---
title: "German Doner Kebab to expand franchise into North America"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/882ffe9e-bb6a-4642-b238-2f4e3f9b5411
source: "Global Franchise"
original_url: https://www.global-franchise.com/news/german-doner-kebab-to-expand-franchise-into-north-america
author: "James Fell"
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2019-05-08T14:06:00.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T16:33:26.176Z
image: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1555396273-367ea4eb4db5?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop
---

# German Doner Kebab to expand franchise into North America

**TL;DR:** German Doner Kebab has signed franchises in Canada and is negotiating to open outlets in the USA, with plans to open five stores in 2019. The brand is part of the Hero Brands fast-casual portfolio and is expanding into North America with the help of entrepreneur Tanweer Ahmed.

*By James Fell, originally published in Global Franchise on 2019-05-08. [Read the original](https://www.global-franchise.com/news/german-doner-kebab-to-expand-franchise-into-north-america).*

## Story

**German Doner Kebab (GDK), which is part of the Hero Brands fast-casual portfolio, has signed franchises in Canada’s Ontario and British Columbia provinces, and negotiations are underway to open outlets in Manhattan and New Jersey in the USA**

The brand expects five stores to be opened in 2019, with Texas-based entrepreneur, Tanweer Ahmed, announcing the signing of a development agreement for an initial 12 GDK outlets in Houston, Dallas and Las Vegas, which will be rolled out over the next two years.

The partnership with German Doner Kebab further grows Ahmed’s portfolio, which includes 153 KFC, 58 Pizza Hut, and 24 Taco Bell outlets.

Imran Sayeed, Global CEO of German Doner Kebab said, “The USA offers a huge opportunity for GDK and we are excited to be embarking on an aggressive growth strategy for the region.

“Our idea of bringing a gourmet kebab that is healthy and nutritionally balanced has truly resonated with consumers and our ambition will be to disrupt and open-up a new area of the fast-casual market place.

“We are looking forward to our first opening in Texas and working closely with Tanweer in his development area to bring the German Doner Kebab experience to the US consumer.”

The North American expansion comes hot off the heels of GDK announcing plans to open outlets in Saudi Arabia. The Ajlan and Brothers Group has been signed up as the master franchisee, with a development agreement of 100 stores over the next ten years.

German Doner Kebab currently operates stores in the UK, Sweden, Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, Oman and Bahrain.

## Entities

- Restaurants (sector)
- Global Franchise (publication)
- international expansion (topic)
- franchise agreement (topic)
- Taco Bell (company)
- canada (location)
- KFC (company)
- Pizza Hut (company)
- James Fell (person)
- Saudi Arabia (location)
- German Doner Kebab (company)
- master franchisee (topic)

---
Originally reported by James Fell, Global Franchise (https://www.global-franchise.com/news/german-doner-kebab-to-expand-franchise-into-north-america). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/882ffe9e-bb6a-4642-b238-2f4e3f9b5411).