Region and roles-the success of regional fried chicken outlet – Al Baik


Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, other than pumping 19MT of crude every second, is a vast expanse of land which lacks the hurried growth of Dubai or Doha. But it is a huge swath of a marketplace for any marketer. Port city of Jeddha has stretch of road which is lined up by numerous malls ( I counted atleast 18-20) selling Armani to Aston Martin and Riyadh packs the punch to match any top draw city. Amidst all this foreign brands a local fried chicken chain is teaching the lots of KFC’s and McDonald a lesson or two in running a food chain successfully. You would find MNC food chains aisle empty or near deserted (same is the fate of Carrefour). At Al Baik chain the story is different …people were queuing up.

The differentiation were the following

1. Product – offering was uniquely different- the inner crust of the fried chicken has a special coating of condiments which was very tasty.
2. Execution of the product: Speed at which they served order was amazing , even though there was a long queue ( 25- 30 people before me ) I was served in under 10 minutes.
3. Viral : word of mouth – ‘You are in Jeddah and not tried Al Baik ??’
4. Exclusivity: Al Baik is limited to western part of the Kingdom.

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