The opening of the first Restofair Store in Saudi Arabia

ECF GROUP announces the opening of the first RESTOFAIR store in Saudi Arabia. This first 1600 m² flagship store comprises of two areas: a Cash & Carry and a showroom for food service professionals. Located in the centre of Riyadh, the store will be operated as part of a strategic partnership with the ABED and AL-BABTAIN families, ECF GROUP’s exclusive development partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, now the most dynamic market in the Middle East. The partnership agreement was made official at the French – Saudi Investment Forum held in Paris on 19 June 2023. ECF GROUP aims to open at least three stores in Saudi Arabia by 2025.

The new Restofair store in Riyadh, which opened in January 2024, completes the network of the Restofair International brand, the leading specialised distribution platform for hospitality and catering professionals, a subsidiary of ECF Group, with a strong presence in the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Oman, as well as the Seychelles and the Maldives. The first Restofair Saudi Arabia store is located on King Abdullah District, Makkah Al Mukarramah Road Avenue, in the capital’s hypercentre. The store and showroom, covering an area of 1600 m² on two floors, boast a unique, varied and extensive range of equipment for the hospitality and catering trade. Almost all of ECF Group’s suppliers across the world support this development in Saudi Arabia.

The store is the brand’s new flagship in the region, offering a unique range for food service professionals (hotels, restaurants, fast-food outlets, cafés, etc.) in Saudi Arabia. The new concept store is divided into two areas covering more than 1,600 m² of sales and showroom space. The Cash & Carry area covers 1000 m², enabling customers to come and stock up on crockery, cutlery, glassware, kitchen equipment, consumables, electrical appliances, and furniture. A total of over 7,000 reference products are available in the store.
A second area upstairs, with a surface area of 600 m², has been designed as a showroom for Tableware, a space for receiving customers, presenting new collections and designing equipment projects for new tourism and catering operators in the country.

Restofair Saudi Arabia will develop an ambitious commercial strategy to serve its customers and prospects through a locally based sales team. The team can address all the country’s hospitality projects, and already has more than 30 projects underway in 2023.  This multi-channel strategy is unique in the country and enables us to meet the needs of different types of customers.

The system is complemented by a warehouse to ensure product availability for customers.
In all, a team of 20 people work to serve Hospitality customers.

To develop the Saudi market, ECF Group has entered into a management contract with two local families, the Al-Babtain group and the Abed group, who have unique expertise in Food Service.
-The Al-Babtain Group was founded, and is still managed, by entrepreneurs with a strong presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It develops leading businesses in the Agri-Foodstuffs Distribution of semi-finished products, but also in Infrastructure, Telecommunications and Tourism.
-The Abed Group is one of Saudi Arabia’s most important players in the Food, Bakery and Patisserie trades, has extensive expertise in Logistics and has developed 35 Cash & Carries.
ECF Group is delighted to be associated with the Abed and Al-Babtain families in a project forged around shared values, at the service of current and future customers in a country that is one of the most dynamic in the development of the Tourism, Hospitality and Catering sector.

The establishment of the Restofair International brand in the Middle East dates back to 2004 with the opening of the first Restofair-Rak store in Dubai (in partnership with Rak Porcelain). The opening of the Riyadh store in 2023 reflects an ambitious growth strategy based around structuring projects for ECF Group in the region. This strategy is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which places particular emphasis on developing the tourism industry. This booming sector is stimulated by cultural events such as the 2030 Universal Exhibition, major sporting events such as the Football World Cup and the Olympic Games, as well as religious events linked to the holy sites of Mecca and Medina. This ambitious plan includes the construction or renovation of 300,000 hotel rooms and a significant increase in the contribution of tourism to the country’s GDP, with the aim of tripling this share by welcoming 100 million tourists every year.

The development of Restofair in the Middle East, Africa and India is one of a number of far-reaching changes undertaken by ECF Group over the last 5 years with the support of its shareholders.

Christophe ALAUX, Chairman and CEO of ECF GROUP, explains: 

“The opening of the Restofair Saudi Arabia store in Riyadh is the culmination of three years’ work. I’m very proud of the work done by the Restofair teams and our Saudi partners. Saudi Arabia is already the most promising tourism market in the world, and will continue to be so for the next 10 years. Restofair International is the most recognised brand in the Middle East for the supply of equipment & cleaning products for the Hospitality and Catering sector. Our arrival with a leading brand, a unique product offering of 7,000 stocked items, multi-channel distribution and a portfolio of major B2B accounts in the tourism sector will undoubtedly transform the sector. “

Abdullah AL-BABTAIN, CEO ALBABTAIN FOOD and Director of IHC (International Hospitality Company), states: 

“We are delighted to be opening this store in Riyadh exactly as initially scheduled. The partnership with ECF, a leader in its field, provides the best possible support for the hotel sector and the “Vision Saudi for 2030” development project.

Mohannad ABED, BOARD MEMBER OF AHMAD ABED TRADING COMPANY and Director of IHC (International Hospitality Company), concludes: 

“I would like to thank the Restofair Saudi Arabia and ECF teams for making this project possible. We’re delighted to be contributing to the development of the country’s catering sector, offering a very wide range of products, and helping to improve the customer experience. This tool is a real asset for the hospitality industry in the Kingdom.”