Zen Corporation Group Plc, the operator of Zen restaurant, plans to spend 160 million baht next year to expand its food business.
Of the total, 100 million baht will be allocated to open 70-100 restaurants via its own investment and franchise basis, with the remaining 60 million baht to be used to install IT and renovate existing restaurants, said chief executive Boonyong Tansakul.
The focus will go primarily to five food brands: Khiang, Tummour, On the Table, Din's and Aka, he said.
With the plan, the total number of restaurants under Zen Group will reach 445 branches next year, up from 345 by the end of this year.
The spending is slightly lower than the 180 million baht allocated for this year, because of the relatively smaller size of the branches.
"The group has already passed through the low point in the second quarter, and we have restructured our organisation to become leaner, more agile and with improved management efficiency," said Mr Boonyong.
The third quarter, about 80-85% of customers returned to dine in at its restaurants, he said.
Zen reported total revenue fell 27.4% to 1.66 billion baht in the first nine months this year, mainly attributed to a decrease in revenue from sales of food and beverages, the major contributor to the group's revenue.
This decrease was a direct consequence of the Covid-19 outbreak, the nationwide lockdown and the temporary closure of restaurants in shopping centres during March to May.
During the first nine months this year, revenue from sales of food and beverages made up 96.5% and 94.8% of total revenue, respectively.
For the same period, the company reported a net loss of 79.6 million against a net profit of 87.4 million baht in the same period last year.
In addition to new restaurants, the company also plans to adopt various strategies to grow its business next year including more effective cash management; operating cost control by using more robots in some areas; and reducing business risk by expanding its food via various platforms such as dine-in, delivery and e-marketplace.
The company will use single sourcing via central buying of raw materials and packaging to reduce costs. It will also focus more on expanding its business via franchises.
Mr Boonyong said Zen Japanese restaurant has been established for three decades, requiring it to rebrand to become fresher with a more modern look to capture younger consumers.
The price point of new Zen menus will decrease to reach millennials. It plans to increase the variety of its food business portfolio to fulfil every lifestyle of consumers. The company is driving the application of digital platforms to provide a seamless dining experience, and wants to create brands and sales channels through e-commerce to expand the customer base to include new consumer groups.
Zen Corp projected its revenue to stay at 2.3-2.4 billion baht by the end of this year, down from 3.14 billion reported in 2019.
Zen's share prices closed yesterday on the SET at 10.60 baht, down 50 satang, in trade worth 13 million baht.