Page 16 - Images Retail January 2018

SUCCESS STORY

TABLEZ TO

OPEN TEN

MORE STORES

THIS YEAR WITH

A FOCUS ON

NORTH AND

WEST INDIA

– By Sandeep Kumar
Considering e-commerce’s strong
presence in India, Tablez totally believes in
the brick-and-mortar model of expansion.
This model is here to stay, and the story
of Indian retail will continue to be written
around it in the coming 10 to 20 years…

deeb Ahamed, Managing Director, Tablez was recently
honoured with the Entrepreneur of the Year award at
the Franchise Awards 2017 in New Delhi. Ahamed, a
multifaceted professional, heads Tablez, the organised
retail arm of LuLu Group International, along with
A LuLu Exchange, the fi nancial services company which
has developed more than 170 branches across the globe in a merely
eight years. He also heads Twenty14 Holdings, the hospitality arm
of LuLu Group, which owns prestigious properties around the world
including the Great Scotland Yard in London, the Steigenberger Hotel
Business Bay in Dubai and Sheraton Oman in Muscat, among others.
With LuLu Group recently announcing big investments in India,
Ahamed has been very busy. He has been chosen to oversee the
rapid expansion of leading global brands into GCC and the Indian
subcontinent. Some of the brands Ahamed is bringing into India are
Cold StoneCreamery (a leading US-based ice cream chain), Galito’s
(a South Africa based fl ame grilled chicken chain), twin brands from
Grupo Cortefi el – Springfi eld and Women’secret. All these brands are
expected to hit the top metros in India soon.
Apart from this, he helped launch ToysRUs and BabiesRUs, leading
global toy stores, in Bengaluru in October 2017. In an exclusive
interview with IMAGES Group’s Sandeep Kumar, Ahamed spoke of
his retail brand’s business model, as well as expansion plans in India.

Business Model
Founded in the year 2010, Tablez is an F&B brand retailing company,
which currently runs around 35-odd restaurants under diff erent
brands all over the world. We have a collective brand size of nearly six
to seven brands in our entire portfolio in UAE. In 2013-14, we entered

16 | IMAGES RETAIL | JANUARY 2018