Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF), the SET-listed flagship subsidiary of agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand Group, is branching out its Chester's restaurant business into neighbouring countries this year.
Satit Sangkanarubordee, the company's chief operating officer for restaurant business, said the company is ready to expand Chester's abroad after getting a better-than-expected response after opening the first Chester's branch in Laos three years ago.
"We are quite satisfied with Chester's performance in Laos, with sales of 1 million baht per month, some 10-15% higher than Chester's in Thailand," Mr Satit said.
CPF plans to open the first Chester's restaurant in Yangon in May.
"Myanmar is very interesting because its population is similar to that of Thailand's and the Burmese have higher spending power than Laotians," Mr Satit said. "Moreover, many people prefer eating out."
In addition, the company is conducting a feasibility study for market opportunities in the Philippines because local dining behaviour is similar to Thailand's.
On the domestic front, the company plans to open 20 Chester's restaurants this year. Half of the new expansion will be under its own investment and the rest will be franchised.
Each restaurant requires an investment of 5-6 million baht. With the plan, the number of Chester's branches in the domestic market will rise to 220 in total this year. Apart from new restaurants, the company also plans to spend about 60 million baht to renovate 10 existing Chester's branches this year.
Given the impact of technology disruption, Mr Satit said that as fewer customers visit shopping malls, the company has reduced business risk by opening more restaurants outside retail complexes.
The company will also put more focus on the delivery channel, aiming to double the size of Chester's delivery business to 30% of total sales over the next two years.
"We dare move faster than in 2018, when we opened only 14 new restaurants, because we are confident about the overall economy and believe that consumers, particularly the middle-income level, will have more confidence spending more money," Mr Satit said. "And after the government officially announced the national election date on March 24, spending power at Chester's overall rose by more than 10% from the regular period."
According to CPF, the quick service restaurant sector in Thailand has grown by 3-4% in the past four consecutive years.
The overall quick service restaurant market was estimated at 35.9 billion baht in 2018.
