bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Denise Tsang

Cafe de Coral Holdings, the world's largest Chinese fast-food chain,  plans to expand rapidly into the mainland by opening one restaurant there every five weeks for the next three years, according to chairman Michael Chan Yue-kwong.

At the end of the first half to September, 127 of the Hong Kong-based group's more than 570 venues were in the mainland, which accounted for about  13 per cent of the group's HK$151 million net profit for the period, Mr Chan said.

'The mainland's fast-food market is taking off as affluence grows, which is like what Hong Kong was 20 years ago,' he said.

The group, which  operates mass-market chains Cafe de Coral, Italian-themed Spaghetti House and mainland joint venture New Asia Dabao, aims to boost to 50 the number of venues it has in Shanghai and Guangdong by 2009 from  30 at present.

It is also looking to increase its food-processing investments in China, Mr Chan said.

In Xian, the group last month spent about 4.8 million yuan  to acquire a 60 per cent stake in a beef-processing factory, which will supply  China and Hong Kong, including the 130 Cafe de Coral restaurants in the city.

The company's main income driver,  Hong Kong generated a net profit of HK$130 million in the first half.

Hong Kong's buoyant economy has prompted the group to add 10  Cafe de Coral outlets  this year, expanding its share in the fast-food market to about 15 per cent based on a total of 1,600 fast-food outlets in the city, Mr Chan said.

In North America, he expected the group's 202 Manchu Wok fast-food outlets to break even by the end of March next year, after its loss  narrowed to HK$9 million in the first half from HK$36 million  last year.

In October last year, the firm raised its stake in Manchu Wok to 100 per cent from 50 per cent.

On Tuesday, the group reported interim profit  rose a less than expected 11.7 per cent on turnover of HK$1.87 billion, up 16.5 per cent.

Its shares dropped 2.92 per cent to close at HK$14.64 yesterday



Cafe de Coral gears up for expansion in mainland