Palm Oasis Ventures Inaugurates Baskin-Robbins Corporate Store Opening

BRISBANE, Australia, October 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Palm Oasis Ventures (POV), a joint venture between Dunkin' Brands and Galadari Brothers Group, inaugurated its first Baskin-Robbins corporate store opening in Australia with a number of high profile international guests in the beachside suburb of Manly, Queensland earlier this week.

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     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141013/709847-a )
     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141013/709847-b )

Honorary guests included Dunkin' Brands Chairman and CEO Nigel Travis, Galadari Brothers Group CEO Khaled Soliman, Mr Neil Symes, Member for Lytton, Councillor Ryan Murphy for Doboy Ward and Councillor Cumming for Wynnum Manly Ward.

Dunkin' Brands Chairman and CEO, Nigel Travis commented, "We're very excited to celebrate this important milestone for Baskin-Robbins in Australia as we open this new shop in Manly with our partners, the Galadari Brothers Group. We see tremendous growth opportunity for Baskin-Robbins throughout the country, and look forward to serving Baskin-Robbins' wide range of delicious ice cream flavours, ice cream cakes and frozen beverages to even more guests across Australia in the months and years ahead."

Galadari Brothers Group CEO, Khaled Soliman added, "Our corporate store model already exists in the Middle East region with over 650 stores. Taking the Middle Eastern model and adapting it to the Australian market and consumer demands was carefully developed through the leadership of the Palm Oasis Ventures (POV) team in Australia."

"This store represents our milestone for a future forecast of 1,000 stores across both regions. This would not be possible without our continuous solid growth focus, commitment, solid partnerships with our stakeholders and our strong responsive relationship with our franchisee partners. We thank everyone who has been part of this inauguration today," said Soliman.

The opening of the Manly store was celebrated with a grand opening party including free ice cream giveaways and entertainment, attended by over 2,600 local residents, international and local dignitaries as well as well-known personalities such as Brisbane Lions player Jonathan Freeman and Jason "Labby" Hawkins, breakfast host from B105 radio station.

About Palm Oasis Ventures:  

Palm Oasis Ventures is jointly owned; with U.A.E.-based Galadari Brothers   Co. LLC owning the 80 per cent stake, and US-based Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. owning 20 per cent.  Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. is the owner of the Baskin-Robbins brand, while Galadari Brothers Group has been the exclusive licensee of the Baskin-Robbins brand in the U.A.E. for 35 years, successfully running more than 650 parlours across the U.A.E. and the Middle East.  Palm Oasis Ventures manages the joint interests of both companies in Australia.

Dunkin' Brand International (DBI) - Baskin-Robbins  

With more than 18,000 points of distribution in nearly 60 countries worldwide, Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN) is one of the world's leading franchisors of quick service restaurants (QSR) serving hot and cold coffee and baked goods, as well as hard-serve ice cream. At the end of 2013, Dunkin' Brands' nearly 100 percent franchised business model included nearly 11,000 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants and 7,300 Baskin-Robbins restaurants. For the full-year 2013, the company had franchisee-reported sales of approximately $9.3 billion. Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. is headquartered in Canton, Mass.

Baskin-Robbins is the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty shops serving premium ice cream, specialty frozen desserts and beverages to more than 300 million customers each year. Founded in 1945 in Glendale, Calif., by two ice cream enthusiasts -- Burton Baskin and Irvine Robbins -- whose passion led to the creation of more than 1,000 ice cream flavours and a wide variety of delicious treats.

In 2008, it became the first national ice cream chain to offer both hand scooped and Soft Serve ice cream.

About Galadari Brothers Group:  

The Galadari Brothers Co. LLC is one of the prominent business groups based out of the United Arab Emirates tracing its birth back to 1961. The Group is owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai and the Galadari family and is engaged in multiple industries such as media, automobiles, food and beverage, trucks and heavy equipment, among others. The Group's dynamism, innovation and pioneering efforts have been responsible for bringing some of the largest brands to the UAE including Mazda, Baskin-Robbins, JCB, and Khaleej Times. The Group also owns the Radisson Blu Dubai Deira Creek property and Galadari Hotel Sri Lanka. Galadari Brothers Group is also the Master Franchisee to Baskin-Robbins in the Middle East and Australia extending its partnership to more than three decades with over 700 stores. http://www.galadarigroup.com

For additional information, please contact PPR:
Catherine Guyder, +61(0)2-9818-0970, cguyder@ppr.com.au
Toby Locke, +61(0)2-9818-9335, tlocke@ppr.com.au