Ocean Basket to open five branches in Kuwait

Johannesburg - Ocean Basket said on Monday that it had signed an agreement with Kuwait-based food distributor to roll out five new stores in as many years, bringing the number to 17 countries in which the South African seafood restaurant operates. Kuwait joins the Ocean Basket ranks alongside Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malta, Kazakhstan and Cyprus, with expansion plans firmly in place for further stores, many breaking into new markets like Oman and Qatar. Ocean Basket chief executive, Grace Harding, said she met the Kuwait team from Al-Ghunaim Trading Company in Cape Town last week to complete the licensing agreement. Harding welcomed Kuwait to the Ocean Basket family, saying that they were looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership. "We need to ensure the success of our partners by creating a globally relevant and meaningful brand and systems and infrastructure that supports them," Harding said. Read also: Gold Brands lands ex Ocean Basket boss "That is our primary responsibility, so everything we do is about sustainability and making sure that our brand succeeds in the future." Al-Ghunaim chief executive, Abdulghani Al-Ghunaim, said it was the third largest restaurant company in Kuwait. "We learnt about Ocean Basket when one of our senior managers was working in Egypt and decided it would be perfect to enhance the group basket of flavours that we currently offer our customers," Al-Ghunaim said. "Fish is a very popular dish in Kuwait and we found that Ocean Basket has a unique flavour, which we are looking to add to our other offerings." AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY