Minor unveils Coffee Club

The Coffee Club will join Minor Group's existing restaurant brands, which are The Pizza Company, Swensen's, Sizzler, Dairy Queen, Burger King and LeJazz. The group operates more than 800 restaurants under those brands, domestically and abroad.

Two months ago, Minor Group acquired a 50-per-cent stake worth 23 million Australian dollars (Bt672 million) in The Coffee Club, which operates more than 200 coffee houses in Australia and New Zealand.

Last year, the company also acquired a 70-per-cent stake in Thai Express, the Singapore-based chain that operates 40 Thai, Japanese and Western restaurants in Singapore.

Minor International's chief information officer Neil Hampshire said Minor Group planned to maintain revenue growth of between 15 and 20 per cent year on year. Growth would be enhanced through both organic expansion and acquisitions.

Minor Group yesterday signed a contract with Oracle Corporation for revamping its IT system.

A new application, Oracle E-Business Suite, will not only provide an immediate return and efficiency to Minor, but also boost the organisation's capability of delivering future growth.

"The Oracle system will provide key strategic benefits to support our growth. The new IT platform will increase the group's capability in customer service, inventory management, supply-chain efficiency and minimising costs, as well as increasing the level of automation and integration of the back-office process," said Hampshire.

The system will enable Minor's management to gain business insights, make better decisions and drive improvements in operational efficiencies.

"IT has been always concerned by Minor as key investment set to manage the complexity and growth within the organisation," he said.

Hampshire said the group undertook a strategic review of its IT plans, environment and organisation 12 months ago. The catalyst was the company's growth and recognition that effective, efficient and scaleable systems and business processes were a key to support this growth.

A key change included the outsourcing of IT infrastructure and core applications to IBM so that Minor could focus on leveraging technology to enhance its business and bring innovative technology solutions to its customers.

It also decided to leverage leading technology to support the creation of group-wide financial and procurement services, and develop an integrated supply chain and tools to enhance its manufacturing and to closely link its production to sales.

These moves will allow the group to reduce inventories, enhance customer service and optimise the planning and utilisation of its production capacity.