Strategising for expansion
Fast-food chain Pop Meals plans 100 outlets in 2023
SERVING millions of meals every year since it started operations in 2020, local style fastfood chain Pop Meals operator knows the Malaysian palate like the back of his hand.
To rev up its revenue and facilitate its expansion plan, the chain which utilises artificial intelligence (AI) in its business, has drawn up a three-pronged strategy.
Elaborating on the strategy, general manager Syed Ali Fikri Bajunid tells Starbizweek it will step up and build awareness, focus on what it does best and work closely with its partners.
“While guests who know us order from us frequently, we have room for greater awareness as we’re relatively new in the market.
“As we grow our presence across the country and increase our marketing efforts, we look forward to bringing the Malaysian style fast-food experience to more guests.”
He says Pop Meals will focus on what it does best, curating menus based on its guests’ feedback.
“We have received many requests to launch Malaysian favourite meals such as nasi lemak and our research and development team is hard at work to develop products that are most loved by guests while accessible and affordable.”
At the same time, he says it will work closely with its partners including delivery aggregators, e-payment providers, suppliers and other food and beverage (F&B) brands.
“Pop Meals is constantly exploring ways to serve our guests better and grow mutually with our partners,’’ he adds.
Without going into details, Syed Ali says he expects revenue to grow more than four times year-on-year.
On the expansion front, Syed Ali says Pop Meals currently has 28 outlets in the Klang Valley, two in Negri Sembilan and two at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2.
“There will be 16 more outlets in 2022 which will bring us to 48 outlets this year,” he says.
The fast-food chain plans to open 100 outlets in 2023 and has a goal to open over 600 outlets in Malaysia in the future, he adds.
On the outlook of the fast-food chain business in 2022, Syed Ali says: “We have seen healthy growth since our inception. We
believe the F&B industry will benefit from the
continued strengthening of domestic demand due to normalising economic activities and as the country moves towards endemicity.”
Backed by AI that analyses every order and feedback that every guests provide, Pop Meals recently profiled over 500,000 Malaysians to determine their flavour preferences as 40% creamy and cheesy and 37% are partial towards spicy food.
When it comes to protein, over 90% have
preferences towards chicken.
Using this data, the chain will be giving its Mac and Cheese product a Malaysian twist with a three-variety menu in its Mac-deka Trio.
The Mac-deka Trio includes the Masak Lemak Mac and Cheese, especially created for this year’s Merdeka celebrations, and the ever popular Super Creamy Mac and Cheese and Crazy Spicy Mac and Cheese.
The menu will be available for a limited time only between August 29 and September 30.
On why Pop Meals is giving its classic Mac and Cheese dishes a local twist, Syed Ali says: “Out of the 30 items on our menu, our Mac and Cheese dishes are the clear crowd favourites among Malaysians.
“We have served more than a million Mac and Cheeses in our 32 outlets around the Klang Valley and Seremban since the first Pop Meals store opened in 2020.”
He says the menu has gone through over 45 iterations since it was first launched and the fast-food chain is continuously improving it based on daily feedback from its guests.
“Initially, our team thought the Crazy Spicy Mac and Cheese was too spicy but our guests told us they wanted it even spicier, so that’s exactly how we improved it. You can truly say Malaysians absolutely love spicy food.
“We challenge anyone to find a more popular Mac and Cheese in Malaysia and we were excited to celebrate the 65th Merdeka Day with three varieties of truly Malaysian Mac and Cheese.”
Syed Ali says the Mac-deka Trio highlights the creamy, savoury, and spicy flavour profiles that Malaysians love so much.
“These authentic Malaysian Mac and Cheese recipes, like all our other menus, was the result of analysing thousands of customers’ feedback.
“Based on these feedback, our AI determines the level of creaminess, savouriness and spiciness that Malaysians of all ages would enjoy most, so that each meal that comes out of Pop Meals’ kitchen will surely be a crowd favourite,” he adds.
Pop Meals is the country’s pioneer digital-first, data-driven fast-food brand using AI and guest feedback to drive and improve its menu offering.
It has impressed investors with its innovative use of technology in its end-to-end operating system that enables efficient operations and better experience for its guests.