Wowprime Corp (王品) expects its Taiwanese operations’ revenue to grow gradually this year, following the launch of more new restaurant brands later this year, chairman Park Chen (陳正輝) said yesterday.
The restaurant chain operator introduced Singaporean restaurant Putien (莆田) to Taiwan in January and plans to open two more brands in the third and fourth quarters, Chen told a media gathering.
He did not elaborate on what the new brand types would be.
Wowprime last month announced that it was changing its strategy, focusing on launching new brands instead of expanding stores after the company last year saw its founder depart, its annual revenue fall from its peak and net income plunge by 95 percent from 2014.
The number of its restaurants had increased 6.4 percent to 299 as of April last year from 281 in April 2014, but its revenue decreased 7.1 percent to NT$801 million (US$24.69 million) over the same period, company data showed.
“That means those news stores were having problems,” Chen said.
Chen has drastically adjusted existing businesses and restaurant brands after taking control of the nation’s biggest restaurant chain operator in July last year.
“Our team and culture are what international and local brands are looking for if they want to get into Taiwan’s market” through business alliances or joint-venture opportunities, Chen said.
Chen said it is “relatively cheap” to launch a new brand, because it is easy to judge if a new brand would be successful after launching two to three restaurants.
“Funding is not a problem for Wowprime, but its business model could be,” Chen said.
Putien is critical to his new business model, as customers at the Singaporean restaurant brand are mostly above 40 years old and its dishes are healthy and light, Chen said.
“We plan to introduce more Putien outlets in Taiwan this year,” he said.
As to a dispute about Wowprime cutting salaries of entry-level employees early this year, Chen said that it was part of a plan to adjust its management style to pay employees according to their position and which brand they work for.
“You cannot expect higher-end restaurants to have the same salary as others,” Chen said. “Our culture and rewards to our employees remain unchanged.”
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