DUBAI, UAE, October 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Innovative Café2Go chain aims to broaden appeal of its most popular product
Camel milk is to play a larger role in Dubai cafe society with the launch of the Camellos brand by Café2Go, the innovative coffee shop chain. Camellos is being introduced within all three existing Café2Go outlets in Dubai and in all future franchised outlets planned across the Middle East.
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Café2Go is the brainchild of an Emirati entrepreneur, Jassim Al Bastaki, who opened his first outlet in September 2011 in the Murooj Rotana, Dubai. Camel milk was on the menu alongside regular cow's milk from the beginning and has proved so popular that Al Bastaki has created the Camellos brand to promote it to a wider audience.
Menu of camel-based food and drinks
"Serving coffee, tea, milk shakes and smoothies with camel milk was a totally new concept when we launched Café2Go last year," Al Bastaki said. "Almost from day one, camel milk accounted for 50% of our sales. It has become such a big hit that we felt it needed its own brand to help it grow faster and have an even broader appeal. We worked with branding experts at HGW Media in Dubai to develop the Camellos brand as well as a refresh of the Café2Go brand."
All Café2Go outlets will now offer a menu featuring Camellos drinks and food using camel-based products. Options include special coffee blends and smoothies, camel cheese sandwiches, camel-meat fajitas and camel-milk-based gelatos. To win over new customers, Camellos is also introducing a new range of flavoured camel milk coffees.
Health benefits of camel milk
"Camel milk has many benefits," explained Hala Barghout, a Dubai-based clinical dietician and nutritionist. "It is good for immunity, low in fat, healthy for bones, a rich source of protein and Vitamin C, has anti-ageing properties and is easy to digest.
"It is the closest to human mother's milk and contains 10 times more iron and three times more vitamin C than cow's milk. Camels possess powerful immune-system components, which are contained in their milk."
Helping to treat autism and diabetes
Barghout said that camel milk might also benefit such disorders as diabetes, which is highly prevalent in the UAE. "The low-fat milk not only contains healthy vitamins and minerals, but also is a rich source of insulin," she said. "This makes it a potential treatment option for diabetics. Researchers in India found that fresh camel milk daily improves the lives of diabetics, although additional studies are needed to prove its effectiveness for the treatment of diabetes.
"There is also a school of thought that camel milk might benefit people with food allergies and autism. The potent immune-system components in camel milk are also thought to help fight diseases such as multiple sclerosis by boosting the auto-immune system."
Dubai Charities Association
Café2Go is now serving Camellos products through its three coffee shops, mobile café units and its walk-through and drive-through outlets. Al Bastaki is confident that the success of the concept in Dubai, and especially the popularity of the camel milk option, will be replicated across the GCC and the wider Middle East. Five per cent of all Café2Go earnings are donated to Dubai Charities Association as part of the company's social responsibility initiatives.
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