A growing number of local food and beverage operators are planning to list on the local bourse to raise capital for building brand awareness and accelerate their pace of expansion.
The four-day Taipei International Chain and Franchise Exhibition closed yesterday at the Taipei World Trade Center, with various exhibitors showing interest in launching initial public offerings (IPO) in Taiwan in the near future.
La Kaffa International Co Ltd (六角國際事業), which operates bubble tea chain Chatime (日出茶太) in Taiwan, China, Southeast Asia, Australia and the US, expects to list on Taiwan’s GRETAI Securities Market in the second half of this year.
La Kaffa, which runs about 800 tea houses globally, debuted on the Emerging Stock Market (興櫃市場) in December at NT$168 per share. The company’s shares closed at NT$176 on Wednesday, stock exchange data showed.
Meanwhile, the company aims to accelerate its expansion in the US and Japan this year by cooperating with strong strategic partners.
“We hope to build up principles for franchising through our experience in the US,” La Kaffa president Eddie Chang (張國強) told the Taipei Times on Thursday.
The experience may further help the company create a set of standard operating procedures (SOP) to deal with its franchising business elsewhere in the world, Chang added.
La Kaffa has been authorizing a sole agent in the US, expecting the partner to help the company accelerate its expansion there over the next five years.
The company aims to raise its number of tea houses in the US to 300 in the next five years, from its current nine stores.
The company also has established a joint venture in Japan with a Japanese company, with La Kaffa holding a 70 percent stake. It expects to launch 50 tea houses in the new market in the next five years.
OCOCO International Co Ltd (億可國際飲食), which operates about 1,200 Coco Fresh Tea & Juice (都可茶飲) outlets worldwide, is also looking to accelerate its expansion in the US and Europe this year.
The bubble tea chain said it would this year start offering overseas franchise opportunities for interested individuals to extend its coverage, hoping to increase its stores to more than 1,500 by the end of this year.
OCOCO president Jonathan Lin (林家振) said he expects the company to list on a global major securities market next year, with the Taiwan Stock Exchange remaining one of his favorites.
“We hope that listing on a global major bourse could raise the company to the next level, making more outstanding overseas partners interested in cooperating with us,” Lin said.
Apart from the two bubble tea chains, Super-Mill Enterprises Co Ltd (超秦企業) — which operates more than 1,000 breakfast outlets under the brand My Warm Day (麥味登) — also plans to list on Taiwan’s GRETAI Securities Market in 2015.
Super-Mill vice president Allen Chou (卓靖倫) said the company is looking to expand My Warm Day to an all-day-restaurant brand in the next two years, while upgrading about 100 of its direct-selling stores.
The company has also encouraged its franchise stores to extend their operating hours to at least noon, to help carry out My Warm Day’s brand concept, Chou added.
Super-Mill, which also provides meat products to wholesalers, saw its revenue reach NT$2.6 billion (US$86.88 million) last year, showing growth for the 10th consecutive year, company statements showed. It expects sales to grow 8 percent this year to NT$2.8 billion.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia
RSS