In scenes that would not be out of place at a Black Friday sale, in January, long queues wrapped around the new B.Laban dessert shop in Casablanca, Morocco. The frenzy grew so intense that some customers began reselling their rice pudding and yogurt, still warm from the counter, to others in line, at double the price. But while demand soared abroad, back home in Egypt, and across the region, the beloved dessert chain is unraveling under the weight of health violations, regulatory crackdowns, and political scrutiny.
What began as a local startup exploded into one of Egypt’s fastest-growing food chains. Founded with a focus on nostalgic Egyptian dairy-based desserts, B.Laban grew to operate 110 branches across 9 Arab countries, employing more than 25,000 people. With rich flavors, low prices, and savvy social media, the brand’s formula was simple. But the empire began to crumble last month after Egypt’s National Food Safety Authority (NFSA) reported in April bacterial contamination in its products, banned synthetic colorants, and poor storage conditions, and as a result, every B.Laban branch in Egypt was shut down. In Saudi Arabia, similar reports led to parallel closures during Ramadan.
In a phone call with late-night TV Presenter Amr Adib’s, CEO Moamen Adel suggested the campaign was coordinated, and asked, “why one violation, if it existed, would justify shutting down a national chain.”
Amid the backlash, the company issued a public plea to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, warning that the shutdown endangered the livelihoods of thousands and disrupted export operations. Days later, the president intervened, calling for talks between regulators and company representatives.
B.Laban thanked the president for his “fatherly care,” in late April, and within a week, 25 branches had reopened after “addressing the violations and implementing corrective measures.”
What began as a local startup exploded into one of Egypt’s fastest-growing food chains. Founded with a focus on nostalgic Egyptian dairy-based desserts, B.Laban grew to operate 110 branches across 9 Arab countries, employing more than 25,000 people. But the empire began to crumble last month after Egypt’s National Food Safety Authority (NFSA) reported in April bacterial contamination in its products, banned synthetic colorants, and poor storage conditions, and as a result, every B.Laban branch in Egypt was shut down.
The Minister of Industry and Transport, Kamel El-Wazir, confirmed that B.Laban's factories had resumed operations while concurrently working to rectify their status.
Observers argue that the incident revealed the informal, opaque nature of how business is regulated in Egypt.
“Since when is the law enforced this swiftly and precisely?” Professor of Economics at the American University in Cairo, Amr Adly, told Raseef22. “This wasn’t just a public health issue, The whole episode points to how informal dynamics shape the use of formal authority.”
The reopening and the deeper message it sent
Controversy was part of B.Laban’s brand. It gave its products unconventional names, ran provocative ads, and poked fun at competitors, with El Malky, one of Egypt’s oldest dessert brands, responding with a viral campaign implying B.Laban’s rapid growth was fueled by illicit money.
In April, El Abd, another competitor, filed a complaint with the Supreme Media Council over a B.Laban Eid ad they called defamatory. B.Laban apologized, but public criticism swelled. Hashtags like #بلبن trended online, with users questioning the chain’s financial transparency and product safety.
MP Ahmed El Seginy announced that B.Laban was under investigation for tax evasion. Preliminary findings suggested violations worth EGP 135 million. The company countered, saying it had paid EGP 140 mn in taxes and was working with authorities to resolve discrepancies.
Meanwhile, investigative reports linked the company’s CEO to shell companies across the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. Documents obtained by journalist Abdallah Abu Deif showed that Adel held citizenship from St. Kitts and Nevis, a well-known offshore tax haven, and had registered a UK company just 45 days before the scandal erupted.
Lawyer Samir Sabry filed a formal complaint with Egypt’s anti-money laundering unit, citing the brand’s sudden expansion, influencer campaigns, and alleged Muslim Brotherhood ties.
“This is textbook money laundering,” he told Raseef22 in an interview. “You don’t go from nothing to this scale without serious funding, and we still don’t know where that came from.”
Assistant professor of economics at the American University in Cairo and Marketing expert, Hakim Meshreki, agreed.
“The brand didn’t just sell dessert; it sold novelty, provocation, and the illusion of success. But no food chain grows this fast on sales alone. There had to be external investment, likely offshore,” he said.
Adly, however, explains public perception of B.Laban as money laundering to what he calls “Egypt’s unresolved struggle to institutionalise private ownership.”
“In societies that transitioned late into market economies massive personal wealth often lacks social or legal legitimacy,” he explained. “International institutions like the World Bank portray Egypt as an over-regulated economy, where doing business requires constant interaction with a sprawling, inefficient, and often corrupt bureaucracy. This raises the cost of investment across the board,” he said.
To cope, many businesses in Egypt rely heavily on informal practices to navigate a rigid and unpredictable regulatory system, he added.
“These unofficial rules help some investors reduce costs, especially when formal rules are vague or enforced inconsistently by dysfunctional agencies,” Adly told Raseef22. “But this benefit isn’t equally accessible to everyone, which increases the risk for private investors.”'
“In societies that transitioned late into market economies massive personal wealth often lacks social or legal legitimacy. International institutions like the World Bank portray Egypt as an over-regulated economy, where doing business requires constant interaction with a sprawling, inefficient, and often corrupt bureaucracy. This raises the cost of investment across the board.
Meshreki further emphasizes this point, noting that Egypt’s permissive regulatory culture enables rapid growth, but not without risk. He explains that once a company attracts too much attention, “the very system that facilitated its rise can also be the one to bring it down.”
The legal vacuum and the danger of presidential fixes
“When people question whether food safety violations were real or just a pretext, it reflects a serious institutional issue in the country,” rights lawyer Malek Adly, director of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, told Raseef22.
Adly argued that the whole case reflects “a breakdown in the rule of law,” criticizing the president’s personal intervention and noting that administrative closures should lead to legal proceedings, not private negotiations with ministers.
“If the concern was about labour, the state could seize assets and pay wages temporarily. That’s no excuse to bypass the law,” Adly said. “Business success should not depend on getting a meeting with a minister.”
He warned the message to entrepreneurs is clear: If you are not politically protected, your company can vanish overnight.
“The president in Egypt has sweeping powers, but they should serve the rule of law, not replace it,” he said.
Another Juhayna?
The B.Laban case drew inevitable comparisons to the 2020 crackdown on Juhayna, an Egyptian food and drink giant, whose founder, Safwan Thabet, and his son were jailed without formal charges amid widespread speculation about ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. But Adly sees a fundamental distinction.
“What happened with Juhayna was part of a politically legible crackdown, targeting prominent figures with perceived political affiliations in the aftermath of the 2013 power shift,” he told Raseef22. “It wasn’t an isolated event. Other smaller companies linked to the Brotherhood faced similar treatment.”
By contrast, Adly argued, the B.Laban case presents a far murkier picture.
“There’s no clear political motive, no stated affiliation, and no transparent legal process. Yet the speed and scale of the state’s response were extraordinary, especially in the absence of a broader crackdown.”
He warns that the abruptness of B.Laban’s closure reflects the deeper unpredictability of Egypt’s business environment.
“Investment depends on clear, consistently enforced rules. When enforcement appears selective or politically influenced, it breeds uncertainty,” Adly said. “If incidents like this became frequent, we could label the climate openly hostile to private enterprise. But B.Laban remains an exception, which makes it even more unsettling.”
This article is published in collaboration with Egab.
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