Just Falafel founder and MD, Mohamad Bitar, has responded to criticism of the fast-food brand by issuing a statement on the Arabian Business comments board, admitted the company “forgot about the food”.
Bitar, pictured right, made the announcement after a flurry of negative and accusatory comments, which had originally been posted in connection with an interview with former Just Falafel CEO, Fadi Malas, pictured left.
Comments included one from a posted named Mosa, who said: “I have absolutely no clue why this chain has become so popular. I went there a couple of times and the Falafel tasted horribly bad and I never went there again.”
Another poster, Jay, wrote: “At at JF once and NEVER went back. The sandwiches are way below average and overprices.”
Meanwhile, when the story was posted on Arabian Business’s Facebook page, comments were equally scathing.
Walid Sultani wrote: “Bad quality Arabic bread and very lousy customer experience for an average tasting falafel,” while others accused the company of being a “scam”.
The comments prompted Bitar to post a response, in which he admitted Just Falafel had fallen short of their own high standards, having focused too strongly on franchising, and not enough on their products.
Here is his statement in full:
“Many of the comments are true. We fell in love with franchising and somehow forgot about the food.
We have been working very hard on our menu for the past few months. We just launched our new menu in the Marina Branch and are going back to basics. I invite you all to come and try the food.
It was not a scam, it was hard work with some wrong decisions. We have now the right team on board who are passionate about the food.
This is a home grown brand that hopefully one day will make you all proud. Thank you for this valuable insight!”
Bitar took over the day-to-day running of Just Falafel in the wake of Malas’s departure, which the former CEO says was due to tiredness and the desire to find a new challenge.
Since launching in 2007, Just Falafel has become one of the UAE’s most successful brands, opening dozens of chains across almost 20 different countries, with deals to open even more in the coming years.
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