UAE franchise delegation brings 6 firms to Istanbul, how can a brand enter the Gulf?
A 6-firm delegation from the Emirates Franchise Association will hold 4 days of one-to-one meetings at its stand at Bayim Olur musun? – Be My Franchise, held on 15-18 October 2026 at the Yenikapı Avrasya Fair Centre in Istanbul (Perakende.org, 9 October 2026). This is the fair’s 24th edition, and Abu Dhabi Chamber is also among the participating institutions. Entry is free, with tickets issued through the fair’s website.
For a Turkish café, restaurant or retail brand eyeing Gulf franchising, this is a direct way to sit down with UAE counterparts. The fair is days away, and an unprepared meeting ends with swapped business cards. The steps below aim at a concrete follow-up meeting.
Who is the Emirates Franchise Association bringing to the Istanbul franchise fair, and what is on its programme?
Six firms and a dedicated session. The delegation is led by Ahmed Obaid Ibrahim Al Ali, a board member of the association and President of the Umm Al Quwain Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Medyafors organises the fair, and Standards and Partners is the main sponsor. The UAE session takes place on Thursday 15 October 2026 at 15:00.
How can a Turkish brand that wants to franchise into the Gulf prepare for the fair?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Step 1: Show that your business model can be repeated
- Step 2: Prepare a short brief for one-to-one meetings
- Step 3: Get your ticket and put 15 October in the calendar
In three steps: document a repeatable business model, prepare a short meeting brief, and plan your fair days. Timing depends on how organised your brand already is; for anything you outsource, get your own quote. Entry is free, so the real cost is your team’s time.
Step 1: Show that your business model can be repeated
According to Özhan Erem, who founded the fair, franchising means making a successful business’s model and quality standard repeatable in other locations. If recipes, supply, staff training and store layout are not written down, the other side cannot see what it is buying. How your signature menu item is positioned belongs in this file too. We cover that through our piece on Starbucks’ Aerocano.
Step 2: Prepare a short brief for one-to-one meetings
The brief should cover your brand story, branch layout, the contents of your operations manual and how your unit economics work. It should be in English, with a printed and a digital copy. If you hand translation and design to an outside team, get your own quote for time and cost.
Step 3: Get your ticket and put 15 October in the calendar
Tickets are free on the fair’s official website. The UAE session is on Thursday 15 October at 15:00, and the stand is open all 4 days. Hear the session first, then visit the stand with sharper questions.
What should a Turkish franchise brand put on the table in a meeting with UAE investors?
Proof. Document how many branches hold the same standard, why customers come back and how a new location opens, using only your own actual figures. UAE legal requirements and investment amounts are not in the report. Verify with the official source; this is not legal or financial advice.
A common mistake: carrying your Turkish success over unchanged
A common mistake is assuming that a menu and price structure that works in Istanbul will work the same way in the Gulf. A pitch thrown together at the last minute falls apart at the first question about local adaptation. Before you sit down, decide which products stay fixed and which can change to suit local taste.
What should a franchise brand aiming at the Gulf have ready online?
An English franchise page, a brand name that is easy to find in search, and social proof that can be verified. An investor you meet at the stand may well search for your brand that same evening. If all they find is a Turkish-only menu page, the interest fades there. Your digital storefront is the continuation of the meeting at the fair.
Who does the UAE franchise delegation’s Istanbul visit affect, and how?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Winner: multi-branch chains with a written standard
- Struggling: the single-branch business with nothing on paper
- Indirectly affected: consultants, suppliers and service providers
Café and restaurant chains with several branches and a written standard gain the most. The single-branch business whose recipes live in the owner’s head struggles. Indirectly affected are franchise consultants, translation and design providers, and food suppliers preparing to export. You can follow more of the Turkish retail agenda on our retail page.
Winner: multi-branch chains with a written standard
A chain with its operations manual, supplier list and training programme ready can show instead of tell, and meet a new market without a middleman. We look at growth models that do not depend only on opening stores in our piece on MR.DIY Türkiye’s growth plan.
Struggling: the single-branch business with nothing on paper
A business that makes money but needs its owner on the floor every day cannot answer the franchise question. For this owner, the fair is a place to see what is missing. The first job is opening a second branch that runs to its own written standard.
