EXPANDING COVERAGE: Photo shows SugarBun’s outlet in Summer Shopping Mall. Besides opening another 10 more new locations in Sarawak, Sabah and Johor in the next few months, the group will be fast moving into West Malaysia’s market.
KUCHING: Homegrown fast food restaurant, SugarBun, is looking to step up its effort in expanding its market in Peninsular Malaysia.
Raymond Teo
SB Franchise Management Sdn Bhd (SB Franchise Management) general manager and Borneo Oil Bhd (Borneo Oil), a subsidiary of SB Franchise Management, executive director Raymond Teo told The Borneo Post, “This year, besides opening another 10 more new locations in Sarawak, Sabah and Johor in the next few months, we will be fast moving into West Malaysia’s market.”
He added, “To do that, we are always mindful of the need to improve to be better and continue to upgrade our system to be more competitive in the market and provide existing and potential franchisees the full confidence in SugarBun Franchise Business through continous product innovation and development, better profit margin and overall strategy.”
Additionally, Teo said, SugarBun is also aiming to have 100 outlets operational within 2013. He highlighted that to achieve that target, the company has appointed Area Franchisees in Sabah and Johor.
In Sabah, Johtamas Holdings Sdn Bhd (Johtamas Holdings) currently operates a dozen SugarBun restaurants in the state while Goldfire Medic Sdn Bhd (Goldfire Medic) oversees the restaurant’s operations in Johor.
“Under a five-year contract, Johtamas and Goldfire Medic are required to set up at least two restaurants each in the first year, minimum three in the second year and a minimum of five each year thereafter,” Teo explained, noting that the two Area Franchisees are expected to open at least 20 restaurants in five years.
Meanwhile, Teo stated that SugarBun has confirmed eight restaurants that are set to be opened by the end of 2013.
On the East Malaysia front, these include outlets at Bandar Baru Semariang, Kota Samarahan, Jalan Demak (Petra Jaya), and Sri Aman. While in West Malaysia, three new outlets – namely, Senai Airport, Kluang Mall and Masai, are confirmed to be opened in Johor and expected to be operational by the end of 2013.
In Sabah, Teo noted that SugarBun is looking to open two more outlets within 2013, while in Sarawak, two more are still in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, Teo highlighted that while strengthening the foothold locally, we are (also) venturing into overseas market such as Brunei, Bangladesh, China, Australia, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and others.
On the overseas market front, Teo said, the company will be opening its first franchise restaurant in Melbourne, slated to be operational by August 2013. He further noted that there has been potential investors wanting to take up the SugarBun Area Franchise Development plan in Jakarta, Kalimantan, India and Myanmar.
As for investors looking to take up SugarBun’s franchise, Teo assured that the restaurant offers readily available services and guidance for the convenience franchisees in setting up the restaurant.
He also noted that the company provides support programmes such as real estate planning, marketing support, operations support and training programmes to assure top quality services can be provided to the customers.