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Restaurant operator, Gourmet Gulf has chosen AJ Kumaran as chief operating officer for its growing food and beverage division. Founded seven years ago, the company has the exclusive development rights for several Middle Eastern, Egyptian, and Indian markets for California Pizza Kitchen, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Morelli's Gelato, YO! Sushi, Trader Vic's, Hard Rock Cafe, Shiro, Pinkberry and, most recently, Hummingbird Bakery.
Mr Kumaran will be strategically expanding the presence of Gourmet Gulf's growing portfolio of new and unique casual dining concepts and cuisine franchise operations throughout its territory which has the largest under-30 age group per capita in the world.
An industry veteran with more than ten years of C-suite experience developing operational and growth strategies for large multi-unit concepts, Mr Kumaran will lead all expansion, customer servicing and customer satisfaction, marketing, operational and quality control activities, plus direct P&L activities for the brands. He will report directly to CEO and founder Sami Daud.
"We are in a key phase of growth and development," said Mr Daud. "We believe AJ's demonstrated experience entering new markets, plus his ability to implement effective cost controls will help us expand our portfolio in strategic and profitable ways for us, as well as our franchisor partners."
Besides his nearly 15 years of executive level experience leading nationwide brands in the United States, Mr Kumaran has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Cesar Ritz Colleges Switzerland, and an executive MBA from Cornell University.
"Gourmet Gulf's portfolio of brands are amongst the world's most well respected, and with our plans to become one of the largest, fully integrated multi-franchise companies in the region, we are also one of the area's most highly sought after franchisees," he said. "I am excited to be joining a company that is poised to grow rapidly."
Gourmet Gulf currently operates 52 restaurants in the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and India. Gourmet Gulf is owned by Daud Investments. Since 1964, Daud Investments has been one of the Middle East's most successful conglomerates. It manages a dynamic portfolio of world-class restaurant and luxury retail investments from its headquarters in Oman and Dubai.