BITES

The Middle East gulf states of Bahrain and Qatar are the next expansion frontiers for the rapidly expanding Dome coffee group.

Dome Coffees Australia Pty Ltd managing director Nigel Oakey last week announced the WA-based group’s agreement with Bahrain’s Almoayyed International Group (AIG).

AIG is owned by Mr Farouk Almoayyed, chairman of YK Almoayyed & Sons, a leading conglomerate in the Kingdom of Bahrain

The agreement was signed in the middle of the latest WA Dome flagship, the Westend café on the corner of Milligan and Hay streets. The enviable location, vacated by a convenience store, was once home to Gateway Computers and has The Melbourne Hotel and Nine Mary’s as neighbours.

Dome has plans for a large network of cafes in the Gulf States, having already established a presence in the United Arab Emirates and Asia, particularly in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

“Local reinvestment in the Middle East is great now,” Mr Oakey told Gusto. “Our Dubai location is going very well.”

The new Westend Dome brings the total number of the cafes in WA to 28. There are 43 more overseas.

Mr Oakey says the group expects its coffee network to grow to 90 by June 2006 with a view to developing between  150 and 200 more Domes in the next three to four years.

“The Dome franchise has honed a format that will travel. Some things need to be tuned in the local markets but apart from that, it should look exactly the same as any other Dome,” Mr Oakey says.