KFC Thailand franchisee reportedly looking to sell biz

Restaurants Development (RD), the franchisee of KFC Thailand, is reportedly looking to sell its business for US$200 million, according to Bloomberg. It is reported that the talks are still in its early stages, and a transaction is not guaranteed. Marketing has reached out to RD for a statement. RD operates over 200 KFC restaurants throughout Thailand, and employs more than 4,000 staff, its official website said. Headquartered in Bangkok, it also said it is looking to open over 15 restaurants in 2020.

According to the news article, if the sale materialises, the buyer would join retail conglomerate Central Group of Companies and beer giant Thai Beverage in operating hundreds of KFC outlets in Thailand. Back in 2017, Thai Beverage acquired 252 KFC outlets in Thailand, in a transaction amounting to approximately 11.4 billion baht. The company said then that besides accelerating the expansion and progression of Thai Beverage’s food business, the acquisition of KFC will provide collaboration with other businesses, such as the beverage business which complements its food business. 

“We are confident that KFC’s established presence in the country will provide the group with access to a large base of customers. Increased engagement with our consumers will enable us to continually adapt to current consumer trends and stay at the forefront of the industry," Nongnuch Buranasetkul, the senior vice president of Thai Beverage's food business in Thailand then, said.

Earlier in April, KFC's counterpart in Indonesia said it is reducing and delaying wages and bonus to avoid layoffs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement to the Indonesia Stock Exchange, director of KFC's licence holder Fast Food Indonesia, Justinus Dalimin Juwono said the wage adjustments will be made in varying levels, with the senior management taking the biggest cuts. He added that store workers would not have their salary deducted. 

Meanwhile, in Singapore and Malaysia, KFC has been engaging with its consumers with its campaigns. KFC Singapore unveiled a series of greeting cards in line for Father's Day, for Singaporeans to show their appreciation to their fathers. To create the cards, KFC Singapore called on its fans to submit loving messages for their fathers on social media. It then chose 10 out of the 150 submitted responses to print on its cards. The messages on the cards chosen were tongue-in-cheek expressions so that it would not be too embarrassing to present to Dad, according to KFC. 

Separately, KFC Malaysia launched a parody music video from a store’s perspective to show how much its customers are missed. Borrowing popular song lyrics, the video featured a KFC store humorously serenading the return of dine-in, linking to a specially curated 86-track trilingual Spotify playlist titled “KFC You Soon”. The video features the best of “Missing you” songs, to commemorate each of the 86 days that dine-in services were unavailable at KFC.

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