Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH — After 12 years of development and nationwide recognition, the story of Saudi Arabia’s Hamburgini burger chain has ended with a court docket order to liquidate its mum or dad firm, Asasiyat Al-Ghitha Buying and selling.
The ruling follows a significant meals poisoning incident that undermined client belief and pushed the corporate out of business.
Mubarak Al-Anazi, the chapter trustee, introduced final week that the Riyadh Industrial Court docket had ordered liquidation proceedings and urged collectors to submit claims inside 90 days of the ruling.
Based in Riyadh in 2013, Hamburgini shortly constructed a loyal following amongst younger shoppers via savvy digital advertising and a robust social media presence.
Between 2015 and 2019, the chain expanded aggressively, establishing itself as one of many fastest-growing burger manufacturers in Saudi Arabia.
By 2020, then-CEO Nawaf Al-Fawzan declared Hamburgini “the quickest increasing restaurant model within the Kingdom,” and revealed plans to checklist 20 p.c of its shares on the Nomu parallel market.
At its peak, Hamburgini operated 57 branches throughout Saudi Arabia, together with 29 in Riyadh, with extra shops within the Japanese Province, Qassim, Jeddah, Hail, and different areas.
The chain’s rise got here to a halt in 2024 after a mass meals poisoning incident in Riyadh that left greater than 70 individuals sick and brought about one demise. Investigations traced the outbreak to an imported mayonnaise model, “Bon Tum,” contaminated with Clostridium botulinum.
Authorities swiftly shut all Hamburgini branches in Riyadh, recalled the contaminated product, and halted manufacturing on the provider’s facility.
Regardless of the contamination originating from an exterior provider, the model’s fame was severely broken, resulting in a pointy decline in client confidence, gross sales, and income.
With mounting money owed and no restoration in sight, the liquidation order issued in August 2025 closed the chapter on Hamburgini, as soon as hailed as a homegrown success story, now an emblem of how reputational crises can unravel even the fastest-growing manufacturers.
