McThai and Yum expand

McThai, the local McDonald's franchisee, will this year invest Bt450 million to add 20 restaurants in the Kingdom.

McThai currently operates 101 McDonald's nationwide, offering dining services, 24-hour drive-through restaurants, Dessert Kiosk and McCafe services.

There is also McDelivery, which uses the 1711 hotline operating from 9am to midnight.

Yum Restaurants International (Thailand), operator of KFC and Pizza Hut, has adopted a two-year business plan beginning this year to double revenue growth by 2010.

The company will allocate Bt1.1 billion this year to add 30 KFC and 15 Pizza Hut outlets. The investment is Yum's highest since opening here.

Yum and its franchisee, Central Restaurants Group (CRG), run 319 KFC and 76 Pizza Hut outlets.

McThai's chairman of the executive committee and CEO Hester Chew said the Bt450-million budget would be for building 20 McDonald's restaurants - all with McCafe outlets - and another seven drive-through outlets.

The company will also refurbish 11 restaurants during the year.

The estimated growth for overall fast-food restaurants will be between 8 per cent and 10 per cent this year, he said.

He said "24/7, Extended Hour, 1711 Delivery McCafe and Drive Thru" outlets were part of its rebranding effort to position itself as a trendy urban lifestyle.

Sran Smutkochorn, managing director of Yum Restaurants International, said the company had worked with CRG on its expansion plan.

He said 60 per cent of the Bt1.1-billion budget would be used to improve existing branches and opening new ones. The rest will go on marketing the brands.

About 70 per cent of the budget will be from Yum and the rest from CRG.

Sran said Yum expected to achieve more than 20-per-cent sales growth this year. It posted 7-per-cent growth last year.

"We initiated the new concept called 'Year of Execution' to focus on developing Yum's human resources, adjusting staff uniforms to be more casual looking, reducing duplication of work, developing new menu items and heightening brand awareness."

Yum last year invested Bt800 million on brand-building and improved existing outlets as well as opening new ones.

It opened 26 KFC branches and 5 Pizza Hut outlets. The company's survey found the chains had 55 per cent of the Bangkok market.

Meanwhile, McThai has kicked off its 2008 business plan by finally offering breakfast items, served at 59 outlets around the country. Until recently McDonald's in Thailand only served a limited selection of burgers and fries.

Chew said the firm now recognised breakfast as an important meal.

"We focus on the 'Anytime, anywhere' strategy that uses the convenience platform for all our services," he said.

"We believe there's great potential in our breakfast business," said Chew.

"It will cater to a growing group of consumers who like the 'grab and go' idea. This group have time constraints and are on a tight schedule being on the go, working in hectic urban areas."

He said the breakfast programme had seen rapid successful in the past month, with daily sales rising by 34 per cent during the morning serving period.

However, overall volume for last year failed to meet the firm's target.

"McDonald's sales in 2007 were below target, although our performance in the last quarter of 2007 was much stronger than for the rest of the year," he said.

With its new strategies, Chew expects this year's sales growth will surpass 20 per cent.

Nitida Asawanipont,

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation