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The company is also studying its new home delivery and catering services, starting at its Mister Donut stores at the Victory Monument and Silom Road, and evaluating feedback from the market.

General manager Sucheep Tamacheepjareon said yesterday that the new store design and format would be fully applied to the 200th Mister Donut in Thailand, which would be opened by the end of the year at a leading shopping venue in Bangkok.

"The 200th store will be created with a greater atmosphere to make customers happy while hanging around at the restaurant. Customers will spend more time at the restaurant and enjoy a wider variety of food and beverages beyond just donuts," he said.

Sucheep said the company would invest between Bt5 million and Bt7 million on the store, against an average of Bt3 million for existing outlets.

About 80 per cent of the chain's customers buy donuts to take away, he said, adding that the frequency of their visits had risen to about four times a month with average spending per transaction increasing by 6 per cent.

Fiftytwo per cent of Central Restaurants Group's Mister Donut stores are in Bangkok. The company will open another 10 new by the end of the year, of which 70 per cent will be in the provinces.

Sucheep said that about 15 Mister Donut restaurants would be renovated into the new modern format next year at a cost of Bt5 million each.

He added that Mister Donut expected to achieve sales of more than Bt1.2 billion this year, an increase of 10 per cent. The overall donutrestaurant market is estimated to grow by between 6 and 7 per cent.