Overseas expansion s&p eyes new markets

S&P Syndicate plans to open its first restaurants in China and Japan this year while expanding its restaurant and bak¬ery chains aggressively at home despite political and economic tur¬bulence.

Domestically, S&P, Patio, Patara, Vanilla, Golden Dragon and Bluecup coffee fall under its brand umbrella, while overseas it oper¬ates Thai restaurants under Patara, Siam Kitchen, Thai and Patio concepts.

President Pravesvudhi Raiwa said yesterday that the company would invest about Bt150 million to open 30 S&P restaurants in Thailand every year, with more than half located upcountry. Its S&P restaurants now number more than 300 throughout the Kingdom.

"With the expansion, we want to maintain our growth at 15 per cent every year," he said.

S&P Syndicate operates four Vanilla restaurants in Bangkok, with another one to open by the end of this year on the second floor of the CentralWorld shopping com¬plex. The company runs about 20 branded restaurants in markets overseas, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore and Taiwan.

"Our first restaurants to be opened in Beijing in China and Tokyo in Japan will be under our flagship brand Patara or Patio. Both will be under joint ventures with local partners in China and Japan," Pravesvudhi said.

The Beijing restaurant will cost Bt20 million and the Tokyo restau¬rant Bt50 million.

"We have seen great potential for our branded restaurants in China and Japan, where Thai cuisine is among the foreign choices pre¬ferred by local consumers," he said.

Last year S&P Syndicate earned Bt181.7 million in net profit on sales of Bt4.07 billion. Last quarter it posted a net profit of Bt81.7 million from sales of Bt2.01 billion.

About 80 per cent of its sales came from its restaurant business and 20 per cent from the manufac¬turing of packaged foods, including frozen products and sausages.

The company exports its frozen foods to markets including the United States, Australia and France.

"We achieved sales growth of 12 to 13 per cent in the first six months of this year. However, our profit jumped by almost 100 per cent compared to the first half of last year. This better bottomline per¬formance came from the company's success last year in reshuffling its production process by cutting waste and improving efficiency," Pravesvudhi said.

S&P Syndicate yesterday revealed the rebranding of its Golden Dragon moon cakes aimed at expanding the customer base to new generations in the premium segment, who prefer the original taste of moon cakes but in a trendi¬er package.

The company hopes to sell 500,000 Golden Dragon moon cakes from August to October, up 5 per cent from last season.