SINGAPORE, Nov 18 — Homegrown group BreadTalk will be bringing Taiwanese steamed dumpling brand Din Tai Fung to Europe for the first time, with the opening of a London outlet scheduled for next year.
The UK restaurant will be run by a new joint venture between BreadTalk subsidiary Together Inc, Din Tai Fung Taiwan and its franchise owner Fairy Rise Development, as well as two shareholders from UK and Taiwan, BreadTalk said in a stock exchange statement yesterday.
BreadTalk’ subsidiary, Together, is the majority shareholder of the new joint venture company, Taster Food UK. Details of the structure of the joint venture company, including the respective shareholdings, have yet to be finalised, it said.
William Cheng, divisional CEO (Restaurant) of BreadTalk Group said: “The company is excited to bring Din Tai Fung to the European market for the first time. With our experience in operating the brand for the last 13 years in both Singapore and Thailand, we hope to bring the much-loved Din Tai Fung to new consumers who will appreciate its authentic Taiwanese cuisine.”
BreadTalk won the franchise rights to operate the Din Tai Fung brand of restaurants in Singapore in 2003, later opening its first restaurant at Paragon Shopping Centre. It currently operates 21 Din Tai Fung restaurants in Singapore, and three in Thailand, with more additions in the pipeline. Din Tai Fung also has outlets in eight other territories, including Japan, the United States, and Australia.
Expressing his confidence in BreadTalk’s capabilities in leading the foray into the European market, Din Tai Fung’s owner, Chi-Hwa Yang said: “The international recognition that Din Tai Fung enjoys today is in no small part attributable to our long-standing partnership with the BreadTalk Group. BreadTalk Group has played an integral role in our success by growing and exposing our Taiwanese brand to an international audience.”
BreadTalk’s announcement yesterday came a day after the group was queried by the Singapore Exchange on unusual price movements in its shares.
In response to the query, BreadTalk said in a late statement on Wednesday that it was in talks with several third parties to form a joint venture to be a franchisee and operator of an existing business in a new territory and would issue a press release on it shortly.
BreadTalk’s shares had risen as much as 7.2 per cent to S$1.115 (RM3.55) on Wednesday, but later gave back a little to close up 4.8 per cent at S$1.09. The counter has risen about 8.5 per cent in the last five trading days. The stock closed down 0.5 per cent at S$1.09 yesterday. — TODAY
