Sixty-three brand guides to food and drink brands from the Middle East and Africa.
These guides cover household food and drink names across the Middle East and Africa.
The Middle East and Turkey
They include Turkey’s Ülker, Eti, Pınar and Uludağ; Israel’s Osem, Strauss, Elite and Bamba; Lebanon’s Cortas and Almaza; and Gulf names such as Almarai, Al Rawabi, Al Ain Water and Rani.
Africa
They also cover South Africa’s Mrs Ball’s, Jungle Oats, Five Roses, Castle Lager and Amarula; Nigeria’s Peak, Dangote, Hollandia and Maltina; Ghana’s Nkulenu and Kasapreko; Kenya’s Ketepa and Tusker; Ethiopia’s Dashen; and Egypt’s Juhayna and Edita.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers who owns the name today, where the products are made — by the maker’s own account and, where it differs, by other sources — and the brand’s visual identity. A company’s description of itself is attributed to the company, and where a business has closed we say so plainly. The table at the end gathers the essentials.
Middle Eastern and Turkish food
Almarai, Americana, Al Wadi Al Akhdar, Cortas, Ziyad, Tamek and Eti.
- Almarai — The Riyadh dairy founded in 1977 by Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer and the Irish brothers Alastair and Paddy McGuckian, listed on Tadawul in 2005, which added bakery, poultry and juice and runs its main production base at Al Kharj.
- Americana — The food brand that began in Kuwait in 1964 as the Kuwait Food Company, opened a burger plant in 1972, launched Koki in Egypt in 1992, was bought by Adeptio (PIF and Mohamed Alabbar) in 2016 and now runs as Americana Foods from Dubai.
- Al Wadi Al Akhdar — The Lebanese food brand launched in 1979, during the war, as the first in-house brand of the Obegi family’s distribution group OCPH, which began with hummus tahina, foul moudammas and chickpeas and now sells more than 200 products abroad.
- Cortas — The Lebanese food maker that the company says began with a family apricot jam in Brummana in 1925, which Emile Cortas built into Cortas Bros. after a Dublin apprenticeship, and which now makes rose water, orange blossom water, molasses and tahini in Hosrayel.
- Ziyad — The Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food brand that began in 1966 as Syrian Bakery & Grocery on Chicago’s South Side, founded by brothers Ahmad and Ibrahim Ziyad, moved to Cicero, Illinois, in 1995 and has been an affiliate of Peak Rock Capital since 2022.
- Tamek — The Turkish food and juice maker founded in 1955 at Demirtaş, Bursa, by Mehmet Sipahioğlu with a German partner, named for the Turkish-German Fruit Extracts Company, maker of Turkey’s first ketchup in 1958 and of brown-bottle juices from 1963, owned since 2021 by OYAK.
- Eti — The Eskişehir biscuit, cake and chocolate maker set up by Firuz Kanatlı in 1961, producing from January 1962, named with the Turkish word for the Hittites and marked with a Hittite sun disk, known for Burçak, Puf, Cin and Popkek.
Turkish food
Ülker, Torku, Pınar, Tat, Tukaş, Dimes and Uludağ.
- Ülker — The Istanbul biscuit and chocolate maker begun in 1944 by brothers Sabri and Asım Ülker with a petit-beurre biscuit, which grew into Yıldız Holding, bought Godiva and United Biscuits, and since 2016 sits inside pladis alongside McVitie’s.
- Torku — The food brand Konya Şeker says it launched in 2007, growing from the sugar factory founded in Konya in 1952 into chocolate, biscuits, dairy and meat made at Çumra and Panagro, under a name the company takes from an eleventh-century Turkic dictionary.
- Pınar — The Yaşar Holding food brand from İzmir, founded as Pınar Süt in 1973, whose dairy opened in 1975 with what it calls Turkey’s first long-life milk, and which grew into water, meat, cheese and children’s brands with plants in İzmir, Eskişehir and Şanlıurfa.
- Tat — The tomato paste, ketchup and canned-food brand founded as Tat Konserve in 1967 by Vehbi Koç’s group, with its first factory at Mustafakemalpaşa in Bursa, renamed Tat Gıda in 2013 and sold by Koç Holding to Memişoğlu Tarım Ürünleri in 2024.
