Tariq Farid

Tariq Farid is founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Edible Arrangements International, Inc. (“EAI”), the industry leader in providing high quality, artistically designed fresh fruit arrangements. Tariq is responsible for setting the company’s strategic direction and for the licensing of new franchises across the United States and internationally.

Tariq launched the first Edible Arrangements® store in 1999 in East Haven, Connecticut. He was inspired by the convergence of three trends: Americans' growing consumption of fresh fruit, the robust growth in the specialty food market and the increasing amount of money Americans were spending on gifts. Edible Arrangements® was named one of America’s fastest-growing privately held businesses in America by Inc. magazine and one of the top franchise systems in Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500. Tariq has four pending U.S. patents for proprietary fruit-cutting equipment that he designed.

As a teenager, Tariq worked in a local McDonald's for several years and it was here that he learned the power of business systemization. His entrepreneurial experience began in the late 1980s, when, at age 17, he used a $5,000 loan from his parents to purchase a local flower shop. Within two years, Tariq was operating four highly successful stores.

The first Edible Arrangements® franchise opened in 2001 in Waltham, Massachusetts. In ten short years, Edible Arrangements ® has grown to over 800 stores located throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and other international markets. Tariq’s involvement with franchisees has been a hallmark of the Edible Arrangements® franchise success story. He still spends time in the corporate store in North Haven, CT to stay in regular contact with customers, and to understand the day-to-day realities of running a retail store in an ever-changing marketplace and travels the county visiting stores and conducting “Owner’s Meetings.”

In 2006, Tariq launched Frutation by Edible Arrangements®. Frutation® is an all natural fruit station for consumers who are on the go. The menu includes a variety of delicious fruit treats that are made fresh right in front of the customer, such as Fruithy® (fresh fruit smoothies), fresh juices, fruit salads, Frusala® (spiced fruit salads), fruit sundaes and chocolate dipped fruit. Products are made from a combination of fresh fruit and other all natural ingredients. This concept is currently growing throughout the United States and internationally in high traffic shopping malls and other major metropolitan areas.

A self-taught computer whiz, Tariq designed all the computer systems that franchisees use in their day-to-day operation, including order processing, training manuals, production and profitability tracking, and supply chain management. In 2001, he founded Netsolace, Inc., located in Hamden, Connecticut. Netsolace is a computer software distributor for the franchise industry.

Tariq Farid was born in Pakistan in 1969 and immigrated to the United States at age 11. He grew up in West Haven, Connecticut and became a U.S. citizen in 1986. He developed the Salma K Farid Academy, a non-profit learning and community center, to honor the wishes of his late mother whom he credits as the inspiration for his success, and the Salma K Farid Foundation to provide for those in need
4/29/09