Fuji Restaurant Group plans to open at least 80-100 restaurants in major Southeast Asian countries in the long term to cash in on opportunities when the Asean Economic Community (AEC) comes into effect by the end of this year.
Executive director Rawiwan Tanaka said the company sought to open 10-15 new Fuji restaurants in Asean in the next three years, which will require an investment of 500-700 million baht.
Last year, it had four restaurants in Asean and will add another eight this year, of which three will be in Myanmar, two in Cambodia and one each in Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia.
With the additions, Fuji expects sales from Asean will grow by 10% to reach 440 million baht this year.
Rawiwan: At least 80 restaurants in Asean
The company also plans to open restaurants in Dubai this year.
Fuji started expanding into Asean through joint ventures two years ago.
The coming of the AEC has spurred more investment in many sectors in major Asean countries, creating opportunities and increasing the number of tourists, meaning there is huge room for Fuji to expand its Japanese restaurant business in the region, said Mrs Rawiwan.
She said people in Asean countries, particularly Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, are quite familiar with Fuji restaurants, which were opened in shopping malls in major provinces and border towns several years ago.
"It is possible for us to open at least 80 Fuji restaurants in Asean, the same number we have in Thailand, in the long term," she added.
Regarding Thailand, the company also plans to spend about 250 million baht to open at least five new restaurants this year, bringing the total number of domestic outlets to 85.