By BERNAMA / Pic By ISMAIL CHE RUS

George Ang (picture) — the man behind Inter Mark Resources Sdn Bhd (IMRSB) which acquired A&W Malaysia Sdn Bhd from KUB Malaysia Bhd last September — vows to make the oldest fast-food chain in the country great again.

Ang is no stranger to the food and beverages (F&B) industry as he is one of the founders of the Manhattan Fish Market (MFM) and the director of Revenue Valley Sdn Bhd — which operates MFM, Tony Roma’s and NY Steak Shack in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The CEO of both IMRSB and A&W Malaysia said a series of value-and-services enhancing initiatives have been rolled out since the acquisition took place last year, paving the way for it to achieve the RM100 million sales target for 2019, up from RM70 million recorded in 2018.

“We are looking at clinching sales of RM100 million this year, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about 10% of sales.

“That is why we plan to open about 15-16 outlets this year,” he told Bernama. Last July, KUB’s wholly owned subsidiary, Restoran Kualiti Sdn Bhd, disposed of its entire interest in A&W Malaysia to IMRSB for RM34 million, with the deal being completed in September 2018.

Under KUB, A&W Malaysia closed down 26 loss-making outlets nationwide in 2012 as a part of the company’s recovery effort.

Speaking on the initiatives, the 47-year-old Ang unveiled that A&W Malaysia would introduce more affordable set meals priced between RM8.90 and RM9.90 by May, much cheaper than the current set meals priced between RM14 and RM15 per set.

Besides that, Ang — who has over 20 years of experience in the industry — said the company now serves fresh chicken as opposed to frozen chicken.

“Although we have to bear an extra cost of about 5%, we are committed to carrying this out without passing the cost to our customers.”

He also revealed that A&W Malaysia will enhance its breakfast service by introducing better choices of menu in the second quarter of the year (2Q19).

“Currently, nearly 10 outlets in the Klang Valley are in collaboration with GrabFood and we aim to introduce the delivery service in outlets located in Klang, Penang and Johor by 3Q19,” he said, anticipating 18 outlets to offer delivery service by year-end.

To further elevate sales growth moving forward, Ang said there will also be more 24-hour standalone drive through restaurants, to be built next year, that will be able to bring up the average store sales by between RM2 million and RM3 million.

He recently announced that the company targeted to open an additional 20 A&W outlets next year, of which eight would be drive-through restaurants.

Meanwhile, Ang divulged that when IMRSB acquired A&W Malaysia from KUB, there were only 40 outlets throughout the country, but six months thereafter, the number of outlets had increased to 47.

He said the company aims to expand the number of outlets to 100 by 2021 and emerge among the top three fast-food players in terms of number of outlets by then.

The US-based A&W Restaurants Inc — the franchisor of A&W Malaysia — will celebrate its 100th anniversary worldwide in June this year. — Bernama