Central Restaurants Group (CRG), the operator of chains such as KFC, Mister Donut and Auntie Anne's, plans to invest 1-1.2 billion baht to expand its restaurant business next year.
Nath Vongpanich, the company's president, said CRG would open at least 150-200 points of sale including kiosks and regular restaurants next year, the same level as in 2022, if the pandemic situation remains unchanged and no unpredictable factors emerge.
KFC, Mister Donut, Auntie Anne's, Ootoya and Katsuya are priority brands the company is scheduled to continue to expand next year, he said.
Of the total spending, 500-600 million baht will be allocated to opening new restaurants and kiosks as well as renovating its existing restaurants, with the remaining 500-600 million used to acquire shares of Shinkanzen Sushi restaurant.
The company already opened 60-70 food branches in the first half of this year and plans to spend another 400 million baht to open 140 new branches of KFC, Ootoya, Mister Donut, Arigato, Shinkanzen Sushi and Salad Factory during the second half.
CRG plans to open restaurants both at retail complexes as well as stand-alone outlets to balance the risk, said Mr Nath.
"During the two years of the pandemic, we realised it is no longer easy to expand our businesses. We would rather focus on partnerships with food operators who are willing to join hands and need support from CRG, which has four decades of experience in this field," he said.
Under the expansion plan, the total number of restaurants under CRG is projected to reach around 1,700 next year.
"We are very confident to maintain our investment level because we have seen a huge improvement in the economy, a recovery of customer traffic at dine-in restaurants and a huge number of foreign tourists returning to Thailand," said Mr Nath.
According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, as of August this year the number of foreign tourists travelling to Thailand tallied 398,000 people. The figure is forecast to reach 10 million by the end of this year and 25 million next year.
"The rebound of the tourism business helps stimulate the flow of money in the economy and improves consumer spending power in many areas," he said.
Mr Nath said the company's operating performance in the first half this year went quite well, both for the top line and bottom line despite rising raw material costs.
He attributed to positive figures to the company adjusting its operational processes and optimising its existing staff.
CRG expects its sales this year to return to pre-pandemic levels of around 12 billion baht, up from roughly 9 billion last year, said Mr Nath.
