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Tony Roma's Opening More Outlets In Kuala Lumpur

KUALA LUMPUR (Monday, May 14, 2007) - AMERICAN restaurant chain Tony Roma's opened its second outlet last week at Cineleisure Damansara, Petaling Jaya to offer its famous flame-grilled ribs to Malaysians.

Romacorp Inc vice-president of franchise development Ken Myres said its Malaysian franchise partner, Grandpolitan Sdn Bhd was developing a new full service casual dining concept and planned to open two more Tony Roma's in Kuala Lumpur by year-end.


He said although the local menu was consistent with all Tony Roma's outlets worldwide, a few changes have been made to suit local tastes. The restaurants are also pork-free.

"We specialise in beef ribs, seafood and steak dishes. So far it has been very well accepted by Malaysians," Myres said.

He expects investment to expand Tony Roma's in the country to exceed RM10mil this year. About RM2.5mil would be spent for each franchise outlet.

According to Grandpolitan managing principal George Ang, the two new restaurants will be located at Mid Valley Gardens and the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in the city centre.

"Our group has been very successful with the franchise and we are confident that we will continue to provide quality food and service to our guests," he said, adding that the first Tony Roma's was opened at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Centre last October.

Myres said Grandpolitan's successful operation of home grown restaurant Manhattan Fish Market also provided it with a strong background to develop Tony Roma's in Malaysia.

He said opening more restaurants in Malaysia would definitely strengthen the company's market share in the industry.

"The strategy to build a strong brand in Malaysia is to establish very high quality Tony Roma's outlets and operate them at peak efficiency. If we have a strong franchise partner, growth will be tremendous."

Myres believes once Tony Roma's has established more outlets in key areas and maintained good quality food and service, its brand would grow strong naturally.

"I think that it is important to establish a good relationship with the guests and identify why they like to dine at Tony Roma's," he said, adding that this would help the restaurant improve its service.

To Myres, success consists of three elements –hiring intelligent staff who are passionate about the business, professional training to provide good service and selecting the right franchise partner.

"We provided 14 trainers from the US to coach the employees for two weeks," he said.

Myers sees franchising as a growth strategy and a way for the company to expand its brand. "Thus a company must have to have a great partner to stay in the market."

Myres said the franchising business today was a tremendous business.

"In the past, when people talk about franchise, they would think of McDonald's. However, the franchise opportunity is expanding to many other types of businesses as well," he added.

Romacorp, the operator of Tony Roma's restaurants, has about 220 restaurants worldwide and Malaysia marked its presence in 32 countries. Romacorp has total development commitments in over 43 countries globally.

Myres said the company has yearly sales of about US$400mil with sales expected to increase 5% this year. "We plan to double our number of outlets to 500 worldwide as part of our seven to nine year plan," he added.

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