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Published on December 13, 2007

Sran Smutkochorn, managing director of Yum Restaurants International (Thailand), which operates KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants, has a business philosophy of building strong growth on a sound business foundation.

"I believe in developing people and strong working systems in an organisation, not simply applying the facial makeup of growth in a company," says Sran, 42, whose advice comes from long experience in consumer-goods and restaurant businesses.

Sran graduated with a bachelor of arts in economics from California State University in Northridge in 1987 and a master of arts in economics from California State University in Los Angeles in 1989.

He then worked five years for US-based consumer-products giant Proctor and Gamble (P&G) in the fields of business, financial and strategy planning. His positions were financial analyst, assistant financial-analyst manager, financial-analyst manager and associate finance director.

"P&G taught me to build and develop people from within, as they are the most important asset an organisation has. People will enjoy a good career path in a business organisation if they have good intentions in their work and do it in the most effective manner," he says.

Sran joined KFC International (Thailand) in 1995 as chief financial officer. He then became chief financial officer at Tricon Restaurants (Thailand and Singapore) in 2000 and general manager of the company in 2001. He moved up to become senior director for KFC brand and finance in 2003, senior director for finance and business development in 2004 and senior director for KFC field operations in 2005.

Last December, he was made managing director of the company, which had earlier become Yum Restaurants International (Thailand).

"I will focus on developing the ability of our staff to learn about working techniques and creating further growth for the company," Sran says, adding that he wants to see Yum Restaurants as a leading company in creating food innovations.

He regards the task of boosting growth in an established firm as one of the most challenging jobs he has faced. However, he believes it can be achieved by creating sales opportunities through the expansion of new distribution channels, including the opening of restaurant outlets in small cities and establishing a clearer division between dine-in restaurants and the home-service business. The company will also focus on increasing the product variety on its menus.

"We will concentrate on launching new menu creations, which will vary from community to community to suit the different tastes of people in different areas. We want to customise ourselves and try to understand customers who live in different communities and give them what they want," Sran says.

"We want customers to visit our restaurants because they're satisfied with the good quality of our food, not just because of some marketing gimmick. We believe our brands deliver products that suit to our customers' requirements," he says.

Yum Restaurants has been in the quick service restaurant business for 10 years after having split from PepsiCo in 1997 under the name Tricon Restaurants. It operates KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants.

The company aims to double the size of its KFC and Pizza Hut businesses in the next five years, and has set what it calls a crucial growth target to strategically increase the number of outlets of its two flagship brands.

"We expect to increase the number of KFC outlets in Thailand from 313 at present to about 600 in the next five years. The number of Pizza Hut restaurants will be increased from 73 at present to about 200 over the same period," Sran says.

He believes both KFC and Pizza Hut still have strong potential for growth in Thailand.

"Our previous expansion strategy was to go along with the opening of modern retail stores in Bangkok and major cities. This is not our key expansion strategy any more. We are now more flexible and will open our restaurants in small locations and venues such as shophouses," he says.

KFC's 313 outlets are presently spread throughout 60 provinces. The company will no longer open KFC restaurants in major cities.

"What we have done in expanding KFC is to open in small cities. We opened a KFC restaurant in Chiang Mai's Fang district in June this year, and last year we opened an outlet in Thung Song district of Nakhon Si Thammarat."

The company has also set up regional offices across the country to draw itself closer to its markets and its consumers. These offices will take responsibility for the daily working systems and store operations of outlets in their regions.

"We have divided the market into six different regions and set up a regional office to take care of each region," he says. "The Nakhon Si Thammarat regional office will look after the southern region and Nakhon Ratchasima will look after the Northeast. Our regional office at Phitsanulok will be in charge of the northern region and another regional office, at a rest area on the highway heading out of Bangkok, will take care of the Central region."

Two regional offices have been set up in Bangkok, dividing the capital into separate areas of responsibility.

"We want to customise ourselves to particular regions in things such as menus and pricing. We need to understand customers in different communities and give them what they want," Sran says.

However, the company will focus on a different marketing strategy for Pizza Hut that will begin by totally separating the dine-in restaurants from the home-delivery business.

Sran says Yum Restaurants has opened 27 new outlets for KFC and four for Pizza Hut in Thailand this year. It expects to open about 30 new KFC outlets and 15 new Pizza Hut restaurants next year.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation