CRG wants 100 Ootoya restaurants by 2020

However, the company acknowledged that this year’s revenue from Ootoya restaurants was not up to expectations because of the slow economy and poor domestic consumption.
“We believe that our sales revenue this year will see just 5-per-cent growth, which is below our average growth rate of 10-15 per cent. However, the company is continuing to invest in branch expansion both at home and overseas,” Ampaipan Chirathivat, president of Ootoya and CRG International Food Co, said yesterday. CRG International Food, a subsidiary of CRG, is a franchisee of the Japanese restaurant chain for the Asean region.
By 2020, the company aims to operate 100 Ootoya branches in Thailand, including 65 in Greater Bangkok.

Five more branches in Bangkok
Parwit Amtim, assistant vice president of Ootaya Ootoya and CRG International Food, said each location needed at least Bt10 million to set up.
Next year, the company will invest Bt150 million to add five more branches in Bangkok. Of the 47 branches it operates currently, 34 are in Bangkok.
Ampaipan said her company was seeking opportunities for overseas expansion, possibly in Vietnam first, followed by Malaysia and Indonesia.
“Now we are in the negotiation process. We are also keeping our investment options open. It might be our own investment, setting up a joint venture or partnering with a local operator,” she said.
Apart from Asean countries, the company is studying the possibility of bringing this Japanese restaurant chain to European countries in which its mother company Central Pattana, the operator of CentralPlaza department stores, has already invested, such as Germany, Italy and Denmark.
Within five years, Ootaya’s Ootoya’s business at home is targeted to create Bt2 billion in revenue, double next year’s Bt1 billion.
In the first nine months of this year, the company registered sales revenue of Bt700 million.