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This is the third article in our new case study series published in partnership with the El Khazindar Business Research and Case Center (KCC), Wamda and Aramex at the American University in Cairo Business School, taking an in-depth look at 12 leading new startups from Egypt, Jordan , UAE, Palestinian and Lebanese businesses, highlighting their entrepreneurial stories, key challenges and future plans.
This case study explores the journey of Wild Peeta, a gourmet shawarma restaurant startup that believes in “delivering healthy food quickly.” Brothers Mohamed and Peyman Parham Al Awadhi founded the company in Dubai in 1997 with the hope of reinventing the traditional shawarma sandwich in an international style.
The team had an ambitious vision to offer healthy, fresh and delicious sandwiches and salads, but struggled to compete with companies like McDonald’s and KFC who were able to use mass-produced frozen ingredients to keep costs down. After struggling to find funding, the brothers opened their first restaurant in 2008, with the goal of opening two more restaurants in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain and expanding the franchise to 100 stores by 2015.
But things didn’t go as they expected. They did open two new stores in Dubai in 2011 after closing their first store, but neither was successful. They decided to close the store, reorganize and try again in 2013.
This case study details the team’s lessons learned, including changing the pricing structure, moving to a new location, consolidating the target market, competing with cheaper competitors, and how to scale properly. Although they’ve reached some important milestones, including serving more than 50,000 customers in 2010, profits haven’t reached levels yet to make the project worthwhile.
Now they are reworking the concept and vision and trying again later this year to build on the mistakes of the past and re-launch a fresh alternative to Emirates fast food.
View full case study Korean CC and Aramex in the gray box on the right to learn more about Wild Peeta’s story.
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