- Tukaş — The tomato-paste and canned-food brand founded in Turgutlu, Manisa, in 1962 by five local entrepreneurs, owned by the armed-forces fund OYAK from 1967, listed in Istanbul since 1994, with WorldStar packaging awards in 2005 and 2008 and a 2011 brand overhaul.
- Dimes — The fruit-juice brand from Tokat, Turkey, begun by Mustafa Vasfi Diren with wine in his cellar in 1958 and launched as a juice in 1963, now run by Diren Holding with factories in Tokat, İzmir and Aydın and the slogan “Hayata başka bak.”
- Uludağ — The Bursa drinks brand whose mineral-water licence dates from 1912, whose name came from the mountain renamed Uludağ in the 1920s, and whose gazoz was devised by Nuri Erbak in the early 1930s; the Erbak family still runs the company.
South African food
Mrs Ball’s, Ouma, Jungle Oats, All Gold, Five Roses, Joko and Iwisa.
- Mrs Ball’s — The chutney named for Amelia Ball, made in a Cape Town kitchen during the First World War and in a Woodstock factory from 1917, sold in an octagonal jar with an oval label, once part of Unilever’s foods business and owned by Tiger Brands since April 2013.
- Ouma — The buttermilk rusks first baked in 1939 by Elizabeth Ann “Nannie” Greyvensteyn on her family farm at Molteno in the Eastern Cape, sold first as Outspan, owned since 2013 by RCL Foods and still made in Molteno under the slogan “Dip an Ouma.”
- Jungle Oats — The South African rolled-oats brand that Tiger Brands dates to 1920 and the Tiger Oatery, the first product of the Tiger Oats company founded in Johannesburg by Jacob Frankel, sponsor of the 1970s radio hero Jet Jungle, and still made by Tiger Brands today.
- All Gold — The South African tomato sauce and jam brand that Tiger Brands says was launched in 1908 and first made in Paarl, at the factory associated with H. Jones & Co., where jam is still made, while its tomato sauce is produced in Boksburg.
- Five Roses — The South African black-tea brand owned by JSE-listed AVI, which says it has been blended for over 100 years by a line of only seven known Tea Masters, sits beside Freshpak and Trinco, and comes from AVI’s Durban tea factory.
- Joko — The South African tea for which African Film Productions made the country’s first sound advertisement films in 1930 or 1931, made in Durban in the 1950s, and now listed among the brands of Lipton Teas and Infusions, the former Unilever tea business sold to CVC in 2022.
- Iwisa — The South African maize-meal brand that Premier says has been with it since 1956, which put its name on Kaizer Chiefs shirts in the 1990s and on the Iwisa Maize Meal Soccer Spectacular from 1986, and belongs to Premier Group, listed on the JSE in March 2023.
Nigerian, Kenyan and Egyptian food
Peak, Golden Morn, Dangote, Ketepa, Juhayna, Edita and Domty.
- Peak — The evaporated and powdered milk brand of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria, on the Nigerian market since 1954, made in Lagos largely from Dutch milk powder, sold in tins and single-cup sachets, and given a new pack design framework in 2023.
- Golden Morn — The family breakfast cereal Nestlé launched in Nigeria in 1986, made from whole maize and soya that Nestlé says is all grown on Nigerian farms, and sold by Nestlé Nigeria PLC, a company founded in 1961 with factories at Agbara, Flowergate and Abaji.
- Dangote — The sugar, salt and seasoning brands of the Lagos-based Dangote Group, which Aliko Dangote founded in 1981 after trading sugar, rice and cement, and whose Apapa sugar refinery, commissioned in 2000, grew to a stated 1.44 million tonnes a year.
- Ketepa — Kenya Tea Packers, the Kericho blender and packer founded in 1978 as an arm of the Kenya Tea Development Agency, the smallholder network created in 1964, whose brands include Ketepa Pride, Fahari and Jani and whose tea goes to markets from Uganda to Japan.
