Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and boasting 11 successful franchise outlets in the GCC, ‘Maya La Chocolaterie', one of the region's most celebrated premium chocolate brands, is looking to push ahead with its expansion strategy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ms. Sonya Janahi, Deputy Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of ‘Maya', shared her vision and future plans for the brand during a media gathering at the Maya outlet in Stars Avenue Mall, Jeddah. Established in 2007 in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Maya La Chocolaterie, a trademark of The Living Concepts Company, is an artisan chocolate brand with a deep-rooted Arab heritage and over a decade of expertise crafting premium products of international standards. Featuring a unique chocolate bar concept considered a true ‘dessert sanctuary' for chocolate aficionados, Maya has replicated the same concept across the GCC through strategic franchises and best-in-class partnerships. "Maya was the first concept to franchise out of Bahrain ten years ago and today we have successfully evolved the brand into a regional chain with physical presence in Bahrain, Qatar and 5 outlets in Saudi Arabia, catering to customers in Jeddah and Riyadh. Saudi Arabia was our second franchise contract to materialize in 2011, following Qatar, and we have not looked back since. The Saudi market offers tremendous potential for growth, and we have seen an average 15% surge in sales year-on-year. We are positive this trend will persevere, we have tremendous faith in the prospects of the Saudi market and we are looking to expand our presence within Riyadh and Jeddah but also across the Kingdom. Our aim is to increase our reach in Saudi by 40% within the next 3 years and we are working closely with our partner to achieve this. We are taking advantage of key trade events to increase awareness about the brand and we are currently exhibiting at the Abha Franchise Exhibition", explained Ms. Janahi. Saudi-owned ‘Mada Company' holds the franchise contract for Maya La Chocolaterie in the Kingdom where the brand currently has outlets in Al Tahliya Street, Hayat Mall, and Prestigious Offices in Riyadh and Stars Avenue in Jeddah. A new chocolate boutique will be opening up in Le Chateau in Jeddah in early March. "People here love chocolate and they are loyal to our brand. Our differentiator is that we focus on quality as well as taste; we buy our raw chocolate from one of the world's top three vendors in Europe and we reduce the use of cocoa butter to an absolute minimum, less than 10 %. We are also introducing customers to dark chocolate and educating them on the related benefits. Customer tastes are shifting and they are appreciating dark chocolate much more; sales of dark chocolate in Bahrain for example increased from 10% to 40% in the past ten years and we are hoping to replicate the same success story in Saudi Arabia. We want people to indulge but to be healthy as well, this is our motto, ‘creating chocolate for a better world'", continued Ms. Janahi. Sonya Janahi
