True Lifestyle Retail Co, the operator of True Coffee chain owned by Supachai Chearavanont, chief executive of Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, has repositioned itself for the first time in 15 years, now setting its sights on becoming a world-class roastery and bakery cafe.
The company is also diversifying into the fast-moving consumer goods business in a move to grow its business sustainably in the long term.
Papon Ratanachaikanont, the company's president of Food Chain & Coffee House, said with the Covid-19 outbreak, True Coffee has recently rebranded itself as a world-class roastery and bakery cafe, and also refreshed its marketing strategy.
At its flagship store at Center Point Siam Square, apart from a new cafe with a minimalist design, the company has connected all facets of digital life, featuring "Nong Pui Fai", Thailand's first barista robot that makes otherworldly drip coffee, as well as an IoT Mug that keeps drinks at a preferred temperature via the "Ember" mobile app. Customers can also brew their own coffee at the cafe.
The cafe will join hands with Gontran Cherrie, a famous French homemade patisserie, to provide daily freshly baked items at the cafe to complement the coffee business and increase the transaction average.
"True Coffee recognises the importance of technology in everyday life and has decided to rebrand itself as a high-tech coffee shop and start serving its coffee with beans grown locally by farmers in Sop Khun village in Nan province and Mae Kampong village in Chiang Mai under the company's own contracted farming scheme instead of buying from suppliers,'' Mr Papon said.
In accordance with the new normal, all items are served by "True 5G Serving Bot Agent", the robot that can serve customers favourite dishes without human physical contact, reducing the risk of disease transmission.
Currently, the company operates 120 True Coffee cafes locally and internationally in Myanmar, China and Laos. Of the total, 60 branches are under the shop-in-shop concept, which will be renovated to a new concept, starting with nine branches next year.
The total renovation requires an investment of 100 million baht.
The company plans to expand its coffee and bakery business via franchise next year. In addition to True coffee and bakery cafe, the company also plans to boost the total number of True Coffee Go at hypermarkets to 200 branches next year, from the current 56 branches.
"Because of the pandemic, we have to change our mindset to do business, diversifying to fast-moving consumer goods including True coffee cup to access more customers,'' Mr Papon said.
The company launched its ready-to-drink True coffee cup at all 7-Eleven convenience stores in July and sells pack dip coffee at modern retail chains and e-commerce platforms.
It plans to launch vitamin water into the market on Nov 18. It will sell coffee machines next year.
With these plans, the company anticipates its sales will reach 290-300 million baht this year, close to last year's level.
