Turkish Baklava Producer Targets World Markets

Güllüoğlu, a leading Turkish baklava producer, aims to open a total of 100 branches on three different continents within five years and enter the Dow Jones by 2023, the company’s top executive said Thursday.

“We aim to open a total of 100 branches in all capitals in Europe, the United States and Middle East countries in the next five years,” Fatih Güllü, Güllüoğlu’s general director, said during a celebration of Güllüoğlu’s 140th anniversary in Istanbul.

Güllü also said they aimed to enter the Dow Jones by 2023.

Chain to grow

“This brand has to take the place it deserves in the world market,” Nejat Güllü, the executive board chair, said in the meeting. “Our aim is to give Turkey a global brand.”

The board chairman also said they would continue to invest in Turkey but that their priority was to expand the chain abroad.
The company conducted exports worth $2 million during 2010, posting total revenue of 26.2 million liras, Fatih Güllü said.

Güllüoğlu has a total of 16 branches in Turkey but this figure will soon increase to 19 with the opening of new branches in Ankara, the eastern province of Malatya and the Marmara province of Bursa, Nejat Güllü said.

Investments abroad

There are also immediate plans to increase the number of branches in the U.S. to six with a new location in Miami, as well as plans to open a second branch in Europe. The company also operates two branches in Middle Eastern countries.

Ultimately, however, the firm plans to open 50 new branches in the U.S., 15 in Europe and 10 others in Middle East countries by 2015, said Fatih Güllü, adding that Güllüoğlu’s investments abroad total roughly $5 million.

The company, meanwhile, expects to grow 15 percent in 2011, Güllü said.

August 6, 2011
SOURCE: Hürriyet Daily News