Historical Turkish meatball restaurant expands abroad

ISTANBUL

Tarihi Sultanahmet Köftecisi (The Historical Sultanahmet Meatball Restaurant) said it has signed a number of master franchising agreements for 60 new branches across Europe in a press release on Aug. 28. 

The fourth generation of the famous meatball restaurant, which opened in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet Square on the historical peninsula in 1920, speeded up the enterprise’s overseas journey. The restaurant’s first foreign branch was opened in Azerbaijan, and there are now three branches in the country, according to the press release. 

The company’s board member who is responsible for foreign operations, Mert Tezçakın, said 40 Sultanahmet Köftecisi restaurants will be opened in Britain, 15 in Germany and five in the Netherlands along with the master franchising deals. The first branches in these countries will be opened in 2016 and others will follow, said the company. 

In line with the agreements, a number of production facilities will also be opened in the European cities of Manchester, Saarbrücken and Amsterdam, he added. 

“We plan to create dozens of jobs for Turkish people abroad,” he said. 

The company also plans to sell frozen Sultanahmet meatballs in a number of supermarket chains abroad.