Indirectly affected: consultants, suppliers and service providers
Franchise consultants, legal and translation providers, and suppliers getting ready to ship to the Gulf all sit behind these meetings. When one brand goes abroad, small businesses along its supply chain get work too.
What should a café or retail owner do this week before the UAE franchise fair?
Get your ticket today, finish the first English draft of your brief this week, and split the fair days within your team. Check what comes up when someone searches your brand name and fix any missing listings. On market research, finding partners and planning entry into a foreign market, our foreign trade consultancy service is where we do this work.
- One person attends the 15 October session and takes notes.
- One person runs the meetings at the delegation’s stand.
- The person who knows your numbers sits in on at least one meeting.
Your pre-fair checklist
Each item below should be done before the fair opens.
- Free ticket booked.
- English brief ready in print and digital.
- Table of contents for the operations manual ready.
- English franchise page live, with a working form.
- Brand-name search shows your current site, map listing and social accounts.
- Draft of the follow-up email written.
Quick Summary
- The Emirates Franchise Association is attending Bayim Olur musun? on 15-18 October 2026 with 6 firms (Perakende.org, 9 October 2026).
- The delegation will hold one-to-one meetings at its stand for 4 days (Perakende.org).
- The UAE session runs under Franchise Market Talks on Thursday 15 October 2026 at 15:00 (Perakende.org).
- Entry is free, with tickets on the fair’s official website (bayimolurmusun.com.tr).
- The names of the 6 firms, UAE franchise rules and investment amounts are not in the report.
Short Glossary
- Royalty
- Royalty is the term used for the regular fee a franchisee pays the brand owner for using the brand.
- Operations manual
- An operations manual is the document used to put a business’s recipes, service, training and store layout in writing.
- Master franchise
- Master franchise is the term used for a model that gives one partner the right to grant sub-franchises in a country or region.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
If you want to assess with us whether your brand is ready for the Gulf before the fair, fill in the Consult Your Expert form.
Sources: Perakende.org, A franchise and investment bridge between the UAE and Türkiye, 9 October 2026 · Bayim Olur musun? official website · Para Dergi, 2 September 2026
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
The session runs under Franchise Market Talks, and its topic is the franchise and investment ecosystem in the UAE. Ahood Almenhali moderates. The speakers are Anas Al Madani, founder of The Dates Farm and The Q Lab Café, Rasha Khalil, founder of SNUW, and Ahmed Ali Al-Amoody of Amoody Global.
According to Özhan Erem, Chairman of Medyafors, Turkish brands opening up to the Gulf market “also matters to us”. That is an organiser’s statement. Its concrete weight will show in the meetings that follow the fair.
The names and sectors of the 6 UAE firms are not disclosed, nor are exhibitor numbers, UAE franchise rules or investment amounts. So ask at the stand who you are talking to before the meeting starts.
The other side may ask about your supply chain, training system, trademark protection and support model. If you have not yet set an entry fee or royalty, say so openly. A clear “not decided yet” costs less trust than a made-up number.
Write up your meeting notes the same day and list the documents the other side asked for. Send your follow-up email within a week. A first meeting is not a deal. The next step depends on what each side asks the other for.
What the brand sells, its branch layout, the outline of the franchise model and how to get in touch. The page can be short, but it should end with a single form. The brief you hand out at the fair and this page should speak the same language.
Your official website, up-to-date map listings and social accounts should sit at the top of the results. If branch addresses and opening hours do not match, an investor starts to doubt your operational discipline. Check your local listings one by one before the fair.
Gather customer reviews, press coverage and awards on one page. Link each item to its source. Proof that can be checked supports every sentence you say at the stand.
Here is a simple split:
The report does not mention an appointment requirement; it says the delegation will hold one-to-one meetings at its stand for 4 days. Entry is free, and you can get a ticket on the fair’s website.
What matters more than branch count is whether your business model is written down and repeatable. If you cannot document your standard yet, use the fair first to see what is missing.
This is not in the report. Check official sources and a qualified lawyer. Verify with the official source; this is not legal or financial advice.