ThaiBev unit joins forces with HK’s Maxim’s to expand food business
THAI BEVERAGE subsidiary Food of Asia Co has joined with Maxim’s Group, Hong Kong’s largest food and beverage (F&B) corporation, to expand its “mx cakes & bakery” chain in Thailand and beyond. The move is in line with ThaiBev’s strategy to diversify its
The aims are to cater to “hybrid” consumers with divergent lifestyles and become one of the largest F&B players in Southeast Asia.
Michael Wu, chairman and managing director of Maxim’s Group, said yesterday that this was the group’s first expansion of its own bakery brand in an overseas market via franchising and joint ventures.
“We have operated the business for 60 years, with our first dining restaurant opened in Hong Kong.
“We have branched out into many diversified businesses, including fast food, chain restaurants, cakes and bakery, and Starbucks, with operations also in Vietnam and Cambodia,” said Wu, who is from the third generation of the family.
“We share the same family and business values with Food of Asia.
“We have seen plenty of room for the future expansion of our cake and bakery [business] in Thailand, which will be our focus market in the initial period,” he said.
The key success factors of Maxim’s Group, it says, are product innovation and the company’s and employees’ spirit, which emphasises equally the importance of every store and customer for the delivery of good taste, good customer feeling, value for money and quality service.
The group has hundreds of products in its cake and bakery portfolio.
Nongnuch Buranasetkul, managing director of Food of Asia, said the company was launched last year to spearhead ThaiBev’s foray into the food business.
“We have seen tremendous business opportunities in Thailand, which shows a great potential for growth in the future,” she said.
The first 50-square-metre mx cakes & bakery outlet had its grand opening yesterday at the Market Hall in the Siam Paragon shopping complex.
“We plan to open 80 to 100 mx cakes & bakery outlets in the Kingdom by 2020 via different retail formats, which are conventional shops, on-the-go and kiosk outlets. They will be at many locations, including shopping malls and office buildings,” she said.
The bakery market enjoyed growth of 7 per cent every year, she said.
According to Euromonitor, Thailand’s bakery market was worth Bt25.8 billion last year and had grown at an average 7.6 per cent per year from 2011-15.
It was expected to keep expanding by 5 per cent per year until 2020, driven by urbanisation and the lifestyle of consumers, who are in a rush and in favour of quick meals and ready-to-eat products.
