The Pizza Company, operator of a restaurant chain under the management of the Minor Food Group, plans to continue investing heavily in branch expansion and development of products and services to achieve its goal of Bt8 billion in sales revenue in the next five years.
“We see huge opportunity in Thailand for the restaurant business, so the company is focused on further expansion to double the size of the business by 2016 to 500 branches from 240 now,” Andy Holman, vice president and general manager of international franchising, said yesterday.
The company has budgeted at least Bt300 million for branch expansion and renovation next year, with about Bt150 million earmarked for 15 new branches – mainly upcountry, where there is more room to grow for the pizza-restaurant business. The remainder is to be used on renovation of existing branches, including those affected by the flooding.
Despite this crisis, the company spent Bt400 million on branch expansion and renovation this year. Of this investment, Bt250 million was used to add new branches, while the rest was for renovation. By the end of this year, The Pizza Company will have 240 branches in total, Holman said.
The flooding forced the company to close 40 branches in inundated areas. All but 12 of these have reopened, and the company aims to reopen the rest by the end of this month.
During this quarter, the cost of ingredients and raw materials has risen 4 per cent over normal periods.
Marketing director Chitchaya Tuchinda said that to cope with this problem, the company needed to emphasise cost control. For example, the company yesterday introduced a new value menu featuring Italian Extreme Pizza and Shrimp Grande Spaghetti.
With this promotion, Chitchaya believes the company will achieve Bt4.2 billion in sales this year, up 17 per cent from last year.
Holman added that though the impact from the flood was expected to continue into the new year, the company projected a 17-per-cent surge in revenue to Bt4.9 billion in 2012.
Source: Bangkok Post
