Zen Group Thailand prepares to go public

Thailand’s Zen Group is planning to list an IPO to fund expansion of its restaurant chains. With designs to become the leader in Thailand’s food service industry, the company plans to sell 75 million shares in the firm. The proceeds are expected to fund new restaurants in both domestic and international markets, as well as improving existing venues and increasing efficiency.

While the Japanese-themed chain Zen is the group’s best-known chain, it also operates a string of Thai-branded restaurants including Tummour and Khiang, along with Japanese brands Aka, Musha, On the Table, Vietnamese chain IWO Pho and a Singaporean-style Granny’s Chicken Rice.

“This year, we plan to add 36 of our owned branches and 87 franchise branches, and in 2020, we plan to expand by a further 50 of our owned branches and 175 franchise branches”, said CEO Boonyong Tansakul.

The group expects its total revenue to reach THB10 billion (US$315.55 million) by 2022.

“In the past two years, the group has invested in the management system within the organisation, including increasing personnel and investing in information systems to support business expansion both domestically and internationally”, said Tansakul.

“This has led to increased administrative expenses, but the result is that at present the group stands ready to expand business and can use the support base that it had prepared beforehand to fully support growth”.