- Juhayna — The Egyptian dairy and juice company founded in 1983 by engineer Safwan Thabet, which began production in 1987, worked with Tetra Pak on packaged milk, listed on the Egyptian Exchange in 2010 and makes Bekhero, Rayeb and Zabado.
- Edita — The Egyptian snack company founded in 1996 by the Berzi family, which launched Molto packaged croissants in 1997, took over a Hostess factory in 2003, owns HOHOs, Twinkies and Tiger Tail rights in MENA, and makes TODO and Freska.
- Domty — The cheese brand of Egypt’s Arabian Food Industries Company, founded in 1990 by the El Damaty family, which began with a white cheese and a mozzarella, added juice in 2013 and baked goods in 2018, listed in 2016 and formed a cheese-export venture with FrieslandCampina.
Israeli and Gulf food
Osem, Elite, Strauss, Bamba, Tnuva, Sadaf and NADEC.
- Osem — The Israeli food company formed in September 1942 by five noodle and pasta makers, known for ptitim, Bamba and Bissli, whose 1942 logo by Otte Wallish was redrawn in 1984 and 1997, and which has been wholly owned by Nestlé since April 2016.
- Elite — The Israeli chocolate and coffee brand Eliyahu Fromchenko began in Ramat Gan in 1933–34 after Laima in Riga, maker of Para chocolate, Mekupelet and Israel’s early instant coffee, which merged with Strauss in 2004 and is sold today by Strauss Group.
- Strauss — The Israeli food group that began as Richard and Hilde Strauss’s Nahariya dairy in 1939, put an ostrich and then a water tower on its packs, merged with the chocolate and coffee maker Elite in 2004 and renamed itself Strauss Group in 2007.
- Bamba — The peanut-flavoured maize puff Osem developed in 1964, sold only in peanut flavour from 1966, fronted since 1993 by the animated Bamba Baby, made in Holon and since 2019 in Kiryat Gat, and owned by Nestlé, which took full control of Osem in 2016.
- Tnuva — The Israeli dairy founded in 1926 as a marketing cooperative of kibbutzim and moshavim, given a logo by Otte Wallish, turned into a company and sold to Apax and Mivtach Shamir in 2008, and controlled since 2015 by China’s Bright Food.
- Sadaf — The Los Angeles specialty-food company that says it was founded in 1982 by two Iranian immigrant brothers with 17 products, and now sells Persian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean spices, teas, sweets and pantry staples across the United States.
- NADEC — The National Agricultural Development Company, set up in Riyadh by royal decree in 1981, which opened its first fresh-milk factory in 1984, grew farms in Hail, Wadi Al-Dawasir, Al-Jouf and Haradh, and sells milk, laban, cheese and juices under its own name.
Gulf food and drink
Al Kabeer, Sunbulah, Al Rawabi, Mazoon, Lacnor, Al Ain Water and Rani.
- Al Kabeer — The UAE-rooted maker of frozen burgers, samosas and breaded chicken, founded, by different accounts, in 1974, 1978 or 1979, which opened a Saudi factory at King Abdullah Economic City, became 51% owned by Savola Group in 2018 and unveiled a new brand identity in 2023.
- Sunbulah — The Jeddah frozen-food maker that traces itself to a 1980 pastry plant founded by three Saudi friends, which makes puff pastry, samosa and filo dough, frozen vegetables, meat and cheese, bought the Al Shifa honey company in 1988 and sells its brands in 35 countries.
- Al Rawabi — The Dubai dairy and juice company that says it began in 1989 on a farm at Al Khawaneej with 500 imported cows, brought plastic milk bottles to the UAE in 1991, reached Oman in 1992 and added Butcherz and Bakerz in 2020.
- Mazoon — The Omani dairy and juice brand of Mazoon Dairy Company, incorporated in 2015, which laid its foundation stone at As’Sunainah in Al Buraimi in 2017, put its first fresh milk and laban on sale in October 2019 and entered the UAE in 2022.
- Lacnor — The juice and milk brand established in 1978 by National Food Products Company (NFPC), the group founded in 1971 with a MILCO plant outside Abu Dhabi, now headquartered in Dubai and also behind Oasis water, Blu, Milco and Gulf & Safa.
