Chester's Food Co, the operator of Chester's restaurant chain, looks set to resume its aggressive expansion next year as business activities and foreign arrivals are rebounding.
According to managing director Lalana Boonngamsri, the company plans to open 20 new Chester's restaurants across the country next year, compared to an average of 8-10 new eateries per year before the Covid-19 crisis.
Half of the new restaurants will be supported by their own investment and via franchisees. All new restaurants will be a medium size of 100 square metres, down from 200 sq m during the period before the Covid-19 crisis.
Ms Lalana did not disclose the investment figures.
"Overall business has gradually recovered since the fourth quarter of last year after several strict lockdown measures were eased," she said.
"The most recent decision to lift the nationwide state of emergency on Oct 1 thanks to a decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases is expected to help attract more customers to spend their lives as normal, while the number of foreign tourists is expected to reach 10 million, 30 million and 40 million in 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively. The recovery of tourism will boost the economy and the spending power of local people."
With such positive factors, Ms Lalana said the company is quite optimistic about the prospects for quick service restaurants next year.
She said the pandemic taught Chester's to develop a new concept store and extend delivery services to cover wider locations in order to reduce business risks.
It has also prepared measures to tackle the ongoing floods if the situation gets worse. Roughly 70% of Chester's restaurants are in Bangkok, with 30% in upcountry areas.
The company is exploring opportunities to expand its business to cover more second-tier cities and is scheduled to roll out premium Chester's grab & go, a new kiosk concept, next year, said Ms Lalana.
The marketing budget will be increased by 30% from this year to promote its products, with sales projected to grow by double digits in 2023.
For 2022, the company plans to open 12 Chester's stores in all formats, bringing the total to 200 branches by the end of this year.
The company opened nine Chester's restaurants in the first nine months of this year and the remaining three branches will be opened in the remaining three months of this year, including the first full-scale Chester's Grab & Go concept at Fashion Island shopping complex by the middle of this month.
