Thailand’s 70-year-old rice and noodle shop Im Thai is making the Philippines its springboard for its Asian franchise expansion.
Greg
Lim, business development manager of Blims Fine Furniture, said he
secured the license to develop the franchise concept for Im Thai and
then put up the prototype franchise stores here in the Philippines.
“It is a great
restaurant chain but they don’t know how to franchise, so we convinced
them to set up operations here. We will make it teachable and put
everything into standards including menu and operations. Then we will
create the Asian headquarters in the Philippines and start the Asian
franchise,” Lim said.
The target rollout, he said, is in the first quarter of next year.
Lim
has sent two teams to Thailand to finalize the menu and style. The next
phase, he said, is the taste test to ensure the menu would be
acceptable for Filipinos.
“Our
target is the mass market. But Thai is not really acceptable to
Filipinos because it is too spicy. So our plan is to make the taste a
combination of Thai, Chinese and Filipino,” Lim said.
Im
Thai, aside from having a restaurant chain in Thailand, also does
catering for industrial and government offices and a high-end polo club.
It also has its own bakeshop and ice cream parlor.
Lim
said they will choose the most salable items, which are mostly Thai
rice and Thai noodles, then convert the concept into fast and casual
dining.
The plan, he said, is to put up at least two company-owned stores before they start franchising it.
For
those located in commercial areas and business districts, they will
have at least one restaurant and then spread several kiosks. The supply
for the kiosks will come from the restaurants.
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