Last June, Focus Brands’ Dubai franchisee, Cravia Inc., invited children at the Deira City Center to whip up sweet cinnamon rolls during the mall’s Summer Surprise promotion.

Really, you don’t. Nobody ponies up that kind of dough for a spot in a food court.

Even if you did, Hajj wouldn’t tell you. He’ll just say that until he inked the confidential lease, his highest food-court rent, in the palatial Mall of the Emirates, was half as much as the new one.

What is he supposed to do? His company, Cravia Inc., is headquartered in Dubai and already operates a dozen franchised Cinnabons there. The Dubai Mall will be the largest shopping center on the planet. Hajj has to be there.

You may want to be, too. Dubai, among the fastest-growing markets in the Middle East, has a multinational population of 1.5 million and attracts 28 million visitors a year. Over the last several years, numerous American restaurant companies have struck franchise deals in the city and elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates.

“We fought for as many locations as we could get,” Hajj offers, adding there were 750 applicants for 300 spaces. Hajj ended up with five of them: two for Cinnabon and three for the two other concepts—Zaatar w Zeit (two spots) and Roadster Diner—he franchises.

The food courts, Hajj boasts, are not your garden variety, with flimsy metal tables and chairs. “They’re high end, with water features,” he says, alluding to the mall’s highly anticipated aquarium (also said to be the world’s largest) and sprawling ice rink.

Hajj, a Cinnabon franchisee since 2000, wins praise from Mike Shattuck, vice president of international operations for Atlanta-based Focus Brands, which owns the Cinnabon brand. “Walid has a disciplined approach to development. He wanted to build Dubai out first before moving to Abu Dhabi,” Shattuck says, referring to the UAE’s capital, where Hajj has opened a Cinnabon.

Hajj, who describes himself as a “territory developer,” is in his third six-store agreement with Focus Brands, having opened 20 Cinnabons, the bulk in Dubai. He also operates Seattle’s Best Coffee, a concept Focus Brands franchises only internationally. After opening just three of each in the UAE last year, Hajj is stepping up expansion.

Cravia CEO Walid Hajj has been a Cinnabon and Seattle’s Best Coffee franchisee in the United Arab Emirates since 2000. The 39-year-old Harvard MBA is opening 10 Cinnabons and six SBC units in 2008. About Cravia’s aggressive expansion, he declares, “It’s about time we keep petrodollars in [the Middle East] and develop our own countries.”

Hajj has opened nine SBCs so far, all inside Cinnabon units. A handful of the Cinnabons are in Egypt, where he has a joint-venture deal involving 22 outlets, including Carvel Ice Cream, another Focus Brands concept, and Oakville, Ontario, Canada-based Teriyaki Experience. Earlier this year Hajj signed on as a minority partner in a Ruby Tuesday franchise in Cairo.

Since 2005, he’s been expanding Zaatar w Zeit, a full-service, 24-hour Lebanese concept; he has opened five so far in the UAE. The Roadster Diner, a casual-dining concept with a comfort-food menu, in the Dubai Mall will be his first. Hajj expects systemwide revenues this year to reach 100 million dirham (about $30 million).

Hajj earned an MBA from Harvard University in ’95 and afterwards joined the Saudi branch of Procter & Gamble. In 2000 he signed an agreement with then-Cinnabon and SBC franchisor AFC Enterprises and began developing restaurants in the UAE and Egypt. Today Cravia has more than 800 employees.

The UAE, a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, is one of the wealthiest regions in the Middle East. It has proven a lucrative and safe market for American brands like Cinnabon. Even periodic Pan-Arab boycotts, usually stemming from U.S. support of Israel, haven’t affected business, Hajj claims.

“Dubai and the UAE have been in a sort of isolation,” Hajj says, referring to the relatively small native-born population and the growing numbers of non-Arab immigrants, now estimated to be nearly 70 percent of the UAE’s 4.2 million people; Emirati make up about 20 percent.

The influx of non-Arabs and well-heeled tourists has spawned a race for restaurant space in Dubai, where an estimated 1.5 million live. “Not only is real estate extremely expensive, even if you can pay, it’s tough to get your hands on it,” Hajj laments. Apartment rents climbed 30 percent in 2006, according to GlobalPropertyGuide.com, which notes skyrocketing prices have been driven by Dubai’s swelling population.

His mostly mall-based Cinnabon-SBC system ranges from tiny kiosks to 3,000-square-foot bakery-cafes. He likes “streetside” locations for Zaatar w Zeit, which is popular with late-night revelers.

Dubai is one of the wealthiest regions in the Middle East. It has proven a lucrative and safe market for American brands like Cinnabon.

This year Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Ruby Tuesday and California Pizza Kitchen announced UAE franchise deals. Franchising upscale restaurants is a recent trend. “Things are moving toward a higher level of dining,” Shattuck says.

Filling slots in his growing empire hasn’t been a problem for Hajj. The government recently mandated that business fill positions with native-born Emirati, but the ruling hasn’t been strictly enforced, he says: “You’d rarely see one working as a waiter.”

Most of his 850 employees are Filipinos, who he praises for their loyalty and skill, especially with their hands. “They are extremely efficient and stay for a long time,” Hajj says.

He pays them the equivalent of $1,300 a month before deductions for housing. (Hajj rents the apartments many workers live in.) Store managers are transplanted Arabs, who make about $3,000 a month. If those salaries seem small, consider there is no income or sales tax. Employers are not required to pay a minimum wage, despite government efforts last year to enforce the one already in place since 1980, according to Human Rights Watch’s “World Report, 2008.”

There is, however, inflation. Ingredient costs have climbed 30 percent so far this year. Hajj hiked menu prices 15 percent as a result and has yet to see a drop in traffic. “Keep in mind our products are generally cheap. When you increase something by one dirham [about 30 cents], people aren’t going to notice,” he says. “Everything here is going up, including rents, and people expect to pay more.”

Inflation has yet to discourage visitors. Last year the UAE was among countries recording the strongest incremental growth in passengers, reports Airports Council International, a London-based association of airport operators. In 2006, 28 million people passed through Dubai International Airport, the world’s 10th busiest, the group says.

Hajj is hopeful those numbers keep growing. “My [Dubai Mall] rent should be compensated by higher sales,” he says.