McDonald’s Malaysia will launch 20 new McDonald’s Drive-Thru restaurants before the end of the year.
“Drive-Thru window sales have contributed almost 50 per cent of total sales at 167 restaurants,” said regional MD and local operating partner Azmir Jaafar. “On top of this, we’ve seen an average 10 per cent year-on-year growth in drive-thru sales in the first quarter of 2019.”
McDonald’s Malaysia opened its first Drive-Thru in Titiwangsa in 1988. The franchise now plans to include a drive-through facility in nearly three quarters of its restaurants by 2021, anticipating a 10–15 per cent increase in vehicle count.
A Drive-Thru Weekend Challenge held from April 26–28 saw 473,860 cars stopping at a McDonald’s Drive-Thru nationwide for a meal, earning the franchise a spot in the Malaysia Book of Records.
Filipino fast food chain Jollibee may open its first location in China within the next five years.
The firm already has a presence in the territory, where it operates the Dunkin’ Donuts franchise. It also operates eight stores in Hong Kong.
JFC president and CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong told that the firm is currently looking for a location where there is a high Filipino population, with a view to attracting the local market afterwards.
“We build the base and slowly cross over to the mainstream market, which is the local market,” said Tanmantiong. “We have done that successfully in Hong Kong and in Singapore.”
The firm took legal action against a copycat restaurant in China, JoyRulBee, earlier this year.
Jollibee will open its first store in Rome and Spain shortly while exploring other markets.
Supermodel Gigi Hadid is facing criticism over her recent promotional Instagram post for McDonald’s.
A photo of Hadid eating McDonald’s French fries at the Coachella music festival provoked a considerable backlash in the comments feed, with many observers taking issue with her partnership with a fast-food chain considered by many to be synonymous with obesity and poor health, considering her Instagram account is followed by 47 million people.
Hadid’s photo caption, captioned “Pre festival with @mcdonalds yesterday fed & hydrated, thanks friends!” caused many to question her wisdom in choosing sponsors.
One popular comment liked by more than 3600 people read “I really do not understand why you would promote McDonalds. In fact, it utterly baffles me why an intelligent, well informed and influential person like yourself would what to be affiliated with such a company. Surely it can’t be for the money? There are so many other ways to be ‘fed and hydrated.’”
The comments have been said to reveal McDonald’s still has significant PR hurdles to overcome regarding the nutritional content of its offering, despite recent moves to become seen as a “modern, progressive” burger chain.
As one comment put it, “Awful partnership Gigi. McDonald’s is poison.”
American fast food chain A&W Singapore is making a comeback this week at Jewel Changi.
The chain made its original debut in the city back in 1966 with an outlet at Dunearn Road, burt closed all five outlets in 2003, exiting the market.
After the Jewel Changi return, a second outlet will be opened by June, and a third next year, however the locations have yet to be revealed.
“After opening here, we wanted to be able to scale [at] such a speed it would ease the crowd at the first outlet,” said Kelvin Tan, A&W International’s director of marketing and communication.
A&W Singapore also intends to apply for halal certification to cater to the big Muslim market in Singapore.
“The Muslim community formed a very big chunk of our business (in the past) and I think right now we will continue to respect and recognise that this particular market is very important to us,” Tan said.
And directly by A&W Restaurants, A&W Singapore’s menu also incorporates regional favourites such as the “golden aroma chicken” from A&W’s Malaysian and Indonesian outlets, and the “waffle sundae” from A&W outlets in Thailand.
Jollibee Singapore is to open new stores at Woodlands MRT station and Waterway Point in Punggol.
The Philippine fast-food giant is recruiting full-time and part-time staff for the stores via its Facebook page. Listed jobs include service, kitchen crew as well as managerial roles.
Having opened its first store at Lucky Plaza in 2013, Jollibee Singapore now has six outlets: two at Lucky Plaza, and one each in Paya Lebar, Changi, Novena and Jurong East.
In a 2017 interview, Dennis Flores, Jollibee’s president and head of international business, said the company plans to open 15 stores in the island in the next five years.
Fat Brands China has announced the development of six new co-branded Fatburger and Buffalo’s Express restaurants throughout Shanghai with Bloomfield.
The new locations will build on Fat’s existing presence in China, where the company currently operates multiple successful locations in both Beijing and Shanghai.
