Wowprime Corp (王品集團) aims to boost the number of outlets of its Japanese cuisine brand — ikki — from 16 to 30 by the end of 2018, as the brand has become one the three most profitable among the group’s 15 chains.
The chain saw its sales reach NT$700 million (US$23.83 million) last year, a growth of 50 percent, which is the highest rate among the 15 chains held by the group globally.
For the first six months of the year, ikki posted sales of NT$440 million, with the group, which operates 385 restaurants in Taiwan, China and Singapore, seeing consolidated sales up by 19.54 percent to NT$8.42 billion. The chain had a profitability ratio of 15.1 percent.
Wang Fu-biao (王福標), vice president of ikki, attributed the brand’s profitability to its precise expansion plan and pricing strategy.
The brand has focused on launching new outlets in department stores or shopping malls since late 2012, with the sales performance of these new stores up 15 percent to 20 percent compared with its stores elsewhere, Wang said.
The brand's strategy to lower the price of its set meals to around NT$700, from the level of a previous level of NT$1000 and above further attracted customers and helped raise the chain's sales, he said.
“We aim to maintain the same expansion strategy and pace by opening four new outlets each year in the future, and hope to reach a total of 30 outlets by 2018,” Wang told a media briefing yesterday.
For this year, Wang is targeting NT$880 million in sales for the chain, which would raise the profitability ratio to around 17 percent.
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