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Published on November 26, 2007

"I plan to franchise my family business because our three Daddy Dough shops have shown great growth, even though we have been open for business just a year and a half. We have a good opportunity to grow at the moment and there are some people who want to do business with us," owner and general manager Peter Thaveepolcharoen said last week.

He hopes to open three franchised stores and five under company management next year.

The Bon Marché shop just two weeks ago joined the two Daddy Dough outlets on Silom Road in Bangkok and in Pattaya.

Daddy Dough makes 3,200 pieces per day, of which 1,500 are for the Silom branch, 1,000 for Bon Marché and 700 for Pattaya. In the beginning, it made only 500 per day.

Many customers came to know Daddy Dough from word of mouth, Peter said, adding that he did not plan to use that as a marketing strategy, but it has worked and helped people learn about his stores.

His donuts are better than others because the flour is "softer", he said. The target customer group is adults, mainly women.

A Daddy Dough store will go into the I-Residence Building on Sathorn Road near the Skytrain this year.

"I rented a space at I-Residence. It's a very good location. Our target group there are people working around that site and living in I-Residence. They have high purchasing power. I expect to sell more than 2,000 donuts per day at that branch," he said.

This year would also end with another store in Siam Paragon.

Next year's expansions need Bt15 million-Bt20 million in capital.

"We'll break even within two years if we can expand the business as we expect," he said.

His horizon also extends overseas. Now he is dealing with a Middle East partner who was his customer. If possible he would like to open his first international branch in 2009.

"I believe that donuts will fit with every period, although consumers seem to be interested in health foods now. We can apply donut recipes to serve everyone. Daddy Dough has come up with donuts with spinach-stuffing or cereal topping for health-conscious consumers and will develop new varieties in the future," Peter said.

Nalin Viboonchart

The Nation