Gourmet Master Co (美食達人), which owns cafe and bakery chain 85°C (85度C), expects to see its revenue contribution from the US market account for 10 percent, up from the current 3 percent, with the company planning to accelerate its expansion plans there over the next two years.
The firm, which currently has three outlets in the US, plans to increase the number of stores to eight or nine by the end of this year, Chris Lee (李翰霖), vice president of investor relations at Gourmet Master, told an investors’ conference yesterday.
“The US market is expected to be the main driver for Gourmet Master over the next few years,” Lee said.
At present, revenue from a single outlet in the US accounts for about 1 percent of the company’s total revenue, he said.
Gourmet Master will also commence operations at its first central factory in the US this quarter.
The factory in Southern California may help increase business efficiency for the company, he added.
In the first half of the year, Gourmet Master posted NT$7.19 billion (US$240.05 million) in consolidated sales, up 11 percent from a year earlier.
Revenue last month rose by 12 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.13 billion the company said in a statement.
Slowing expansion in China was the main factor dragging down annual growth of the company’s sales to between 10 percent and 15 percent, compared with about 30 percent recorded over the past few years.
“In the first half of this year, the company focused primarily on adjusting the layout of its second generation stores and products, in an effort to develop a more profitable business model,” Lee said.
However, the pace of expansion could start to recover in the second half of this year after the company’s adjustment plans are completed, he said.
As far as China is concerned — the other major market for Gourmet Master — the company is aiming to expand its franchise model in an attempt to reduce costs.
Gourmet Master was operating a total of 392 outlets in China as of the end of last month, with the company planning to leverage the layout of its second generation stores to more outlets in China this month and next.
Based on internal research, revenue from second generation stores is expected to grow by 20 to 30 percent, the company forecast.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure