days of our hotels business, it was easy: mainly Indian and Filipino staff so the menus were simple. Now the different nationalities demand more variety on the menus. We’re preparing a lot of African menus at the moment,” he says.

The three most popular menus, however, remain Indian, Arabic and “continental” (Euro-American) in that order.

A step change in the business took place via the company’s relationship with Ikea. Abela had been supplying staff at the global Swedish retailer’s branch in Dubai for some time, but it obviously liked what it got, and signed up Abela to supply its stores in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Cairo. It was Abela’s first serious move outside its traditional markets. “Ikea is becoming one of our biggest and most important customers,” Mr Hannawi says.

That geographic diversification coincided with a move into different businesses in the UAE: retail and franchising. Now Abela has deals with the big US franchise Sandella Flatbread Cafe, which has a presence in universities, corporates, hospitals and community malls across the UAE.

Abela also runs its own brand retail outlets, like Bean There, Baydar and Red Apron, in malls and other retail spaces.

“The other reason for this diversification is cash flow. Most of our business used to be on credit, but now 75 per cent is cash. Franchises are more profitable and better for cash flow,” he says.

Abu Dhabi had always been considered a core market, but two years ago Abela decided it had to up its game in the capital and opened a central kitchen in the capital. Now it serves 22,000 meals a day in the capital to customers like Ikea, the UAE foreign ministry and Sky News.

The corporate style is for slow and gradual expansion. More foreign business will be considered when regarded as sensible, and the build-up to Expo 2020, which must surely produce big opportunities in catering, is careful and deliberate. “I’ve put a strategy paper to the board to see how we can exploit it. There may be some further diversification, perhaps into hospitality, but it is at an early stage,” says Mr Hannawi.

Finance is relatively simple. Abela’s ownership gives it excellent bank relationships, and the company is “financially self-sufficient”, says Mr Hannawi. There are no plans, and no consideration given, to an initial public offering. “No need,” he says.

Other Dubai businessmen – notably Hussain Sajwani of Damac – have made fortunes in catering to the military in often hostile situations, but Abela’s style is different.

“I visited Iraq in 2003, but I felt it was too risky, and the board agreed. Our employees are the most important thing,” Mr Hannawi emphasises.

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