Administrative closure orders swept through B-Laban’s Egyptian branches in April, halting the rapid expansion of a dessert chain founded in Alexandria in 2021. Around 110 outlets across governorates including Cairo, Giza and Gharbia were affected. Other chains were also closed, including pastry seller Amm Shaltat, shawarma chain Karam El Sham, and Kunafa and Basbousa.
The National Food Safety Authority said it had received complaints through the government’s unified complaints portal and its own monitoring unit about suspected food poisoning linked to products sold by the outlets. Its statement reported pathogenic bacteria in some products, food of unknown origin, improper storage and missing licences.
The Health Ministry separately reported 232 inspections of B-Laban branches and factories, identifying food of unknown origin, expired products and 122 unlicensed establishments. Some of the 437 samples tested failed to meet applicable standards, it said. Inspectors destroyed 697 kilograms of food and 70 litres of drinks and juices whose characteristics had deteriorated, and issued 387 violation reports concerning health requirements or missing health certificates for food handlers.
The action followed reports of food poisoning in Riyadh and the closure of the chain’s Saudi branches. In Egypt, the food authority’s complaints concerned B-Laban and several associated chains. The figures and findings above are those reported by the authorities; they should not be read as a finding that every product or branch was unsafe.
The closure of the Egyptian outlets within 72 hours also fuelled speculation about undisclosed financial investigations or pressure from competitors. Those explanations were not established. The chain had already attracted controversy through advertising that provoked competitors, including El Abd and Wazir El Helw. El Malky responded with an advertisement mocking B-Laban and insinuating money laundering—an allegation rather than evidence of an offence.
In March, El Abd filed a complaint with the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, seeking to stop B-Laban’s Eid biscuit campaign on the grounds that it insulted El Abd’s founder. B-Laban apologised to the company and offended viewers in early April. The chain had also faced boycott calls in September 2024 over product names that critics considered vulgar or sexually suggestive.
Posts on Facebook and X questioned product quality, the speed of expansion and the source of the company’s funding. Zawia3’s review found recurring boycott calls, criticism of quality, questions about the closures and unsubstantiated financial allegations. Repetition of such accusations can amplify reputational damage, but does not by itself establish an organised campaign.
The accounts posting about B-Laban were varied, and there was no clear evidence in the material reviewed that they belonged to a coordinated network or were automated accounts. Nor was there a distinctive shared hashtag beyond the company’s name. These observations cannot prove or rule out coordination.
Media coverage concentrated heavily on B-Laban, giving the other closed chains less prominence and reinforcing some supporters’ perception that it was being singled out. Yet many consumers also expressed genuine concern about the reported health violations and dissatisfaction with the company’s marketing. Allegations about competitors exploiting the crisis remain speculative; the official food-safety findings cannot simply be dismissed as a publicity campaign.
Financial allegations and what the records establish
On 23 April, Ahmed El Seginy, chair of parliament’s Local Administration Committee, said preliminary reports identified alleged tax violations involving B-Laban and associated chains, including failure to issue invoices or use payment cards. He cited an initial figure of EGP 135 million. These were reported preliminary allegations, not a final judicial finding of liability.
A report by Saheeh Masr used open sources and company records to examine the ownership associated with brothers Moamen and Karim Adel and Islam Salama. It reported that Moamen Adel held citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis. Holding another nationality or registering a company abroad does not itself establish tax evasion or money laundering, erase tax obligations arising in Egypt, or confer immunity from legal proceedings.
St Kitts and Nevis operates a citizenship-by-investment programme. An October 2024 announcement by its Citizenship by Investment Unit put the minimum investment in approved real estate at US$325,000, while the approved public-benefit option started at US$250,000. The European Union removed the country from its list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions on 25 May 2018, not in February 2020.
Journalist Abdallah Abu Deif also raised questions in a Facebook post about a London address for a company associated with the owner and other companies in Dubai and Oman. A service provider’s registered-office address does not, by itself, make a company fictitious: UK rules permit such addresses when they meet legal requirements. Nor does a company-registration date establish when someone acquired citizenship or how much they paid for it. The report did not independently establish tax wrongdoing from those registrations alone.
Lawyer Samir Sabry submitted a complaint to the public prosecutor and the anti-money-laundering authorities accusing Moamen Adel of money laundering. The complaint cited the chains’ rapid expansion, expensive promotional campaigns involving celebrities and influencers, and questions about financing amid high inflation and operating costs.
As of this report’s April 2025 publication, it had not identified an official announcement confirming a criminal money-laundering investigation. Filing a complaint does not substantiate the allegations it contains. In an 18 April interview on Amr Adib’s Al Hekaya programme on MBC Masr, Adel, B-Laban’s chief executive and chair, categorically denied money laundering or suspicious financing.
Adel said the company operated transparently, worked with major Egyptian suppliers and used profits generated by busy branches to finance expansion. He also said its fruit and packaging exports brought foreign currency into Egypt. These were the company’s explanations for its operations and growth.
Expansion without adequate risk management?
Economist Ahmed Shawky, a member of the Egyptian Association for Political Economy, Statistics and Legislation, attributes the chain’s expansion across Egypt and other Arab countries to strong demand. But, he tells Zawia3, growth must be accompanied by risk management covering operations, food safety, occupational health and the health certification of employees.
