The Chicken Rice Shop eyes new outlets
Published on: Friday, October 24, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR: TCRS Restaurants Sdn Bhd, the owner and operator of The Chicken Rice Shop chain in Malaysia, has ramped up its expansion plans to 30 new outlets from 17 new outlets in the group this year."This year, as a group, I think we should hit an additional 30 outlets. We should be at 110 as a group by year-end," its CEO Wong Kah Lin said.In January, Wong said it had plans to open new The chicken Rice Shop and 10 for the other three brands. The group was at 80 outlets as June of June.
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TCRS Restaurants is the owner and operator of The Chicken Rice Shop, Dubu-Dubu and Sweet Chat, and the co-owner of Pancake House International, The group recently celebrated the 14th anniversary of it's The Chicken Rice Shop brand in June.The cost of opening an outlet is between RM500,000 and RM750,000 for The Chicken Rice Shop and about RM400,000 for the other three brands.According to Wong, it opened six new outlets during the first half of the year and there are new openings nearly every other week. The company's presence is almost nationwide, with Perlis being the only State where it has yet to open an outlet."We are on track to achieving 20pc growth in sales turnover this year. In fact, we are exceeding the 20pc growth, based on existing store performance and new outlets performance and new outlet openings," she said.
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On its business overseas, Wong said it has a presence via franchise in Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines and, most recently in Brunei but is still searching for the right partner to start its business in Indonesia."In Indonesia, we are still looking for the right partner. At the end of the day, in Malaysia, there's still so much room to grow. Unless we find the right partners, it's a bit challenging to go overseas," she said.
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For the Taiwan franchise, Wong said the agreement has been extended to October and both parties are in discussion now on how to manage the franchise moving forward."As always, we evaluate whether it is worthwhile to continue with the current franchise, because there is a certain growth target that they have to meet."I think Taiwan is a very small market, so our focus isn't there. Population wise it is smaller than Malaysia, I think. We are still evaluating to see how it goes," she added.Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Wong said the company that franchised the business was recently acquired by one of the largest food chains in the country and the new owners are positive on the growth prospects.She said the franchise agreement in the Philippines will be end of this year but the group is likely to continue its business in the country, as the new partners are keen to grow."We are excited about the new team we are working with but are still discussing the best way to position the brand in this market," she said, adding that it is also sorting out approvals for its first Pancake House International outlet in Brunei.However, it is still focused on Malaysia where it owns and operates almost all the outlets. "In the Klang Valley itself, currently the population is six million. Within the next few years, it will grow to 10 million… we are only serving 30,000 per outlet every year. There is still enormous potential.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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