Restaurant chain/Zen Group

Editorial staff

SET-listed Zen Corporation Group Plc (ZEN), one of the country’s leading restaurant chain operators, plans to expand more Thai food brands to Southeast Asia this year.

Sakkanon Chirathiva, Zen’s CEO, said that the company sets to invest more than 100 million baht to open 8 new restaurants in Thailand and renovate existing branches of Zen, AKA and On the Table brands to be more modern this year. At the same time, it will more focus on expanding its business via franchise system with 12 restaurants will be opened in Thailand and 12 restaurants abroad, focusing on Thai food brands including Khiang, Tummour and Laoyuan.

Currently, Zen Group has 10 restaurant brands in the group with around 317 branches. Of the total, 76 outlets are Tummour, Laoyuan 36, Khiang 53, On the Table 36, AKA 50, and the rest are others. The company operates 177 branches by its own and 140 under franchisee.

“The economy is not quite good at present, therefore, we will focus on expanding our Thai food business in Southeast Asia because it is one of the soft power that the government has promoted,” said Siruwat Chachawal, the executive of Zen Group.

Two new Khiang branches will be opened in Laos this year, bringing its total number to four at the end of the year. The company also prepares to expand Laoyuan and On the Table for the first time in Laos in the second quarter of this year.

“Having opened Khiang in Laos for 13 years, we know what kind of Thai food Lao people like. In Malaysia, three Khiang branches have already opened. Malaysians are very familiar with Thai food because Malaysia is the second largest country to visit Thailand after China,” Mr Siruwat said.

Domestically, the company will open a new Zen flagship store in a modern style at Central Eastville and open four new AKA branches in Bangkok this year.

The company will make over On the Table to be more modern with new menus to meet all lifestyle customer group.

Currently, Zen Group's business consists of 3 groups:
1. Zen restaurant business such as Zen, AKA, On the Table, Din's, TETSU, Sushi Cyu & Carnival yakiniku, Khiang, Tummour, Laoyuan 2. Franchise business and 3. Manufactureing and retail business

The company has a total revenue of over 4 billion baht last year, 70% of which comes from the restaurant business and the rest is from others. It is expected that the total revenue of all businesses this year will reach 4.5 billion baht and grow by an average of 10% every year.