True shelves expansion blueprint
True Lifestyle Retail Co, the operator of True Coffee chain, has temporarily stopped its food and coffee expansion both at home and abroad this year because of lingering concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
Papon Ratanachai, president of the food chain and coffee house division of True Lifestyle Retail Co, said the company decided to freeze new domestic investments for True Coffee after it opened 47 new True Coffee Go kiosks this year. Originally the company aimed to open more than 300 kiosks across the country this year.
The company instead focused on food delivery by launching the Go Eats food delivery application to deliver premium food and bakery items to customers’ homes.
With this application, customers can order 25 food and bakery brands including the company’s own, such as True Coffee and True Coffee Go, as well as two French bakery brands: Gontran Cherrier and Paul.
Other brands in the partnership include Tim Ho Wan, Hong Kong Dim Sum and Hawker Chan, the famous
Singaporean street food company.
“With more people staying at home and cooking, we will send famous chefs to teach people how to cook at home. We will also provide cooking components for them to make their own food,” Mr Papon said.
For the international market, the company’s plan to open 50 Paul bakeries in China during 2020-2021 has been pushed back to 2021-2022, as the situation in China is likely to have improved by then, he said.
The expansion of Paul bakeries in China will be under a joint venture between BakeHouse Co, the local franchisee of French bakery chain Paul, which is under True Lifestyle Retail Co, and Paul International.
“We have chosen to forge a joint venture with Paul to expand our overseas market now that our foundation in the food business has strengthened. A joint venture strategy will help our business to be more sustainable,” Mr Papon said.
In addition to the postponement of Paul’s expansion in China, the company shelved its plan to bring in three new international food brands to Thailand this year, including a hamburger business.
True Lifestyle Retail Co runs four Paul bakery shops and four Paul kiosks in Bangkok.
The company expects its sales to be on par with last year’s 700 million baht.