Donut chain here 25 years
Celebrating the 25th anniversary today of the opening of its first Dunkin' Donuts store in Thailand - in Siam Square - Dunkin' Brands Inc still sees plenty of potential for growth here and the Asia-Pacific.
"Being in Thailand's market for 25 years, it is a good relationship between Thai consumers and the Dunkin' Donuts brand. We were also the first international donut chain in Thailand," Anthony Pavese, vice president for Asia-Pacific, said yesterday.The US-based company is trying to balance growth of existing partners and markets with growth of new markets. "We have set our target to grow the Asia business by 30 per cent a year. We have also created a 'Greater China Strategy' to look for local individual partners to expand Dunkin' Donuts network in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan over the next five years," Pavese said. Dunkin' has over 7,000 outlets in 34 countries, of which about 1,400 are in 11 countries in Asia-Pacific. Most of the Asia-Pacific outlets were franchised to local partners except for two joint ventures in Japan and Korea. The company has 400 Dunkin' Donuts in Korea and 800 Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shops in Japan. Local franchisee Golden Donuts (Thailand) now operates about 140 stores in 34 provinces, up from just 16 outlets in 1986. In Asia-Pacific, about 200 Dunkin' Donuts franchised outlets have already opened this year and over 300 are expected to open next year. "In addition to such new markets as Greater China, we remain focused on strong expansion in existing markets like Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Australia," Pavese said. Joint development of new products with local partners in some markets is also part of its strategy for next year. "Most product development and innovations will come from the local partners to us. We try to help them to make products better," Pavese said, adding that the company runs a 4,000-square-metre innovation centre at its US headquarters. Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn, The Nation
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