- Al Ain — The Abu Dhabi bottled-water brand whose company was established in 1990, folded into the state-formed Agthia Group in 2004, and later added Al Ain Zero, a plant-based bottle in 2020 and a 100% recycled PET bottle made in the UAE.
- Rani — The fruit juice drink Aujan launched in 1982 as Rani Orange Float, its first homegrown brand, made at plants in Dammam and Dubai, and since 2012 owned through Rani Refreshments, a partnership between Aujan and The Coca-Cola Company.
Ghanaian, Ethiopian and Nigerian food and drink
Nkulenu, Kasapreko, Dashen, Star, Hollandia, Chivita and Gala.
- Nkulenu — The Madina, Accra food processor that Esther Ocloo (née Nkulenu) says she began in 1942 with twelve jars of marmalade, named after her family, and whose Palm Soup Base the company says it launched in New York and London in 1972.
- Kasapreko — The Accra drinks company Kwabena Adjei says he started in a garage in Nungua in 1989, built on Alomo Bitters and exported across West Africa, which listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange as Kasapreko PLC in June 2026.
- Dashen — The beer of Dashen Brewery, founded in Gondar, Ethiopia, in 2000 by the Tiret endowment, in which the London investment firm Duet took a 51% stake in 2012, and which opened a second brewery at Debre Birhan in late 2015.
- Star — The lager first bottled in Lagos in June 1949 by Nigerian Breweries, the company set up in 1946 by the United Africa Company with Heineken, which led the Nigerian beer market by 1960 and is still brewed in Nigeria under Heineken’s management.
- Hollandia — The dairy brand CHI Limited of Lagos launched in 2005 with a long-life drinking yoghurt and evaporated milk in aseptic cartons, later adding UHT and lactose-free milk, owned by Coca-Cola from 2019 and by UAC of Nigeria from 2025.
- Chivita — The juice brand of CHI Limited, the Lagos company founded in 1980 that began by making Capri-Sonne, launched Chivita in 1996, sold a 40% stake to Coca-Cola in 2016 and the rest in 2019, and passed to UAC of Nigeria in 2025.
- Gala — The Nigerian sausage roll launched in 1962 under UAC of Nigeria, made today by UAC Foods in Lagos, Abeokuta and Ibadan, whose 49% partner Tiger Brands came in in 2011 and sold back in 2021, and whose name many Nigerians use for any sausage roll.
South African drinks
Castle Lager, Savanna, Hunter’s, Amarula, Appletiser, Liqui-Fruit and Oros.
- Castle Lager — The Johannesburg lager traced to Charles Glass and the Castle Brewery of the 1886 gold rush, whose success led to South African Breweries in 1895, which sponsored the Cold Castle jazz festivals of the 1960s and has been part of AB InBev since 2016.
- Savanna — The South African dry apple cider launched in 1996 with the line “It’s dry, but you can drink it,” a squat clear glass bottle and a lemon wedge in the neck, made from Elgin apples, built up by Distell and now owned by Heineken Beverages.
- Hunter’s — The South African cider brand behind Hunter’s Gold and Hunter’s Dry, introduced in 1988 as an alternative to beer, built up by the Stellenbosch drinks group Distell and, since Heineken completed its acquisition of Distell in April 2023, part of Heineken Beverages.
- Amarula — The South African cream liqueur made from the fruit of the marula tree, launched as a spirit in 1983 and as a cream liqueur in 1989 by Distillers Corporation’s Southern Liqueur Company, marked by an elephant, and owned since April 2023 by Heineken Beverages.
- Appletiser — The sparkling apple juice Edmond Lombardi began making in the Elgin Valley of the Western Cape in 1966, sold in Britain as “Appletise” from 1982 until 2001, owned by South African Breweries and sold by SABMiller to The Coca-Cola Company in 2014.
- Liqui-Fruit — The South African fruit juice brand its owner says was introduced in late 1975 as the first 100% long-life fruit juice, merged into Ceres Fruit Juices in 1986, part of Pioneer Foods since 2004 and of PepsiCo since 2020.
