By Ray Hanania
Last year during the Academy Awards, Oscar hostess Ellen DeGeneres ordered Big Mama’s & Papa’s Pizzeria (BMPP) pizza delivered to the show and then walked through the audience with the delivery driver, sharing slices with stars such as Harrison Ford, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
The humor drew big laughs at the Oscars but also put a little known pizza franchise on the international map, giving it worldwide recognition, including in the Middle East where audiences were captivated by the nomination of three Arab films for the coveted Hollywood film industry awards.
A few days after, DeGeneres had the pizza delivery driver, “Edgar,” make an appearance on her show, “The Ellen Show,” where she gave him a $1,000 tip. Since the telecast, the brand has been deluged with franchise inquiries, officials said.
This week, BMPP Officials announced in Los Angeles that they have signed a deal with BinHendi Enterprises of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to develop the brand throughout the Mideast.
BMPP features the largest delivered pizza in the world, the Giant Sicilian, at over 20 square feet (1.9 square meters), as well as their signature Big Mama and Big Papa pizzas.
BMPP founders and siblings Aro and Allen Agakhanyan are described as a true American success story. The two brothers emigrated to America with their mother from Armenia in 1985 when they were both in their early teens and only spoke in their native tongue.
The first BMPP pizzeria was opened just six years later and the concept has grown to 20 restaurants throughout the Los Angeles metro market.
Dubai-based BinHendi Enterprises was established by its current Chairman Mohi-Din BinHendi in 1974. It operates more than 150 restaurant and retail locations throughout the entire region. According to BinHendi, “Big Mama’s and Papa’s Pizzeria provides BinHendi Enterprises a unique restaurant offering that will be embraced by both locals and expatriates in the region.”
BinHendi added, “BMPP’s strong link to Los Angeles and the southern California culture gives us a very unique opportunity.”
Ray Perry, CEO of Big Mamas & Papas Franchising, LLC said, “The first restaurant in the Mideast will open in Dubai.”
The Agakhanyan brothers have partnered with Perry’s PFD Franchise Services, LLC to form the franchise company. The principals of PFD have over 100 years of franchising and restaurant experience.
Many Arabs and Muslims closely identify with Armenians who were persecuted by the Turks during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. And many Armenians lived in the Middle East embracing Arab culture and the Arabic language.
This year’s Oscars will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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