The 86-year-old American burger chain Big Boy has entered the Thai market after opening a store at Bangkok's MBK mall earlier this month.
According to Ticomporn Tangkiatsilp, director of restaurant operations for Destination Eats Co, the operator of the Hard Rock Café in Phuket and Scoozi Pizza, the company invested 3 million baht to open the store on the ground floor of the MBK mall in early October, after testing the market for two years with a small kiosk at the Chatuchak MRT station.
"The market response was better than expected. With a better pandemic situation as well as the return of an estimated 10 million foreign tourists this year, the burger business prospects in Thailand are promising," said Mr Ticomporn.
In 2020 the US owner of Big Boy gave Destination Eats the master licence to expand Big Boy in Asia, except Japan, for five years.
Destination Eats started its business in Thailand three decades ago. It is part of the Destination Group, which mainly engages in three business groups in Thailand -- property, hospitality and food, through Destination Property Co, Collective Hospitality Co and Destination Eats Co, respectively.
Destination Property operates hotels including Radisson Resort and Suites on Kamala beach in Phuket, while Collective Hospitality operates a hostel business which includes Bodega Bangkok on Sukhumvit Soi 23. Destination Eats operates food businesses such as Scoozi Pizza, Hard Rock café in Phuket, Hooters, pubs and restaurants.
Big Boy is the fourth food brand under Destination Eats. Big Boy belongs to Big Boy Restaurant Group, an American restaurant chain headquartered in Michigan. Big Boy was started as Bob's Pantry in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale, California. It became famous with its signature Big Boy hamburger, which was the original double-decker hamburger.
"We've chosen Big Boy because Thailand is the food destination for tourists and there is growing popularity of classic American diner burgers here,'' Mr Ticomporn said.
He said the quick service restaurant (QSR) sector in Thailand is estimated to be worth 35 billion baht per year.
Of the total QSR market, over 10 billion baht belongs to burger businesses. Major brands in the country's burger market include McThai Co's McDonald's, Minor Group's Burger King, and Mos Burger (Thailand) Co's Mos Burger brand.
According to Mr Ticomporn, in addition to MBK the company plans to open another four Big Boy restaurants in Bangkok in 2023, bringing the total to five restaurants and one kiosk at the MRT station.
In addition to its own expansion, it also plans to grow its burger business via a franchise system next year.