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Tag: Doutor Coffee

  • Doutor Coffee heading to China

    Doutor Coffee heading to China

    Japanese low-price cafe chain Doutor Coffee is heading to China following its parent company’s failed foray with pasta restaurants.

    Doutor Nichires Holdings is partnering with restaurant group Xiao Nan Guo, whose business includes high-end Chinese dining. It flourished on lavish official meals funded by taxpayer money until President Xi Jinping cracked down on official extravagance.

    As Chinese consumers become increasingly price-conscious, the partners see potential for the low-price Doutor Coffee chain.

    Doutor Nichires, which also runs chains such as Excelsior Caffe and Hoshino Coffee in Japan, had three pasta restaurants in Shanghai until about three years ago. It now has 18 overseas locations, including cafes in Singapore.

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  • Doutor Coffee arrives in Malaysia

    Doutor Coffee arrives in Malaysia

    Japan’s Doutor Coffee has opened three outlets in Malaysia – in Aeon Tebrau (Johor Baru), Sunway Velocity Mall in Kuala Lumpur and Aeon Bukit Tinggi.

    This follows other international expansion in Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

    Doutor Coffee was founded in 1980 by Toriba Hiromichi with a 9 sqm outlet in Tokyo’s Harajuku district. There are now more than 900 outlets in Japan.
    MD Yasuhiro Yamamoto says Doutor decided to open in Malaysia because it had found a good partner in the Texchem Group, which owns 106 Sushi King outlets in Malaysia. More outlets are being planned, with some to open next year.
    All will follow the Doutor Japan formula with a strong focus on coffee and freshly made food.

    “We have good-quality black coffee, espresso and cappuccino, and the food will be a Japanese fusion concept,” says Yamamoto.
    He says the secret to the brand’s success lies in the quality of its beans and the roasting.

    Doutor Coffee master roaster Masahiro Kanno says the beans are sourced from more than 10,000 plantations all over the world, including its own two plantations in Kona, Hawaii.
    Kanno personally goes to select the beans, sometimes buying in bulk and sometimes buying just a few, depending on whether they will be featured as single-origin roasts or blends. The beans are flame-roasted.

  • The Twee flagship in Kuala Lumpur

    The Twee flagship in Kuala Lumpur

    Korean fashion retailer The Twee will open its first Southeast Asia flagship store at the new KL Gateway Mall in Kuala Lumpur.

    Set to open on January 12, the mall is part of the KL Gateway mixed development by Suez Capital in Bangsar South, Jalan Kerinchi.

    Along the Federal Highway, it offers a net lettable area of about 400,000 sqft (37,161 sqm) across seven levels, with more than 200 retail outlets.

    Covering about 11,000 sqft, The Twee flagship will be the brand’s biggest store in Southeast Asia, says Suez Capital head of asset management Michael Chee Soon Hin.

    Launched in 2009, The Twee has 28 fashion stores as well as kiosks in major department stores across Korea as well as in Shanghai. It targets women between 19 and 25 years old.

    Chee says the mall is already 80 per cent occupied and there are hopes it will achieve full occupancy by April. Secured tenants include Cotton On, Daiso, Doutor Coffee, H&M, Home’s Harmony, Mr DIY, Times Bookstore, Village Grocer, Yamazaki Bakery and Yubiso.

    There will also be free WiFi throughout the common areas of the mall.

    “The concept of the mall is based on a street mall – you will not be bored,” says Chee. Each floor is inspired by elements from different continents, and there will be an outdoor landscaped garden where residents in the residential units above the mall can grow vegetables.

    Suez Capital has invested in an automated car-park system for shoppers. “It will be the biggest automated car park in Southeast Asia with 1230 automated parking bays as well as 900 normal parking bays,” says Chee.

    The projected footfall for KL Gateway Mall is more than 10 million annually, with about 40 per cent from LRT (light-rail transit) commuters. A 100m covered, air-conditioned bridge will link the mall to the KL Gateway-University LRT Station.

    The integrated development includes four residential towers of more than 1180 units, which will be completed next year, while two Grade-A corporate office towers are being delivered in stages.

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