HuQQabaz reaches 33 branches in 9 countries, what should a brand check before expanding?
HuQQabaz, a food and beverage brand founded in Istanbul in 2016, now has 33 branches across 9 countries, 18 of them in Türkiye, and aims for 40 branches in 15 countries within three years (Perakende Türkiye, 3 August 2026). Its international network covers Oman, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Egypt. The brand wants to raise its international revenue roughly fivefold.
Here is what it means for you. A brand born in Istanbul is putting the weight of its growth on the Gulf and the countries around it. If you run a restaurant or café and are thinking about going abroad, this case makes the question concrete: which country, in what order, and judged by which criteria. The answer lies less in the branch count and more in the logic behind the country choice.
Which cities and countries does HuQQabaz’s branch network cluster in?
The centre of the network is still Türkiye. According to the report, 18 of the 33 branches are in Türkiye and the other 15 are spread across eight countries. The brand belongs to Atasay Group’s Q Food & Beverage division, and the group is managed from Istanbul and Dubai. Those two cities also hint at the direction the expansion is taking.
What does HuQQabaz’s target of 40 branches in 15 countries in three years tell you?
It describes a plan built on spreading out. The country count goes from 9 to 15, while only 7 branches are added to today’s 33. So most new countries are expected to be entered with one or a handful of branches. There is a fivefold target for international revenue, but neither today’s figure nor the target amount is disclosed.
What should a food and beverage business check when choosing a market abroad, as HuQQabaz did?
Three things: how your menu lands in that country, local partners or management strength, and regulation. HuQQabaz’s move into the Gulf shows the concept finds demand in those markets. Do not sign a lease before you ask the same question about your own menu.
Who gains and who feels pressure from HuQQabaz’s Gulf expansion?
Turkish food and beverage brands planning a Gulf move gain, because they now have a working example in front of them. Local lounge operators in the same cities feel the pressure. Suppliers in Türkiye and food producers who export are affected indirectly.
How does a brand with branches abroad build digital visibility, the way HuQQabaz does?
With country pages, local-language content and map listings. HuQQabaz’s website has pages split by country, a structure aimed at searches that include a city name. For a brand entering a new country, the first customer often comes from the map.
What should a restaurant owner considering markets abroad do this week, after the HuQQabaz news?
Finish three jobs this week: write down two target cities, research how your menu would land there, and check your trademark status. We handle the export, market and partner-search side of this work as part of our foreign trade consultancy.
Quick Summary
- According to the report, HuQQabaz has 33 branches in 9 countries, 18 of them in Türkiye (Perakende Türkiye).
- The brand aims for 40 branches in 15 countries within three years (Perakende Türkiye).
- Most of the international network is in the Gulf and the Middle East.
- Customer satisfaction stands at 94.7 percent according to a Barem survey (Perakende Türkiye).
- For a business eyeing markets abroad, the first step is to settle the city choice and the trademark question.
Short Glossary
- Repeat visit rate
- Repeat visit rate is the loyalty measure used to show the share of customers who come back to a business.
- Trademark registration
- Trademark registration is the legal process used to protect a business name and logo in a specific country.
- Sales per square metre
- Sales per square metre is the retail metric used to measure a store’s efficiency by dividing its sales by its floor area.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
If a branch abroad or a market choice is on your desk, tell us briefly where you stand and we will look at it together: Consult Your Expert form.
Sources: Perakende Türkiye, 3 August 2026 · HuQQabaz corporate branch page
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Running the group from two hubs is one way to stay close to the Gulf market. Rent negotiations, hiring and supply issues get solved faster on the ground. The Istanbul experience, meanwhile, carries the recipes and the service standard.
Six of the eight countries abroad are in the Gulf and the wider Middle East. Azerbaijan and Egypt sit at the edges of that cluster. The branch map on the corporate website also puts the UAE second, right after Türkiye.
The corporate website lists more branches and more countries, and the list includes branches marked “coming soon”. That is why we use the figures from the report. It is more accurate to read the website as a map of direction, not as a source of numbers.
The brand seems to choose planting a flag first and deepening later. In this approach, the first branch in each country works as a shop window. If that first branch holds, the way opens for a second one in the same city.
Because the base is unknown. Five times a small base and five times a large base describe very different businesses. The report gives a ratio, not an amount.
The report does not say. The question matters because it decides who carries the risk abroad. We look at a brand moving to a central model in Coffee Factory’s five-country target.
Start with the number and location of similar concepts in your target city. A market with no competitors sometimes means there is no demand. A district crowded with similar concepts is proof that the demand exists.
In a branch run from far away, small problems grow, and when the till goes quiet nobody spots the reason in time. The group’s management base in Dubai is one answer to that need. Before your first branch abroad, name one person who can make decisions on the ground.
Trademark registration, food permits and work permits change from country to country. Verify them with the official authorities of the target country; this is not legal or financial advice.
A Turkish concept that is known in the Gulf can make the road easier for the brands that follow. When landlords already know Turkish brands, negotiations at the lease table get shorter. Coffee Factory is also holding trademark talks in the Middle East, which suggests the interest is a shared trend.
According to the report, data based on a Barem survey shows customer satisfaction at 94.7 percent, repeat visits at 89.5 percent and a recommendation score of 76. The sample and date of the survey are not given. A metric published through an independent source becomes a trust tool for a brand looking for partners.
If a branch abroad carries the recipes from Türkiye, part of the product may ship from here. For food and packaging producers, that can open an export door. Which products are sourced locally abroad, however, is not covered in the report.
A search engine does not want to show an Istanbul branch to a user in Dubai. Keeping the address, hours and menu for each country on a separate page improves your chances in local search. A branch list piled onto one page sends the customer away at the door.
One team at the centre, working with information from the field. If a change in hours or phone number is not entered the same day, reviews turn negative. Replying to reviews in the local language is part of the job too.
Yes. A small, city-targeted budget a few weeks before opening builds curiosity. A full room on opening day sets the tone of the first reviews. How big that budget should be depends on the competition in the city, and that call is yours.
Put cities first where Turkish cuisine is known, similar concepts are popular and travel is easy. Starting with two cities lets you compare them.
You can, and it lowers your rent risk. We look at the small-footprint store model through Kahve Dünyası’s Algötür format. Our retail page, where we interpret retail news for you, gathers similar cases.
According to Perakende Türkiye’s report of 3 August 2026, it has 33 branches in 9 countries. The list on the corporate website may show a different number because it also includes branches that are coming soon.
You can, but first make sure your menu has demand in the target city and that you have someone who can make decisions on the ground. Trademark registration is also one of the first jobs.
Permits vary from country to country. Verify the current requirements with the official authorities of the target country; this is not legal advice.