[أحزان الشيعة]

Posted on » 2011-04-17
The Bahrain franchisee of one of the world’s largest casual dining restaurant company has shut down its operations following the recent political unrest.
Applebee’s Grill and Restaurant has more than 2,100 restaurants in 19 countries around the globe, including Bahrain.
It is a well-recognised brand and a leader in the casual dining market.
Saudi-based Arabian Entertainment Company Limited (AECL), which is the largest franchisee for Applebee’s in the Middle East, owns the franchise rights for the restaurant in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
AECL yesterday announced that it was shutting down its restaurant in Sanabis with immediate effect because of a drop in business as a result of the recent unrest.
“For the past two months business has been really bad for us,” a source from the restaurant told DT. “We were not getting any customers. We could not even manage to generate the revenue needed to pay the rent.”
“We were most badly affected because of our location and we happened to be in the centre of three check points. So customers were reluctant to pass through the military checkpoints to reach us,” the source added.
Last Wednesday was the restaurant’s last day of operations.
“There was no warning. We were told on Wednesday that Friday would be the last day of operations but we actually shut down on Wednesday because there were no customers anyway.”
“Right now, we are in the process of dismantling and packing,” the source added.
Staff has been asked to relocate to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. “There are 27 staff members here, including the managers. The male staff has been given the option to relocate either to Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi while the female staff can move to Abu Dhabi.”
“However most of us are trying to find other jobs here rather than relocating to another country because we prefer working in Bahrain which is a second home to us,” the source added.
The AECL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Economic Development Company (SEDCO) which is one of the largest business conglomerates in Saudi Arabia.


قررت شركة المطاعم العالمية اغلاق فرعها في البحرين بسبب عدم وجود زبائن
فرع المطعم موجود في مجمع البحرين - السنابس
الوكيل المسؤول عن الفرع شركة سعودية تدير الفروع في البحرين والسعودية
وقال احد المصادر
في الشهرين الماضيين كان الإقبال سيئا للغاية،
لم يكن يجيء الينا اي زبون
لم نستطع الحصول على الربح الكافي لدفع الإيجار
من اهم اسباب تعرضنا للخسارة موقعنا (في السنابس) الذي هو مركز لثلاث نقاط تفتيش
ولذلك لم يكن الناس متشجعين للمرور عبر نقاط التفتيش العسكرية للوصول لنا
الإربعاء الماضي كان هو آخر يوم عمل للمطعم، ولكن المطعم كان مغلق على اية حال بسبب عدم وجود زبائن.