“When expanding internationally, it’s important to identify a partner we can trust with our iconic brand,” said CEO of Fat Brands Andy Wiederhorn. “Markets such as Shanghai, where demand and crowds are large, magnifies this need even more. We’re thrilled to open more restaurants with the Bloomfield team. They’ve done an excellent job maintaining the integrity of our brand while providing a deep understanding of the Chinese consumer.”
Fat Brands currently owns seven restaurant brands that have more than 300 locations open and 200 under development around the world.
McDonald’s is set to purchase US/Israeli personalisation vendor Dynamic Yield in an attempt to boost drive-thru sales.
The deal, reportedly worth more than US$300 million, will help the fast food vendor personalise outdoor digital drive-thru menu displays. The tech will analyse a range of variables in order to determine the most persuasive additional items to suggest to customers placing orders.
“With this acquisition, we’re expanding both our ability to increase the role technology and data will play in our future and the speed with which we’ll be able to implement our vision of creating more personalised experiences for our customers,” said McDonald’s president and CEO Steve Easterbrook.
Dynamic Yield has served multiple online retailers, including LVMH-owned cosmetics retailer Sephora and furniture giant Ikea. It has more than 300 clients worldwide.
The technology will be rolled out in drive thrus at US restaurants this year before expanding to other leading international markets.
Jollibee Malaysia has opened its first outlet – in the beachside city of Kota Kinabalu. CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said opening in Malaysia marked a new chapter for the group.
“We invite Malaysians to come and see for themselves why people line up for hours.”
Jollibee Foods head of international business, Dennis Flores, said Jollibee is beloved throughout Asia, because it appeals to diverse tastes and cultures.
“This has propelled us to become the fastest-growing Asian restaurant company, and we are thankful for the overwhelming support. It drives us to do better for our customers, and to continue to serve delicious food with our signature warm service.”
The Jollibee Malaysia opening follows the brand’s recent expansion into London and Manhattan as its rapidly expands its global store network to surpass 4300.
After making its debut in the capital of Sabah, Jollibee Malaysia plans further outlets in major cities across the country.
Filipino fast food chain Jollibee, the largest and fastest-growing Asian restaurant company in the world, is soon to open its flagship brand in Guam.
The first Jollibee Guam outlet will launch at Micronesia Mall on Saturday, April 6.
“We’ve seen people queue even in extreme weather to enjoy our unique and tasty food,” said Jollibee Foods Corporation’s president and head of international business Dennis Flores. “We invite everyone – Chamorus, Micronesians, mainland Americans in Guam; everyone here in Guam – to come taste and see for themselves why people are willing to wait and line up for our food.”
With Jollibee operating in Guam – where America’s day begins – the company says it can claim that it is serving food to more diners on American soil at any given moment of the day or night. Jollibee has 37 stores in the US.
Jollibee, from its humble beginnings as an ice cream house in 1975, quickly grew into a fast-food giant with more than 1300 stores worldwide. Its openings have drawn queues with people lining up to 20 hours for a taste of their Jollibee favourites.
KFC China has held a promotion honouring Communist Lei Feng. The “Lei Feng Spirit” promotion was first launched in the legendary young soldier’s home province of Hunan on the national holiday dedicated to his memory. The figure of Lei Feng has been considered an inspiration to the Chinese people since he was first held up as a figurative icon of the communist movement by leader chairman Mao Zedong.
KFC China is celebrating “the Lei Feng spirit in its over 250 outlets in the province and encouraging its staff to learn from the role model,” according to local news outlet Xinhua.
KFC’s operator Yum China has also opened a 27,000sqft innovation centre in downtown Shanghai. The integrated R&D facility is designed to generate new ideas and concepts and enable the rapid roll out of localised and innovative products.
The centre features a test kitchen, a sensory test area, as well as a suite of labs covering quality assurance, equipment and restaurant technology testing, packaging innovation, new store model prototypes, and content production.
“The establishment of the Innovation Centre is testament to our commitment and vision to become the world’s most innovative pioneer in the restaurant industry,” said Yum China CEO Joey Wat.
“Through creating an integrated hub, we look forward to continuing to explore innovative ways to drive growth, deliver value, and enhance every aspect of the customer experience.”
