Catering boosts restaurant's revenue

       Shanghai Food, the operator of Chinese restaurant Shanghai Xiao Long Pao, will focus more on expanding its catering and buffet services and setting up food kiosks next year.
       The company has returned to aggressive expansion after suspending investment for two years due to the political situation and the economic slowdown.
       Patiwat Reonchaidee, chief operating officer, said the company was concentrating on new services to expand its customer base and drive restaurant sales after experiencing a 10-per-cent drop in the first six months of this year due to the economic uncertainty.
       He said spending per bill remained steady at Bt400 to Bt500, but the number of customers had dropped.
       The company has offered new services to offset the sales drop by adding a buffet service from Friday to Sunday at the restaurant.
       Shanghai Food also started its catering services in May and the buffets in the third quarter. Patiwat said both services had received good feedback from clients and would help the company maintain sales revenue of Bt170 million this year, the same figure as last year.
       Patiwat said the bright outlook for the catering and buffet services was leading the aggressive plan for next year, in which the company plans to add restaurants at shopping and community malls.
       Most of the new outlets will have space for a buffet service.
       Patiwat said the company was relaying on the restaurant client base to use the catering service. "Our catering customer base are corporate, seminar and activity organisers," he said.
       The company will create quick-service food kiosks style at the malls.
       Patiwat said the malls showed how the lifestyles of diners had changed. "As more people prefer dining at community malls, we are considering setting up new restaurants there. And we are considering setting up restaurants at shopping malls in the provinces, such as in Udon Thani and Khon Kaen."
       The company plans to increase the marketing budget for next year to 10 per cent of total sales revenue from the current 8 per cent, in line with the aggressive expansion. Patiwat said the company expected 15-per-cent sales growth for next year.