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Published on August 21, 2007

The company will allow small restaurants and coffee houses to operate shops with an initial investment of only Bt5,000.

These small investors need not pay any entrance or franchise fees. However, they must be an exclusive outlet for Nestle ice cream and purchase at least Bt2,500 worth of Nestle products a month.

"The new concept will allow individual investors to own ice-cream shops quite easily and enjoy a very fast payback period," said Olivier Jakubowicz, channel manager for ice cream at Nestle (Thai).

He said individuals would face an initial investment of only Bt5,000 and that Nestle would provide products and all equipment needed to run the business, including a refrigerator, 12 boxes of Nestle ice cream, one scoop and six glasses.

Jakubowicz said the franchise concept had been tested for about a year at about 1,000 outlets. All franchisees can purchase accessories directly from Nestle at cheaper prices.

"Our aim is to increase the number of franchised outlets to 2,000 by the end of next year. We have seen a big opportunity in these mainstream food-service shops," he added.

Jakubowicz said Nestle's food-service team would find and advise new investors and help existing customers.

"We've seen small restaurants and coffee houses opening everywhere, as individual people decide to switch from being salary workers so that they can have their own businesses," he said.

Jakubowicz said Nestle had also set up a "Sundae School" at its head office, in order to provide training for franchisees. The school has been providing training to 20 potential franchisees a month and is divided into three main courses: housekeeping and store management, controlling the weight of each scoop and menu creation.

"We have about 50 ice-cream recipes available at Nestle Ice Cream shops, with prices ranging from Bt25 to Bt65. Ice cream is a high-margin business, and those recipes will provide good profit margins to franchisees of 50-70 per cent. They will achieve the payback period only a few days after starting the business," said Jakubowicz.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation