Marrybrown Family Restaurant is a Malaysia based fast food chain, operating outlets in various countries. It became the rival to the American based fast food chains such as A&W and McDonald's.Established in 1981, they now have over 100 outlets serving Fried Chicken, Burgers, Seafood, Rice Base Products, Noodles, Finger Food, Ice Cream and Beverages. The company had also been negotiating with several parties interested in becoming master franchisees in Afghanistan, Australia, Cambodia, Iran, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Tanzania, Syria, and Vietnam.According to Liew, the company has laid a five-year program starting from this year to open franchised outlets in these places. Chan said that sealing the contract for the master franchisee was not just a matter of getting money from the licensee but also included help finding the right location,recruiting frontline staff, logistics, lining up the menu and investigating the existing players in the market.Marrybrown went onto say that whenever they were on business trips overseas they would patronize as many fast food joints as they could, in order to see what other players were offering to their customers in terms of pricing and serving portions, and tailor their own offerings accordingly. Marinating ingredients for chicken and fish as well as sauces for all the outlets are manufactured in Malaysia to standardize the taste of Marrybrown fried chicken everywhere. However, the company is quite flexible when it comes to introducing other menu items popular with locals of the respective countries - thus an outlet in Dubai may have different offerings than one in China.For instance, the outlets in UAE served chicken satay as the dish was similar to kebab. They also serve loose rice in Arab countries, rather than the sticky rice popular in Southeast Asia. The company's first Middle East outlet was set up in late January this year at Diera, Dubai, while the second and third are in Jebel Ali and Sahara Mall. The balance 100 outlets would be in other Middle Eastern countries, with the majority in Jeddah, Medina and Mecca in Saudi Arabia, as these are the largest markets.With over two million Muslims visiting Mecca and Medina for their haj and almost one million performing umrah outside the haj months, the company could not ignore the potential. The Middle East region would see about 120 Marrybrown restaurants within the next five years, of which 20 outlets would be in the Gulf countries of Abu Dhabi, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.