The first international franchise in Ethiopia

AddisFortune

12 September 2006

The first international franchise in Ethiopia, Swiss Cafe, opened its doors on Saturday, September 9, housed in a newly redesigned building on South Africa Street, behind Medhanialem Cathedral. The owner, Michael Egualemariam says the café spent close to 1.5 million Br to meet the standards required by the franchise.

Franchising is a business model where companies license a tried and tested business model in exchange for recurring payments or a percentage from gross sales.

Michael said yesterday's was a soft opening, to be followed by a grand inauguration a month later. The café, franchised from a Switzerland-based company (Swiss Cafe) that offers a wide variety of coffee, fast food serving and shopping outlets across the world, has employed close to 40 people; a few of them are seen in the picture on their first day of work. It will have an Internet service for free and orders can go to the kitchen through a touch screen installed in the bar.