Restaurant chain Maxim's Caterers will launch its cha chaan teng business on the mainland, and aims to open at least 12 outlets in southern provinces by 2013.
John Sham Yuen-pang, Maxim's general manager for quick-service restaurant and catering services, said the company would open its first two cha chaan teng, or Hong Kong-style tea cafes, in Shenzhen next month.
'Mainlanders are more familiar with cha chaan teng than Hong Kong-style fast food restaurants,' Sham said.
He said the performance of the cafes, under the Maxim's Hong Kong Day brand, would help the company decide whether it to open fast food shops on the mainland.
'First we will open our Guangdong stores, starting with Shenzhen. After we have around 12 to 15 branches in southern China in the first quarter of 2013, we will consider expanding to the north,' he said.
Sham did not reveal the amount of investment involved, but said the cost would be 30 per cent to 40 per cent lower than in Hong Kong.
He said he expected the new mainland outlets to generate profits immediately and to have profit margins a quarter higher than those in Hong Kong two years after launch.