KUCHING: Philippine’s billionaire Frank Lao, the man behind two of Philippines’ most well-known restaurants, Gloria Maris and Choi Garden, is expanding his portfolio by investing into Malaysia’s tech-driven coffee chain ZUS Coffee.
Janica Lao, chief operating officer of Choi Garden, inked a deal in Kuala Lumpur recently with ZUS Coffee co-founder Ian Chua for a 35 per cent stake in ZUS Coffee.
Lao said the company plans to grow into the Philippines and that ZUS Coffee is a natural fit for their plans.
“We aim to introduce ZUS Coffee to the Philippines. ZUS Coffee is not looking at franchising; all their stores are owned by the company, and they aim to be the local champions.
“ZUS Coffee’s growth in Malaysia has been very quick in the last three years and they are incredibly determined in serving the local Malaysian market with localised flavours.
“We believe they will do the same thing in the Philippines market,” added Lao.
Meanwhile, Chua was excited in starting the new project with the Choi Food Garden Group.
“We are quite proud of our coffee, and we could not be happier that a well-known businessman like Frank Lao investing in our business.
“This demonstrates how confident they are in our brand. We can now start a new journey to scale up the business and bring ZUS Coffee to the Philippines, thanks to the Choi Food Garden Group investing in us.
“This is an extremely exciting time for us to grow the company. It is just the beginning for ZUS Coffee,” he said.
ZUS Coffee opened its first store in Malaysia in 2019. The company currently owns 197 locations across the country, with over 30 million cups delivered to date.
The brand has been rapidly expanding in Malaysia with its innovative business model of offering affordable quality products, Instagram-worthy freestanding cafés, and an automated app-based ordering and delivery system.
More than 1.5 million individuals had downloaded the app as of March 20, 2023, and there are currently over 800,000 active users every month.
According to Chua, the company wants to open up to 150 units in strategic areas around Malaysia this year.
“We are optimistic about the coffee market and about our company’s growth. We only have our ZUSsies and our 100 per cent Malaysian employees to thank for all our achievements.
“We are finding that more people love our coffee, and they are requesting that we make it available in more locations and provide additional food at the counter. We will be introducing hot food to tempt their taste buds,” he added.