Without those systems, he argues, expansion can become improvised and leave a business vulnerable to sudden collapse when a problem emerges. Shawky says the company’s activities extend beyond retail outlets to supporting production, including dairy and fruit farms, juices and exports. Having grown internationally, it should adopt the governance practices expected of international businesses, he says.
Shawky rejects the online money-laundering speculation, pointing to oversight of funds moving through legal financial channels. That is his assessment, rather than an independent audit of the company’s finances. He also stresses that tax claims must undergo examination and that a company can challenge an assessment or seek a settlement before a dispute reaches court. He says the crisis had not reached the stage of a court order freezing B-Laban’s bank accounts.
Souad El Dib, president of the Media Association for Development and Consumer Protection, questions how the chain and related businesses expanded so quickly while some establishments lacked licences or failed to meet food-safety requirements. She calls for more effective oversight of Egypt’s food industry to protect consumers from unsafe or non-compliant products.
Restaurants and shops found in violation can face fines and temporary closure while they rectify their position, El Dib tells Zawia3. The central issue, in her view, is enforcing standards consistently rather than allowing rapid expansion to outpace supervision.
A presidential appeal
In a public appeal to the president, cabinet and relevant state bodies, B-Laban said all 110 branches, along with its factories and related facilities, had ceased operating. The company put its workforce at 25,000 Egyptians and said it operated in nine Arab countries. Those employment and regional-expansion figures were its own claims.
The statement presented B-Laban as an Egyptian business built by Egyptians, supported by its home market and capable of exporting a successful national brand. Critics objected that it focused on national pride and sympathy for the company rather than apologising or explaining the reported health violations.
B-Laban subsequently said President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had responded and called for an urgent meeting with the competent authorities. It thanked him, describing the response as an attempt to balance law enforcement with preserving productive Egyptian businesses and jobs. The account of his intervention cited here comes from the company’s statement.
The company pledged full cooperation with regulators and compliance with safety requirements. On 19 April, the Health Ministry said it was arranging a coordination meeting with the owners to explain corrective and preventive measures needed to resume operations. Reopening was thus presented as conditional on remedying violations, not as an unconditional exemption from food-safety rules.
For rights lawyer Malek Adly, the episode raises a broader question: why should a regulatory dispute affecting public health and thousands of workers need an appeal to the president to move towards resolution?
Adly, director of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, argues that substantiated allegations of food adulteration should follow documented investigations and judicial procedures, rather than be resolved through political meetings or informal understandings. Courts, he says, must have the final say in cases concerning public health.
His criticism should be distinguished from the legal powers already available to regulators. Article 24 of Public Shops Law No. 154 of 2019 permits administrative closure in specified circumstances through a reasoned decision by the competent licensing centre. A court judgment is therefore not the only legal route to closure.
Adly also proposes protecting workers by placing company assets under control and temporarily operating the business to pay wages while violations are addressed. This is his proposed response to the crisis, not an automatic legal requirement applying to every closure.
He argues that the sudden shutdown of a chain claiming 110 branches and 25,000 employees, followed by an appeal for presidential intervention, reflects a breakdown in confidence and in the way decisions are made and explained. His concern is both the handling of the violations and the uncertainty imposed on workers and customers.
Shawky takes a different view of the intervention. In his assessment, allowing the company a route to correct its position reassures investors that crises can be resolved at the highest level. An absence of such intervention, he argues, could instead have been read as a deterrent to domestic and foreign capital.
Parliament revisits shop licensing
Amid the controversy, parliament’s Local Administration Committee announced plans for a hearing on commercial licensing under the Public Shops Law. It called for faster processing of licences and civil-protection requirements, both to ease obstacles facing applicants and to enable the state to collect fees and taxes.
Under Law No. 154 of 2019, shops require a licence from the competent licensing centre. Article 30 provides for a fine of EGP 20,000–50,000 for operating without one. In a repeat offence, the penalty is six months to one year in prison and a fine, or either penalty, alongside closure at the offender’s expense. The prison term is therefore not the automatic penalty for a first offence.
Licence fees depend on criteria including activity, location and floor area. Local licensing centres process applications, while the higher committee sets general conditions and requirements. A commercial registration and tax card do not replace the required licence for each establishment.
Legal specialist Adel Amer, head of the Egyptians Center for Political, Legal, Economic and Social Studies, links the crisis to the wider problem of shop licensing and bringing businesses into compliance. He stresses the importance of food-safety standards and the National Food Safety Authority’s regulatory role.
Amer also sees a social dimension to the presidential intervention: the workforce the company put at around 25,000 faced the loss of livelihoods if closure continued. Protecting those jobs, however, must be considered alongside the obligation to remedy violations and protect consumers.
The disagreement exposes two competing readings of the crisis. One sees high-level intervention as reassurance for investors and an opportunity to preserve jobs. The other questions why ordinary regulatory and legal processes appear insufficient without political involvement.
Beyond one dessert chain, B-Laban’s crisis tests Egypt’s systems for licensing, inspection and accountability. Their credibility depends on protecting public health while giving businesses transparent procedures and workers protection from the consequences of abrupt decisions.
Editorial correction: This report clarifies the St Kitts and Nevis investment thresholds and EU listing date, distinguishes financial allegations from established findings, and corrects the explanation of administrative closure and licensing penalties. Its reporting context remains April 2025.
