NPP Food Incorporation Co, the operator of A&W fast food restaurants, plans to almost triple its branches to 100 by 2020.
Thawat Wattanaphichet, the company's deputy managing director, said to achieve that goal, the company aims to open 55 new A&W branches between 2019 and 2020.
More details about the branch format are not yet available, with Mr Thawat saying only that the company is in the process of looking for proper locations.
NPP Food operates 37 A&W branches, 31 of which are full-service restaurants, while seven are A&W Express branches, including the latest one opened yesterday at Metro Mall in the MRT Rama IX station.
The new A&W Express at Rama IX has 15 seats with 40 menu items. The company expects about 200 customers to visit the new branch per day, breaking even within 2-3 years.
NPP Food spends an average of 1.5-2.5 million baht per A&W Express outlet and 4.5-6 million per full-service restaurant branch.
"We're going to expand the A&W business more aggressively this year as we see huge room to grow the brand in Thailand," he said.
NPP Food acquired a few years ago a master franchise licence to operate A&W restaurants in Thailand, with additional franchise rights in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
A&W contributes almost 200 million baht in sales to NPP Food.
Mr Thawat said the company plans to open an A&W Express at Metro Mall's MRT Chatuchak station in January 2019 to capitalise on the 700,000 passengers per day using the Blue Line.
The company also wants to open a new Miyabi grill and Mr Jones' Orphanage bakery next year.
He said the company is in talks to buy new restaurant brands. By doing so, the company expects its NPP Food sales to double to 400 million baht over the next 3-4 years.
Nattavut Trivisvavet, managing director of Bangkok Metro Networks, the operator of Metro Malls at MRT stations, said the increasingly positive consumer feedback for Metro Mall has driven the company to spend 25 million baht to renovate the Metro Mall at Chatuchak. It plans to spend another 20 million baht to renovate the Phahon Yothin branch next year.