Landis Group (亞都麗緻集團), a major hotel and restaurant operator in Taiwan, has renamed the company Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團) to demonstrate its emphasis on its food and beverage business as its main growth driver.
Food and beverage, which overtook hotel reservations as the No. 1 source of income, generating 52 percent of total revenues in the past two years, is to remain the pillar of earnings this year and beyond, group communications manager Jonathan Chen (陳裕文) said by telephone yesterday.
“The strategy to open independent restaurants has been successful and accounts for the increase in revenue,” Chen said.
The group, whose business interests include Landis Hotels and Resorts, Landis Management (麗緻管理顧問) and Liz Dining Group (亞緻餐飲), has sought to cast off earnings limits linked to the less popular Landis Taipei Hotel Co (亞都麗緻) on Minquan E Road and its economy of scale.
The group set up branches of its French restaurant Brasserie Liz (麗緻巴賽麗) and Chinese restaurant Tien Hsiang Lo (天香樓) in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義). The company also launched a Boost Juice Bar, an Australian brand that offers smoothies, in the underground shopping complex connected to Taipei Railway Station.
The choice of locations for the independent food and beverage outlets reflects the group’s desire to expand its customer base from foreign business travelers to young Taiwanese, Chen said.
The company has no intention of giving up on business travelers, but is taking steps to reach out to female customers, Landis president Michelle Hsu (徐儷萍) said.
The group is to spend NT$250 million (US$75.9 million) this year renovating Landis Taipei hotel rooms to be equipped with dressers and separate baths and showers.
The flagship unit is expected to have a VIP lounge, a rooftop garden and better-integrated kitchen space, Hsu said.
Landis Taipei aims to grow its revenue by between 3 percent and 5 percent this year as it did last year, despite lingering economic weakness, general manager Tony Wang (王本仁) said.
With a focus on business travelers, Landis is susceptible to global economic cycles, but is aiming to subdue the impact with improved services, Wang said.
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