Restaurant chain operator Wowprime Corp (王品集團) yesterday inked an agreement with Singapore’s Pu Tien Holdings Pte Ltd (莆田控股) to launch a vegetarian restaurant brand in the city-state, its latest effort to expand its business outside its home market.
Sufood (舒果) will be the third Wowprime brand to be licensed overseas, following 12 Sabu (石二鍋) and Tokiya (陶板屋). Wowprime aims to open eight outlets in Singapore within five years.
The companies have pooled inital capital of NT$50 million (US$1.68 million) for the joint venture, Sufood Singapore Pte Ltd (舒果新加坡). Wowprime holds 30 percent, while Pu Tien owns the remaining 70 percent.
“Next year will be the group’s first year of globalizaiton,” Wowprime chairman Steve Day (戴勝益) said.
The group is in talks with other overseas restaurant groups for tie-ups, Day said. He expects the group’s overseas expansion to accelerate over the next four to five years.
Wowprime, which operates 14 restaurant chains with more than 340 outlets in Taiwan and China, currently runs 17 Sufood outlets in Taiwan.
Pu Tien chief executive C.C. Fong (方志忠) said the company plans to open two Sufood restaurants in Singapore next year, with the first to be launched in the first quarter.
The company aims to generate S$300,000 (US$239,000) in monthly revenue at each Sufood outlet in Singapore, Fong told a media briefing.
Fong said the current food and beverage sector in Singapore lacks of vegetarian food, but demand has been rising in recent years, indicating a good business opportunity for Sufood.
Meanwhile, Pu Tien, which operates 11 restaurants in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, may expand the Sufood brand to Indonesia and Malaysia in the long term, Fong added.
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