After operating a Thai-Chinese restaurant chain for over seven decades, See Fah Restaurant Co will join with a Japanese partner to open its first gyoza restaurant in Bangkok.
Takehiro Ichinose, manager of Osaka Ohsho, shows off the gyoza in front his Thong Lor restaurant.
Osaka Ohsho (Thailand) Co was recently set up with registered capital of 10 million baht, with See Fah Restaurant holding a 51% stake in the joint venture with Eat & Co, a four-decade old restaurant in Japan.
The first Osaka Ohsho restaurant costing 10 million baht opened on the second floor of the Fifty Fifth Building in Thong Lor in August, with a second branch expected at the Thaniya Building on Silom Road by year-end.
"We plan to have 10 gyoza restaurants in Thailand, mainly in Bangkok, in the next three years," said Takehiro Ichinose, manager of Osaka Ohsho (Thailand).
The company is interested in Japanese restaurants here because the Thai economic situation is better than in Japan. Moreover, Japanese food is more popular among Thais than Western food, and there are few gyoza restaurants.
Demand for Japanese food, which was estimated at 20 billion baht last year, is projected to grow by 15-20% on average per year.
Thailand is the third country in Asia where Eat & Co opened a gyoza restaurant after South Korea and Hong Kong.
The Thong Lor restaurant has 200 square metres with 50 menu items, including health-conscious choices. The restaurant expects monthly sales of 1.66 million baht.
Naoki Fumino, managing director of Eat & Co, said it hopes to expand its business in Thailand. It plans to enter Thailand's frozen food market in the near future and open a See Fah restaurant in Japan as well.
Eat & Co operates eight restaurant brands under its group, with Osaka Ohsho being the major one with 320 outlets.
Apart from Thailand, Eat & Co plans to open new outlets in Shanghai and Singapore in November this year.
Nitta Rachjaibun, an executive of See Fah, said the company will find new business opportunities to expand its food portfolio in the future through joint ventures.
"We are open to joint ventures both local and abroad. However, we will move slowly to protect against risk," he said.