The Sudair-based facility will supply packaged food products to over 400 Starbucks stores in the Kingdom, enabling Alshaya Group to eventually cease reliance on imports from the UAE and Kuwait
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Kuwait-based Alshaya Group said the facility has a production capacity of 60,000 units per day | Photo credit: Alshaya Group
Alshaya Group has inaugurated a new production facility in Saudi Arabia to produce freshly baked and packaged food to 400 Starbucks stores in the country.
Launched in partnership with the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (MODON), Kuwait-based Alshaya Group said the facility has a production capacity of 60,000 units per day and will supply fresh baked goods, sandwiches and other food products to 400 Starbucks outlets across the country daily.
Alshaya Group, which operates more than 1,000 Starbucks stores across the Middle East, is seeking to enhance the distribution reach of the site to over 500 Starbucks outlets by the end of 2023, but did not state the locations of the 100 additional stores.
Spread over 18,000sq m in the Sudair business region of Riyadh, the site will help Alshaya Group reduce carbon emissions from its logistics operations, with the franchise group aiming to discontinue the transportation of products from the UAE and Kuwait to Saudi Arabia this year.
“We are very proud to officially open our first Central Food Production Facility in KSA at Sudair Industrial and Business City. In partnership with MODON, this facility will continue to manufacture locally produced products for our Starbucks coffee shops in KSA, as well as provide more opportunities for Saudi nationals to join Alshaya,” said Faisal Alshaya, General Manager of Alshaya Group in Saudi Arabia.
MODON said the new facility will support Saudi Arabia’s efforts to ‘stimulate and attract private sector investments’ in the Kingdom and contribute to the widespread use of ‘localisation’ in manufacturing and product delivery.
In January 2023, the Saudi Ministry of Culture recognised Starbucks as a key contributor to the success of the 2022 Year of Saudi Coffee. The initiative aimed to raise the profile of Saudi coffee in both domestic and global markets.