PTT pumped on sizeable Cafe Amazon expansion

PTT Plc, the state oil and gas firm, will increase the number of Cafe Amazon coffee shops by 60% to 3,000 over the next three years as part of the company’s nonoil expansion plans at home and abroad.

Mookpol Maninoi, vice-president for Cafe Amazon business, said that despite the abundance of coffee shops in the market, the company still believes in Cafe Amazon’s growth potential.

PTT last year had 1,800 Cafe Amazon outlets, of which 1,730 were in Thailand. The rest were in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Japan.

The company plans to open at least 300 Cafe Amazon branches this year. Roughly 90% of the new branches will operate on a franchise basis.

Of the new coffee shops, 240 will be in Thailand and the rest will be opened abroad.

The investment cost of each Cafe Amazon store ranges from 2.5-4 million baht.

With the plan, the sales contribution from Cafe Amazon to PTT will rise by 30% to 10.4 billion baht this year.

Though l ocal consumption is not back to normal, Thai people are drinking more coffee, providing a boon to the coffee house and offering opportunities for greater growth.

“There is huge potential to expand our coffee shop business both domestically and abroad,” said Mr Mookpol. “In Cambodia, we have up to 26 Cafe Amazon shops, with peak sales between 1,000-2,000 cups a day, compared to only 700 cups a day in Thailand.”

PTT recently signed an agreement with Oman Oil Company to allow the latter to operate the Cafe Amazon business in Oman this year.

At least two new Cafe Amazon branches are expected to open in Oman in by year-end.

“We hope to have Cafe Amazon at all Oman Oil petrol stations in the coming years,” said Mr Mookpol.

At the same time, a second branch of Cafe Amazon will open in Osaka this year.

The company is also looking at local investors in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia to expand its coffee shop business there.