To satisfy growing health concerns, Green Food Factory, the operator of Salad Factory restaurants, will move at a faster pace in expanding next year.
Piya Dankum, chief executive at Green Food Factory, said the company plans to allocate 40 million baht for five new Salad Factory restaurants in 2021.
The expansion is a greater leap for the company, relative to the 1-2 new restaurants on average planned annually.
Apart from full service restaurants, the company will also open 3-4 cloud kitchens and grab-and-go shops next year.
"We need to create new sales channels to minimise risks and become reachable for consumers," he said.
The company plans to spend another 40 million baht to build its new central kitchen on four rai in Pathum Thani by the end of this year to support future growth and expansion.
The new central kitchen operations will start next year.
Green Food Factory is a joint venture between Salad Factory and Central Restaurants Group (CRG), which hold a 49% and 51% share, respectively.
"We've partnered with CRG since December last year to grow the Salad Factory sustainably. We've got full support from CRG in logistics, construction, efficient accounting system and recruitment,'' said Mr Piya.
Since launching the Salad Factory eight years ago, seven branches have been opened in Bangkok's suburbs.
Tanhawat Saowaphapsopha, marketing director of Green Food Factory, said the company started expanding downtown with its flagship store in Aree Soi 2 last week.
The outlet is designed to be a casual healthy dining restaurant with affordable prices.
The company aims to have sales revenue of 30-40 million baht annually from this flagship branch.
"The Salad Factory business grew over the year and saw a slight hiccup during the pandemic. Sales volume has recovered, mostly driven by the huge growth of delivery and takeaway,'' he said.
Prior to the pandemic, about 90% of sales came from dine-in business and 10% was from deliveries and takeaway. At present, dine-in services have declined to 70%.
He said there is huge opportunity for Salad Factory to expand in the future as it is a new food category with less competition compared with other categories.
Salad Factory's sales were 160 million baht last year. Sales for this year are expected to total 200 million baht. The company expects 60% growth from this year to 260 million baht in sales.