Tablez Food Co CEO Shafeena Yusuff Ali and Eddy Jimenez, senior vice-president of Kahala Brands, after signing an agreement.

By Ashraf Padanna/Kochi

Tablez Food Company, headed by Shafeena Yusuff Ali, daughter of NRI businessman Yusuff Ali MA, will open a chain of Cold Stone Creamery ice cream stores in India and Sri Lanka. She signed a franchise agreement with Kahala Franchising on Thursday to open 40 stores in India and five in Sri Lanka by 2019.
The first outlet is slated to open in November at the Abu Dhabi-based group’s LuLu Mall, Kochi, India’s second largest supermarket.
Ali said she wanted to introduce the unique taste of the global brand to the discerning Indian palates.
“We are proud, privileged and excited,” she said, adding, “As the premium American ice cream concept, it promotes and encourages a fun and friendly experience through personalized flavours.”
Eddy Jimenez, senior vice-president for international operations and development, Kahala Brands, said the products are made fresh from the finest ingredients and mixed on a cold granite stone with choice of candy, cakes, fruits or nuts.
“We serve the freshest, best tasting, made-to-order highest quality super-premium ice cream products,” he said. “We know this will be a great market for accelerated growth”.
Launched in November 2005 opening its first international store in Tokyo, the branded stores are now operating in nearly 300 international locations and 26 countries, including the Philippines, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Cyprus, Trinidad,
Nigeria, Egypt and Indonesia.
Ali said her group had aggressive expansion plans with a strategy to be a top-tier food and beverage operator with a sustainable market share in coming years. It plans to invest around Rs750-850mn in India and Sri Lanka.
“After Kochi, we will open a few stores in Bangalore and subsequently other cities over the coming years,” she said.
Tablez specialises in homegrown and franchised concepts that offer both international and local cuisines.
It currently operates 29 outlets spread across the UAE and India.
Tablez Food Company operates Bloomsbury’s a boutique café and artisan bakery.
Tablez has also partnered with leading franchised concepts including Gallito’s, London Dairy, Genghis Grill, Famous Dave’s and Sugar Factory.