Reef is kicking 2022 off with a bang, announcing a joint venture with Americana Group, the largest food and beverage operator in the Middle East. Together, the two companies will open new ghost kitchen facilities in the Middle East and North Africa regions that operate Reef, Americana and third-party brands.

“By uniting the region’s largest, most established F&B operator with Reef’s culinary ecosystem, this partnership will bring convenient access to some of the most loved brands to neighborhoods across the Middle East and North Africa,” said Reef Kitchens President Michael Beacham. “Americana is renowned for their outstanding operations and a deep commitment to quality. We look forward to an enduring partnership and helping to build the future of the industry together.”

Americana Restaurants CEO Amarpal Sandhu

While building its infrastructure on recently announced acquisitions in the Middle East, the joint venture will strengthen and accelerate Reef’s rapid global expansion through Americana’s established real estate portfolio and end-to-end value chain throughout the region.

“Food tech is an exciting space and offers vast opportunities to grow [our] customer base. We are glad to collaborate with Reef. As technology and ordering trends continue to evolve, we believe this collaboration will bring mutual synergies and benefit in the long run,” said Amarpal Sandhu, CEO of Americana Restaurants.

Reef established its presence in the Middle East last August. To date, the company has partnered with a number of international brands to bring its ghost kitchens concept to local neighborhoods, including MrBeast Burger in Dubai and Another Wing, which Reef globally launched in partnership with DJ Khaled, opening 165 locations in 3 continents, at the same time.

“As Reef continues its international expansion, this highly strategic partnership is a milestone that will serve as a model for the ways our ecosystem can deliver rich market-backed content to new locations in a way and at a pace that wasn’t possible before,” said Ramez Shehadi, president of international & chief growth officer at Reef. “We look forward to growing this relationship and replicating it across many priority markets in the near future.”

Americana Group owns exclusive franchise rights for the management and operation of over 1,950 restaurants including KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee’s, Krispy Kreme, Wimpy and TGI Fridays in 13 markets across the Middle East, North Africa and CIS.