- Oros — The South African orange squash that its owner dates to 1899, made by Brookes Lemos and then Bromor Foods, owned in turn by Murray & Roberts and Cadbury Schweppes, bought by Tiger Brands in 2006 and made today at Roodekop in Gauteng.
African and Middle Eastern drinks
Tusker, Maltina, Stoney, Almaza, Kassatly, Zamzam and Barbican.
- Tusker — The Kenyan lager first brewed by Kenya Breweries in Nairobi in 1922, named by Charles Hurst for his brother George, who The Standard reported was killed by an elephant in 1923; now the flagship of East African Breweries, which Diageo agreed in 2025 to sell to Asahi.
- Maltina — The non-alcoholic malt drink launched in 1976 by Nigerian Breweries, the Lagos brewer founded with Heineken in 1946, known for the Maltina Dance All family TV contest and the Maltina Teacher of the Year awards, and marking its 50th year in 2026.
- Stoney — The Coca-Cola ginger beer that Coca-Cola South Africa says was introduced there in 1971, sold as Stoney Tangawizi in Swahili-speaking Africa, bottled by Coca-Cola Beverages Africa and pitched on a ginger “Kwetsa kick” and the line “Stronger than the strongest thirst.”
- Almaza — The Lebanese pilsner first brewed in 1933 by a brewery founded by the Jabre, Comaty and Angelopoulu families, which partnered with Amstel in 1960, came under Heineken majority ownership in 2003 and returned to Jabre family control in December 2021.
- Kassatly Chtaura — The Lebanese drinks company founded in 1974 by Akram Kassatly, which says it made the first bottled Jallab for home use and went on to launch Buzz, Freez, Château Ka and, in 2014, Beirut Beer, with factories in Lebanon and Cyprus.
- Zamzam — The Iranian soft-drink brand whose first Tehran factory, founded in 1954 by Habib Sabet, bottled Pepsi under licence, which took the Zamzam name after the 1979 revolution and drew international attention during a 2002 boycott of American brands.
- Barbican — The non-alcoholic malt drink first made by Britain’s Bass and imported to the Middle East by Aujan in the early 1980s, now held by Rani Refreshments, the Aujan and Coca-Cola brand company, and made in Dubai and Dammam, the brand says.
At a glance: who owns the name and where it is made
Taken from each guide’s fact panel, as of October 2026. Ownership and production change; follow the link for sources and detail.
| Brand | Founded | Owner | Where made |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Ain | See guide | Agthia Group PJSC (formed 2004), part of ADQ | See guide |
| Al Kabeer | United Arab Emirates (1974, 1978 or 1979 (sources differ)) | See guide | See guide |
| Al Rawabi | Al Khawaneej, Dubai, UAE (1989) | See guide | See guide |
| Al Wadi Al Akhdar | Lebanon (1979) | See guide | See guide |
| All Gold | Paarl, South Africa (1908 (Tiger Brands)) | See guide | See guide |
| Almarai | Saudi Arabia (1 July 1977) | See guide | See guide |
| Almaza | Lebanon (1933) | See guide | See guide |
| Amarula | South Africa (Spirit 1983; cream liqueur September 1989) | See guide | See guide |
| Americana | Kuwait (1964) | See guide | See guide |
| Appletiser | Elgin Valley, Western Cape, South Africa (1966) | See guide | See guide |
| Bamba | Holon, Israel (1964) | See guide | See guide |
| Barbican | Middle East, as a UK import (1982–1984 (sources differ)) | See guide | See guide |
| Castle Lager | Johannesburg, South Africa (1880s–1895 (dates vary by source)) | See guide | See guide |
| Chivita | Lagos, Nigeria (1980 (CHI Limited); Chivita juice 1996) | See guide | See guide |
| Cortas | Brummana, Lebanon (1925 (company date)) | See guide | See guide |
| Dangote | Kano and Lagos, Nigeria (1981 (trading from the late 1970s)) | See guide | See guide |
| Dashen | Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia (2000) | See guide | See guide |
| Dimes | Tokat, Turkey (1958 (wine); 1963 (Dimes juice)) | See guide | See guide |
