Daily Fresh has big appetite for expansion

DAILY Fresh, a franchiser of casual kiosks and cafés selling snack food, dessert and beverages, is optimistic on growth prospects and customer acceptance of its products this year.

The Johor-based company is confident of registering growth of 20 per cent in revenue in 2008, with 50 additional outlets in the country.

Last year, revenue grew 15 per cent from the year before.

Daily Fresh food chain manager Md Asyraf Yong said it has been invited by management of new shopping complexes to open the kiosks at their shopping malls.

“We had targeted to open 50 outlets last year and we managed to hit the target even with a lot of economic turmoil around the world.

“We plan to open 50 more outlets this year... the main target areas will be the northern region, east coast and Sabah and Sarawak,” Asyraf told Business Times in an interview.

Daily Fresh was founded by Chay Hong Choong in Johor some 50 years ago. It started out as a family business involved in the vegetables market, especially supplying fresh corn.

The mismatch between supply and demand for corn had prompted Chay to use modern technologies to process the excess corn into frozen corn. This had led the company to start corn-in-cup business venture, called Cup Corn, in 1997.

The Cup Corn was initially sold at the cinemas and petrol stations in Johor Baru and then expanded throughout Malaysia and overseas, following overwhelming response from customers.

Asyraf said since the company started franchising the business in 2006, the growth has been phenomenal.

To date, the company has opened more than 50 outlets across Malaysia, of which five are owned by Daily Fresh and the rest are franchised outlets. About 32 per cent of the outlets are cafés and the remaining 68 per cent are kiosks.

Asyraf said it receives about 10 enquiries daily from people wanting to be Daily Fresh franchisees.

Some 60 per cent of the aspiring franchisees do not have adequate financing, but they can approach Perbadanan Nasional Bhd (PNS) for financing as Daily Fresh is a registered franchiser with PNS.

Asyraf said Daily Fresh’s strength in franchise lies in its low investment and easy-to-manage business module.

“We have an operation team to support all franchisees so that they operate according to procedure. We ensure that all franchisees succeed in their business venture through continuous operation and training support,” he said.

For 2008, Daily Fresh plans to improve the concept of its outlets as well as develop more products.

“Our R&D department may come out with snacks or light meals. It will be health-food concept such as non-greasy and high fibre,” he said.

Daily Fresh, which has its own research and development (R&D) centre to improve and maintain product quality, spends about RM500,000 on R&D per ye a r.

The company recently bagged the Best Outlet Growth and Most Promising Franchiser of the Year Awards from the Malaysian Franchise Association.