Dubai: Dubai headquartered NAS International, which owns the ChicKing fast food chain, is transferring its outlets in Malaysia into a franchise-led operation. It now has three directly owned outlets in the Southeast Asian market and the intention is to develop 60 locations in the next three years.
To this end, NAS has partnered with Dual Superfood, which has been granted master franchisee status for Malaysia. “The three existing outlets will be transferred to Dual Superfoods and after that the network expansion will be managed entirely by them,” said A.K. Mansoor, managing director at NAS.
“We were approach by a Malaysian government entity responsible for funding small business ventures in the country — they felt franchising our brand will create new opportunities. There was merit in what they said and we took it forward with Dual Superfood.”
A ChicKing franchise would go for 400,000-500,000 ringgit. “That’s quite competitive for a small business owner when you consider that a global fast food franchise could be in the range of 2 million,” said Mansoor.
Dual Superfood on its part has struck up a venture with Perbadanan National to develop the chain’s Malaysian exposure. There are also options to take it forward into other Southeast Asian markets such as Indonesia and Brunei.
In the UAE, ChicKing operates 14 locations through a mix of owned and franchised outlets. It has also built up a GCC network and taken the brand into India, Sudan and Kenya. Mansoor declined to say how much non-UAE operations currently make up of ChicKing’s revenue mix.
“We are extremely flexible when it comes to taking on board franchise requests as long as the brand gets a suitable location or be able to break into a new market,” said Mansoor. “Our role will be limited to sending our formulaic ingredient from here.
“Southeast Asia offers multiple opportunities within the fast food business — in Malaysia itself ChicKing’s strategy will be to go for as wide a presence as possible.”