| Domty | Egypt (1990) | See guide | See guide |
| Edita | Egypt (1996) | See guide | See guide |
| Elite | Ramat Gan (1933–34 (roots in Latvia, 1920s)) | See guide | See guide |
| Eti | Eskişehir, Turkey (1961 (production from 20 January 1962)) | See guide | See guide |
| Five Roses | See guide | See guide | AVI’s Durban tea factory |
| Gala | Nigeria (1962) | See guide | See guide |
| Golden Morn | Nigeria (1986) | See guide | See guide |
| Hollandia | Lagos, Nigeria (2005) | See guide | See guide |
| Hunter’s | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Iwisa | See guide | Premier FMCG, part of Premier Group | See guide |
| Joko | See guide | See guide | Durban (documented in the 1950s) |
| Juhayna | Egypt (1983) | See guide | See guide |
| Jungle Oats | South Africa (1920 (Tiger Brands); 1925 in earlier company and Wikipedia accounts) | See guide | See guide |
| Kasapreko | Nungua, Accra, Ghana (1989) | See guide | See guide |
| Kassatly Chtaura | Lebanon (Bekaa Valley roots) (1974) | See guide | See guide |
| Ketepa | Kericho, Kenya (1978) | See guide | See guide |
| Lacnor | See guide | National Food Products Company (NFPC), founded 1971 | See guide |
| Liqui-Fruit | South Africa (Late 1975 (company)) | See guide | See guide |
| Maltina | Nigeria (1976) | See guide | See guide |
| Mazoon | Oman (2015 (incorporated); first products October 2019) | See guide | See guide |
| Mrs Ball’s | Cape Town, South Africa (1914 (company history); factory 1917) | See guide | See guide |
| NADEC | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (1981 (by royal decree)) | See guide | See guide |
| Nkulenu | Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana) (1942 (company date)) | See guide | See guide |
| Oros | South Africa (1899 (company date)) | See guide | See guide |
| Osem | Mandatory Palestine (September 1942) | See guide | See guide |
| Ouma | Molteno, Eastern Cape (1939) | See guide | See guide |
| Peak | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Pınar | İzmir, Turkey (1973 (as Pınar Süt)) | See guide | See guide |
| Rani | Saudi Arabia (1982 (as Rani Orange Float)) | See guide | See guide |
| Sadaf | Los Angeles, California (1982 (company says)) | See guide | See guide |
| Savanna | South Africa (1996) | See guide | See guide |
| Star | Iganmu, Lagos, Nigeria (June 1949) | See guide | See guide |
| Stoney | See guide | The Coca-Cola Company | See guide |
| Strauss | Nahariya, then Mandatory Palestine (1939) | See guide | See guide |
| Sunbulah | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (1980 (business activities from 1983, the company says)) | See guide | See guide |
| Tamek | Demirtaş, Osmangazi, Bursa, Turkey (31 March 1955) | See guide | See guide |
| Tat | Bursa, Turkey (1967 (as Tat Konserve)) | See guide | See guide |
| Tnuva | Mandatory Palestine (1926) | See guide | See guide |
| Torku | Konya, Turkey (2007 (Konya Şeker, founded 1952)) | Konya Şeker, a farmers’ cooperative company | See guide |
| Tukaş | Turgutlu, Manisa, Turkey (1962) | See guide | See guide |
| Tusker | Nairobi, Kenya (1922 (Kenya Breweries)) | See guide | See guide |
| Uludağ | Bursa, Türkiye (Mineral-water licence 1912; company 1931) | See guide | See guide |
| Zamzam | Tehran, Iran (1954 (as a Pepsi bottler)) | See guide | See guide |
| Ziyad | South Side of Chicago, Illinois, USA (1966 (as Syrian Bakery & Grocery, Inc.)) | See guide | See guide |
| Ülker | Istanbul, Turkey (1944) | See guide | See guide |
Our food and drink brand guides are split across several hubs. See also: olive oil & pantry, spirits & liqueur, beer & cider, wine, champagne & sake, Asia-Pacific food & drink, European food & drink, Latin American, Caribbean & Canadian food & drink and soft drink & beverage.
Part of our Food & Beverage brand guidelines. See also all collections.