Shawarma goes global

ENAR

Elias Chabtini is a remarkably confident man. The chief executive officer of Shawarmanji, the increasingly ubiquitous shawarma chain which began in Beirut in November 2012, has an incredibly aggressive strategy for the coming years. In a little more than six months, the company has established six branches in Lebanon and one in the United Arab Emirates, while by the end of the year Chabtini says they will have a minimum of 16 across the two countries. And with plans agreed to head into Qatar, other Gulf states and beyond, shawarma could join falafel — with franchiser Just Falafel’s rapid expansion last year — as another taste of the Middle East on the global palate. “We would like to hit between 50 to 70 shops by the end of 2014. We will be the first concept ever that has opened so many stores in such a short period of time, definitely