Chicken Rice Shop
Strategi chicken rice shop
WITH chicken rice being almost a national meal in this country, The Chicken Rice Shop (TCRS) knew it was in for some tough competition when it opened its first outlet in 2000.
Nine years later, the chain is still around and growing, and enjoying the benefits of a brand that has become familiar with chicken rice-crazy Malaysians. Gaik Wong, a 37-year veteran of the food industry and formerly chief operating officer and executive director of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Malaysia, founded the quick-service chicken rice chain in 2000 with her daughter Wong Kah Lin.
“I opted for early retirement after more than 25 years with KFC Holdings (M) Bhd and became a consultant for a chain of restaurants after a short break.
“After a few years, I decided to set up my own business based on the concept of a family restaurant with global potential,” she recalls.
Nothing was easy in the beginning as it was an unproven concept and the company found it difficult to recruit the right calibre of people in the early years.
But today, the restaurant chain is well established, having grown from the first outlet in Taipan USJ to 50 TCRS outlets in Malaysia and one in Singapore.
Wong, TCRS Restaurants Sdn Bhd managing director, says the company is still on the expansion trail even as the global economic crisis persists.
She believes that the restaurant business is recession-resilient, especially among food-loving Malaysians.
“We plan to set up eight more outlets this year, including two in Singapore,” she tells StarBizWeek in an interview.
“The investment is between RM400,000 and RM700,000 per outlet,” she says, adding that TCRS will open an outlet in Bangsar South next month.
The company will spend RM7mil to RM10mil to promote and expand its chain of TCRS and Sweet Chat Cafe outlets this year.
On overseas expansion, she says it has received enquiries from China, Thailand, Australia and the Middle East but is not in a hurry to expand into new markets
WITH chicken rice being almost a national meal in this country, The Chicken Rice Shop (TCRS) knew it was in for some tough competition when it opened its first outlet in 2000.
Nine years later, the chain is still around and growing, and enjoying the benefits of a brand that has become familiar with chicken rice-crazy Malaysians. Gaik Wong, a 37-year veteran of the food industry and formerly chief operating officer and executive director of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Malaysia, founded the quick-service chicken rice chain in 2000 with her daughter Wong Kah Lin.
“I opted for early retirement after more than 25 years with KFC Holdings (M) Bhd and became a consultant for a chain of restaurants after a short break.
“After a few years, I decided to set up my own business based on the concept of a family restaurant with global potential,” she recalls.
Nothing was easy in the beginning as it was an unproven concept and the company found it difficult to recruit the right calibre of people in the early years.
But today, the restaurant chain is well established, having grown from the first outlet in Taipan USJ to 50 TCRS outlets in Malaysia and one in Singapore.
Wong, TCRS Restaurants Sdn Bhd managing director, says the company is still on the expansion trail even as the global economic crisis persists.
She believes that the restaurant business is recession-resilient, especially among food-loving Malaysians.
“We plan to set up eight more outlets this year, including two in Singapore,” she tells StarBizWeek in an interview.
“The investment is between RM400,000 and RM700,000 per outlet,” she says, adding that TCRS will open an outlet in Bangsar South next month.
The company will spend RM7mil to RM10mil to promote and expand its chain of TCRS and Sweet Chat Cafe outlets this year.
On overseas expansion, she says it has received enquiries from China, Thailand, Australia and the Middle East but is not in a hurry to expand into new markets