VN, INDIA FRANCHISES SIGNED

       The Pizze Company, the leader in the local pizza-restaurant market, has expanded its business to Vietnam and India, in line with plans announcd earlier this year.
       General manager Andrew Holman yesterday said the company had signed agreements with local investors in Vietnam and India to establish The Pizza Company restaurants as franchise operations.
       "We expect to have the first pizza restaurant in vietnam by the end of this year. In India, we're not sure that we will have the first branch operating this year, because the world economic slowdown has affected investment there," he said.
       Paul Kenny, CEO of the Minor Food Group, operator of the Pizza Company, earlier this year said the Company, earlier this year said the company planned to enter India and Vietnam to seek business opportunities in the two big markets.
       The company expects the revenue contribution from its foreign operations to reach 40 per cent over the next five years. At present, it stands at 20 per cent.
       Holman said The Pizza Company expected India to become one of its biggest foreign markets, like China, where the company now has 18 outlets.
       Revenue growth of the Pizza Company restarurants in China is now better than in Thailand, were first half sales grew 8 per cent year on year.
       At present, The Pizza Company has 40 restaurants in China, the Middle East and Cambodia. In Thailand, The Pizza Company has 204 branches and expects the number to increase to 208 this year.
       The company believes Thailand has the capacity for at least another 50 branches over the next three years, Holman said.
       Meanwhile, The Pizza Comapny has launch a new food menu: Italian baked rice, with eight different dishes. Its flagship dishes are pizza and pasta, and Italian baked rice will be its third food segment. It expects baked-rice dishes to attract a sales volume similar to pasta, which now contributes 15 per cent of sales.
       The Pizza Company has a 70-per-cent share of the Bt5-billion Italian fast-food-restaurant market. Seventy-five per cent of its revenue comes from pizza.
       Holman said that since the company had focused more on pasta menus earlier this year, sales of this kind of food had grown 50 per cent year on year. It expects the same kind of growth from its baked-rice dishes, because Thais are familiar with rice.
       "Apart from pizza, I would like to see consumers order baked rice and pasta as additional items," he said.
       Although its pasta revenue grew 50 per cent in the first half, The Pizza Company's overall revenue in that period grew only 8 per cent. The company has adjusted its pizza prices in a bid to make them more affordable.
       Holman expects the new baked-rice menu to help the comapny generate second-half revenue of Bt150 million to Bt200 million, allowing it to maintain revenue growth of 5-10 per cent.

       The company expects the revenue contribution from its foreign operations to reach 40 per cent over the next five years. It now stands at 20 per cent.