Jollibee Foods (JFC) announced yesterday that it would invest US$33.4 million (S$45 million or Php 1.74 billion) in a private equity fund that is set to acquire the master franchise of Tim Ho Wan in the Asia Pacific.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Jollibee said that it would account for 45 per cent of the total committed investments in Titan Dining LP, which is worth S$100 million.
According to Jollibee, Titan has a binding agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the Asia Pacific master franchise holder of the Tim Ho Wan brand, Tim Ho Wan Pte Ltd (THWPL) and its affiliate Dim Sum Pte Ltd, which owns and operates Tim Ho Wan stores in Singapore.
“Titan may eventually add other brands in the food service sector to its portfolio, with the objective to grow strong Asia-Pacific food service brands across multiple geographies and markets, and to bring strong global food service brands to Asia Pacific,” according to JFC.
JFC chairman Tony Tan Caktiong trusts that this investment will bring “very healthy financial returns” to Jollibee.
“Our long-term investment in Tim Ho Wan is in line with JFC’s mission to serve great-tasting food and spread the joy of eating to everyone,” he said.
The deal will combine Tim Ho Wan’s Michellin-starred barbecue pork buns with Jollibee’s stable of Chinese restaurants: Chowking in the Philippines, and Yonghe King and Hong Zhuang Yuan in China.
The trio of Chinese restaurants accounted for 23 percent of system-wide sales last year, said Jollibee.
Jollibee, the largest fast food company in the Philippines, has been on an acquisition and expansion spree overseas.
It recently secured US government’s approval for its acquisition of more shares in Colorado-based burger joint Smashburger.
It also opened its first European store in March, and a third outlet in Canada in April.
Due to aggressive store openings, Jollibee said that its net income rose 17.3% to 1.8 billion pesos (US$3.47 million) in the first quarter from a year ago as total sales rose 19.3% to 46 billion pesos.
Now, Jollibee has the option to acquire “substantial ownership” of the Tim Ho Wan master franchise in the Asia Pacific after the term of Titan Dining ends in 7 years.
It also said that it would operate as a Tim Ho Wan franchisee in Shanghai to prepare for that possibility.
Tim Ho Wan currently has franchisee in Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and the Philippines; with an expansion development in the works in the Asia Pacific region.
Together, Tim Ho Wan and Dim Sum operate 40 restaurants in total, both company-owned and franchised stores.
A co-branded Fatburger Buffalo’s Express is opening its first Tokyo location tomorrow. Located at the Magnet by Shibuya109 building in Shibuya Crossing, the US fast-food brands’ outlet will feature all-American fare from Buffalo’s Express and Fatburger, as well as alcoholic offerings from bar concept, FatBar.
“We’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to enter Japan and it’s finally here. As a team, we couldn’t be more pleased with how this flagship location has developed,” said Andy Wiederhorn, CEO of Fat Brands.
“Our recipes, ambiance and service have exceeded expectations in other locations across Asia and I expect nothing less in Tokyo.”
The Japanese outlet is operated by Green Micro Factory, subsidiary of G Three Holdings.
Fatburger parent company Fat Brands has recently announced openings and development deals in Canada, the Philippines, Scotland, Singapore and Southern California.
Shake Shack Hong Kong makes its debut on Tuesday at IFC mall in Central. With panoramic views of Victoria Harbour, the eatery will be able to seat more than 46 guests. As a modern “roadside” burger stand that began as a hot-dog cart in New York’s Madison Square Park, Shake Shack has gained a global following for its Flat-top Dogs with all-natural beef and no hormones and antibiotics, served on a non-GMO Martin’s Potato Roll.
As well as the New York City brand’s classics of burgers, hot dogs and fries, Hong Kong Shack will serve localised menu items like milk tea shake (vanilla custard blended with black tea), French toast (with vanilla custard, peanut-butter sauce and banana, topped with maple sugar), the Heart & Tart of Central (vanilla custard, egg tart and strawberry puree) and That’s My Jam (vanilla custard, mango/passion fruit jam, raspberries and crumbled shortbread).
Its crinkle-cut fries can be served plain or with a special blend of American and cheddar cheese sauce.
Hong Kong Shack customers will also be offered the classic ShackBurger, a cheeseburger made from premium whole-muscle cuts of Angus beef, topped with lettuce, tomato and house-made ShackSauce. A meat-free option is the ’Shroom Burger, a crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheese, topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce.
