FiLLi Café, internationalises with Oracle NetSuite

Founded in 2002, FiLLi Café is the brand behind Zafran, one of the most popular tea brands in the Middle East. Its founder, Rafih FiLLi, has turned his father’s Dubai café into a specialised, modern tea brand with outlets in over 114 locations across 13 countries.

As the company grew, it faced a familiar challenge: running a multinational, multisite business on systems that were not up to the task. It turned to Oracle NetSuite to provide a foundation for its existing sites and enable further growth. It considered Microsoft Dynamics but, in the end, selected NetSuite as the better option.

The project saw FiLLi Café consolidate its disparate systems onto a single cloud solution,  enabling visibility across the business. With its multi-currency and multi-location support, Oracle NetSuite has provided the engine that has enabled FiLLi Café to continue its growth.

It now has operations in countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Australia. NetSuite also supports its franchisee operations, the first of which was opened in Qatar in 2016.

Ahmed Hasanain, Head of Information Technology, FiLLi Café commented, “The remarkable growth of our brand across multiple countries presented operational complexities. NetSuite has helped us centralise our financial processes, automate key workflows, and gain real-time visibility into our operations.

“This has been instrumental in supporting our global expansion as it has enabled us to work productively with our franchisees and ensure we deliver the high-quality experience our customers expect.”

The project

FiLLi Café has implemented several modules, including:

• NetSuite CRM
• NetSuite ERP
• NetSuite Fixed Assets Management
• NetSuite Inventory Management
• NetSuite OneWorld
• NetSuite Order Management
• NetSuite Procurement

Using the financial management modules, FiLLi Café has automated both payables and receivables. This has resulted in a smoother period-end process and improved cash flow across the business.

The multinational support within NetSuite OneWorld has enabled the organisations to streamline their tax, reporting, and currency processing requirements across their international subsidiaries, while remaining fully compliant with the jurisdictions in which they operate.

It has fully embedded inventory management, enabling the firm to optimise stock levels, reduce waste, and ensure product availability. The project was supported by NetSuite partners Absol Technology and Cloudio Technologies.

Nicky Tozer, Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Oracle NetSuite, commented, “FiLLi Café’s impressive growth is a testament to its commitment to quality and innovation in the restaurant and hospitality space. With NetSuite, FiLLi Café has been able to streamline its operations, gain valuable business insights, and scale efficiently to bring its renowned offering to new markets.”

Enterprise Times: What does this mean

FiLLi Café is one of the organisations celebrated by Oracle NetSuite at its SuiteConnect event in Dubai this week. The audience also heard from the Al Zahrawi Medical Group and Pure Harvest Smart Farms. With Middle Eastern firms, including conglomerates, now starting to expand not only across the Middle East but also further abroad, they are looking for software that meets international and local regulatory requirements.

NetSuite is one of the solutions that is growing in popularity because of the breadth of international localisation it offers. It also benefits from a rich ecosystem of local partners that understand how operations work in the Middle East, especially the culture.

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