The Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (TTFB, 瓦城泰統集團) yesterday formally unveiled its new restaurant brand, Very Thai Noodles (大心新泰式麵食), along with plans over the next three years to open 30 outlets of what is to be its fourth restaurant chain.
The group currently runs three restaurant chains — Thai Town Cuisine (瓦城), Very Thai Restaurant (非常泰) and 1010 Hunan Cuisine (1010湘辣料理) — with more than 60 outlets across Taiwan and China.
At a press conference held to present the new Thai eatery, Tai Tong chairman Charles Hsu (徐承義) said that the expansion of Very Thai Noodles would follow the same procedure as the group’s three other brands, with most of the outlets to be established in department stores.
Based on a trial launch of the new restaurant brand conducted over the past week at the Uni-Hankyu Department Store (統一阪急百貨) in Taipei, Tai Tong said it targeted average customer expenditure at between NT$200 and NT$250 per person.
The trial Very Thai Noodles outlet drew more than 800 customers a day in one weekend, Tai Tong said.
Hsu said the restaurant operator plans to establish the fledgling chain overseas, with Shanghai, New York and London targeted as potential locations.
He did not elaborate on the expansion plans.
Tai Tong reported an annual 30.51 percent increase in consolidated sales for the first four months of the year to record NT$700.46 million in sales, which is likely attributable to its continued expansion into the Chinese restaurant industry this year.
The group launched its first outlet in China under the Thai Town brand in Shanghai in December last year and is scheduled to launch two new outlets in the city next month, with seven others expected to open across the Taiwan Strait in the second half of the year to boost the group’s outlets there to 10 by the end of the year, Hsu said.
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