Brooklyn Brewery makes an exclusive ShackMeister Ale for Shake Shack, and as well as this the Hong Kong outlet will include beers by Gweilo, Heroes, HK Yau, Moonzen and Young Master. Wine is served by the glass, including Shack Red and Shack White from Gotham Project Winery in the US.
To mark the eatery’s opening in Hong Kong, the first 100 people in line when doors open on Tuesday will be given a pair of Shake Shack sunglasses. And as part of Shake Shack’s mission to Stand for Something Good, the outlet will donate 5 per cent of sales to ChickenSoup Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to empower at-risk children in Hong Kong.
Shake Shack has more than 90 locations in 19 US states and more than 50 international locations including Dubai, Istanbul, London, Moscow, Seoul and Tokyo.
Global burger behemoth McDonald’s opened its first branch on Saturday in the historic heart of communist Hanoi, a conservative city renowned for its traditional – and cheap – Vietnamese staples beloved by food-obsessed locals.
Hungry customers lined up for Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets at the Vietnamese capital’s first McDonald’s outlet. It overlooks the tree-lined Hoan Kiem lake, which draws millions of tourists annually to see French-era colonial buildings and sample street-food favourites like pho noodle soup and banh mi sandwiches.
The restaurant is the first outside of the southern commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City, where 16 branches have opened since McDonald’s first came to Vietnam in 2014 to much fanfare, especially among the rapidly-growing middle class and American-obsessed youth.
The global fast food chain received a similarly warm welcome in Hanoi on Saturday, as hungry diners crammed into the two-storey eatery for a first taste of the Golden Arches.
For 84-year-old Tran Dinh Luyen, who fought against the US in the Vietnam War, the restaurant was a sign of warming ties with a former enemy.
“I am happy that McDonald’s has opened a restaurant in Hanoi. It’s a very famous American brand, so it shows how far US-Vietnam relations have come,” he told after mowing down on a Big Mac with his daughter and granddaughter.
Some curious tourists stopped to see what all the fuss was about, perplexed that a brand ubiquitous in the West would draw so much attention.
“It’s kind of random to see McDonald’s opening … it’s an interesting cultural experience to see how important it is that the store is opening here,” American Dan Moore told AFP, after his wife remarked she might not have expected to find one of the most salient symbols of capitalism in the communist country.
The one-party state has seen dizzying economic growth in recent years as it has opened its doors to foreign investment, which has included an influx of western chains like Starbucks, KFC and Burger King.
Growth in the fast food sector has been buoyed by rapidly rising incomes – annual per capita income has more than doubled in the past decade to about US$2,100 today – especially among under-30s, who make up half of Vietnam’s population of 93 million people.
The fast food industry in Vietnam has seen double-digit growth annually for the past five years, and the country has the highest 2017 growth in Asia-Pacific for fast food chains, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.
Though meals can cost as much as three times the local fare, customers are still showing strong appetite.
“Young people like to hang out in fast food restaurants as they are seen as a cool and nice place … and these customers also like the taste of the food,” Euromonitor analyst Samuel Huynh told.
If you could increase your average sales by 10 per cent, how much would your profit increase by? I am sure that all of us have experienced both good and bad service in a retail store. What creates that difference in the experience is made up of all the senses banding together and leaving an overall impression. But the most telling one is the interest shown in you by the sales personnel. The greeting, the smile, the relevance of questions asked and the interest shown in going that little bit extra to help you find what you are looking for. That’s what creates a good experience!
In today’s ongoing search for additional sales, the difference between sales achieved by an average experience and great sales assistance can be as much as 25 per cent. On analysis of the difference in sales achieved between most staff and good sales people, the most telling factor is the average docket value. These good sales people consistently achieve more than the average, sometimes as much as double.
Customers already in your store are by far the easiest way to find additional sales. So many times customers want to be given good advice and are quite willing to buy a second related item, if they were told about it, or introduced to something new.
McDonalds is one business that realised this at the outset, have you? If a retail business sales increased by just 10 per cent across the board, due to the results of effective sales people, profits would increase exponentially, often double in most retail models.
And that is true, even if one has to pay 10 per cent above the going rate to get the right people. Why then do business owners tolerate mediocre sales people? Do the sums in your business and see what a 10 per cent increase in sales will mean to your bottom line.
Can any retail business afford not to have the best sales people? So simple, so effective, so ignored by so many businesses!
