Pizza Company Opens Second Outlet in Vientiane

The Pizza Company, one of the most popular fast food franchise restaurants in Thailand, has expanded its operations in Laos, two years after entering the market of 6.5 million consumers.

Express Food Group Laos on Wednesday held a ceremony to open the company’s second restaurant in Phonesinuan village in Sisattanak district, Vientiane, amid growing demand for international food in Laos.

“The decision to open the second restaurant was based on customer demand,” a shareholder in the Express Food Group Laos, Ms Chanthachone Vongsay, said at the opening ceremony.

She did not provide details of business operations over the past two years but expressed confidence that the opening of the new restaurant would boost the company’s profits.

Express Food Group Laos is also eyeing the possibility of opening more outlets in the capital and the provinces, targeting medium income earners and foreigners.

At present, Pizza Company and Swensens Ice Cream are launching a promotion to boost sales from May to June. Every customer who buys a pizza will get another one free.

Express Food Group Laos, a member of RM, invested about US$500,000 to purchase a franchise licence from the Minor Food Group Company and opened the first Pizza Company restaurant and Swensens, the American ice cream parlour, in Vientiane in early 2010.

The restaurant has been well received among domestic and foreign consumers in Laos, as more people develop a taste for international food. In the past, large numbers of people crossed the border to Thailand to eat at restaurants serving Western style food.

Lao people have been influenced by Western eating habits through overseas TV programming, mainly from Thailand. The government does not restrict access to foreign media outlets. Foreign TV stations regularly advertise the Pizza Company’s products.

The growing demand for international food not only reflects changing eating habits in Laos but is also an indicator of the growing economy. More and more Lao people like to eat out as their incomes rise.

Economic data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment shows that average national per capita income is now above US$1,350 a year, while in Vientiane it is above US$2,000.

There are many other restaurants in Laos that offer the cuisines of other countries, such as Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam.

Source: Vientiane Times