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Published on February 6, 2008

Lee Cafe, a Bangkok restaurant chain specialising in modern Chinese cuisine, plans to open branches in Singapore and Japan in the second half of the year.

Public relations manager Nutchaya Lee yesterday said the company was negotiating with local partners in those countries.

However, Lee Cafe may choose to franchise its business instead of entering into a joint venture, because franchising makes for easier management, plus material costs can be controlled, she said.

Nutchaya said many business people from Asian markets who had been Lee Cafe's clients had approached the company with proposals for opening branches abroad.

As well as Singapore and Japan, they came from South Korea, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

"We were intending to expand our business into foreign markets, so after these former clients contacted us and expressed their interest in bringing Lee Cafe to their countries, we decided to go ahead and do what we always dreamed of doing," she said.

Last year, Lee Cafe spent Bt10 million to create a central kitchen in Bangkok as a training centre for its chefs and to supply cooking materials to its branches.

It will be ready mid-year, and once finished the company will be ready to expand into foreign markets, she said.

Lee Cafe has been operating Chinese restaurants in Bangkok for nearly four years. It has branches in the Erawan Bangkok Building, Siam Centre, CentralWorld, Sukhumvit Soi 2, The Esplanade and Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Nutchaya said Lee Cafe would open two new branches in Bangkok this year and was also considering branches in big cities like Chiang

Mai, Pattaya and Phuket next year.

"Last year, Lee Cafe's revenue increased nearly 100 per cent from the previous year, thanks to branch expansion," she said. "In 2008, we expect 15-per-cent growth from last year."